Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Special Holiday Market Dec. 5th

Celebrate the Season at the Flat Rock Tailgate Special Holiday Market



The Village of Flat Rock’s Tailgate Market will be offering a Special Holiday Market on Saturday, December 5th from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The Market is held in conjunction with the shops of Little Rainbow Row’s Holiday Stroll and is located in the courtyard behind Hand in Hand Gallery on the Greenville Hwy./225S. just south of the Flat Rock Playhouse.

The Market will offer a wide variety of baked goods, jams, jellies, herbal vinegars, pickles, herb teas, fresh or dried mushrooms, goat cheeses, chicken, eggs, lamb & beef. In addition, many vendors will have specialty items like festive holiday cheese items, confectionaries, lettuce and herb baskets, bath salts and handmade crafts for those special people on your holiday list. Pick up a fresh wreath or seasonal greenery for decorating your home and don’t forget to order your holiday pies and baked goods. All this and a whole lot more!

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Oct. 29, 2009

Flat Rock Tailgate Market
Thursday, October 29th, 3 to 6 p.m.

Come get your pumpkin! Select from freshly carved or paint your own pumpkin. Or choose a not yet carved pumpkin ready for your own touch or simply bake them to use in soups, pies or other scrumptious deserts!!


Market Favorites: Jams, jellies, relishes, pickled okra, herbal teas or vinegars. Fresh beef, lamb and free range chicken & eggs. Fresh fish & seafood. Goat cheeses. Hummus & baba ganoush.

Fresh Baked Goods: Take home banana or pumpkin breads made with Amish flour, hearth baked breads, mamoul (semolina short bread) with strawberry & pecans, plain or herbed pita bread, baklawa, fruit tarts, awesome pecan bars or chocolate/caramel brownies.

Order Pies for the Holidays! Marvelous Pies are now taking orders for apple ($15), pumpkin, chess or sweet potato ($9) pies for the holidays. Stop and see Lisa or call her at (864) 908-2134.

Vendor of the Month: Melinda Hill
Melinda's been busy collecting pinecones, vines & curly willow branches in the woods for fall decorations in your home. Check out her herb vinegars and HOT peppers.

This Weeks Vegetables: Collards & mustard greens, lettuce & salad mixes, onions, white salad turnips, blue potatoes, Kennebec potatoes (a Main standard), delicious Yukon Gold & Red Pontiac potatoes (an ole' time favorite). New this week: leeks that can be can be fused into a scrumptious potato/leek soup, just right for these cooler, fall temperatures. Many traditional & Japanese winter squashes & pumpkins to purchase or bring your orders to Mollie for 1/2 bushels of squash - $20 for butternut, acorn or a mix.


Happy Halloween!!

Eat Fresh - Buy Local

See you at the Market!
Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m

MountainXpress Best of WNC 2009 Awards

Several Flat Rock area businesses received honors in the MountainXpress Best of WNC 2009 Awards.

Carl Sandburg Home Best Little-Known Attraction

Best Art gallery:

#1 Hand in Hand Gallery 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, 697-7719 Where better to begin a gallery than as an artist studio? Jeweler Molly Sharp and potter David Voorhees did just that nearly 13 years ago. Their own studios have long since been relocated to make way for a variety of Southeastern artists, many of whom are members of the storied Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Festival

#2 Flat Rock Music Festival www.flatrockmusicfestival.com

Little-known attraction

#1 Carl Sandburg Home 81 Carl Sandburg Lane, Flat Rock, 693-4178 In 1945, the writer, poet and historian moved to 264 acres of Flat Rock countryside he named "Connemara" and spent the last 22 years of his life there. Today, the house and grounds are open for touring, and many of his books and papers are still on display.

#3. Flat Rock Playhouse 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, 693-0731

Music venue

#1 Back Room at the Flat Rock Wine Shoppe 2702 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, 697-6828 With a capacity of only 100, the Back Room is what they call "intimate." But that's what owner David Brannock thinks brings an impressive list of local and touring acts back again and again. "True musicians want to play to people who want to listen," he says. The venue turned 4 years old last month.

#2 Flat Rock Playhouse 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, 693-0731

To view the complete list of winners in all categories visit MountainXpress - Best of WNC Regional Sections

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - October 15, 2009

Flat Rock Tailgate Market
Thursday, October 15th, 3 to 6 p.m.


This Weeks Fruits & Vegetables: There will be local organic apples, potatoes, several varieties of winter squashes, eggplant, hot peppers - fresh or dried, sweet red peppers, fall lettuce & salad mixes, heirloom & slicing tomatoes, Lima beans, shiitake & what ever wild mushrooms pop up after all this wet weather!

Market Favorites: Fresh cut flowers, herb plants & hanging baskets. Angus beef, lamb, rabbit, chicken and free-range eggs. Fresh whole fish, shrimp, scallops and oysters. Goat cheeses. Jams, jellies, relishes, hummus & baba ganoush.

Fresh Baked Goods: Herb crackers & cookies from Jane, plain & herbed pita bread, baklawa & Mamoul with figs from his own tree at Majdi's booth, hearth baked breads, cookies, fruit tarts, Sweet Girl pecan bars, mint frosted brownies, peanut butter crunch bars and maybe a few more surprises.

Get some organic apples or pumpkins to
make your own special deserts!

Vendor of the Month: Melinda Hill

Stop by the "Flower Lady", and select from the brightly colored bouquets for your home. While there check out her spicy pickled vegetable mixes or her hand strung dried hot peppers.

Eat Fresh - Eat Local

SEE YOU THERE!!
Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - October 8, 2009

This Weeks Fruits & Vegetables: Japanese eggplant, okra, fresh & dried hot peppers, heirloom and salad tomatoes, winter & summer squash, pumpkins, salad mix, green & red bell peppers. Pears & many types of apples.

Market Favorites: Fresh fish & seafood. Lamb, beef, chicken and free-range eggs. Goat cheeses. Jams, jellies, relishes, honey, hummus & baba ganoush.

Fresh Baked Goods: Three different fruit tarts, chocolate/mint cheesecake bites, cranberry coconut chocolate crunch bars, pecan bars and maybe a few more surprises from Kristen's booth this week. Hearth baked breads, cookies, plain & herbed pita bread, baklawa, apple, chess & pumpkin pies or try a waffle cone with apple filling to munch on while shopping.

More Market Favorites: Fresh cut flowers, herb plants, hanging baskets, herb teas & bath sachets.

Eat Fresh - Eat Local

See you there!

Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Vendor of the Month for October

Flat Rock Tailgate Market to Feature Melinda Hill as Vendor of the Month of October

The Flat Rock Tailgate Market will feature Melinda Hill of Hill’s Farm Plants, Inc. in Dana, as “Vendor of the Month” of October. Melinda grows greens, herbs, beans, onions, gourds, lots of peppers (hot and sweet) and a large variety of flowers (her favorites) including sunflowers, zinnias and dahlias. She sells at the Flat Rock Tailgate Market held every Thursday afternoon from 3-6.

Melinda grew up in Hooper’s Creek, NC and is the youngest of three girls. While growing up, her family grew most of their own food and preserved vegetables and fruit by pickling, canning and freezing. She and her husband now own their own farm which has been chemical free for the past seven years. When not gardening or marketing, Melinda enjoys reading the history of women from our mountain region to learn their survival techniques. “I still don’t understand how they were able to do all the work they did!”
vendor of the month

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - October 1, 2009

Flat Rock Tailgate Market
Thursday, October 1st, 3 to 6 p.m.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins & More Pumpkins!!

Vendor of the Month: Melinda Hill
Melinda & her husband, of Hill's Farm Plants, Inc. in Dana, grows greens, herbs, beans, onions, gourds, lots of peppers and a large variety of flowers (her favorite) including sunflowers, zinnias & dahlias. Visit Melinda & try a sample of her pickled "Dilly Beans" or her vinegars infused with herbs.

Market Favorites: Jams, jellies, relishes, pickled okra, pickled peppers, tomato chutney, herbal teas, rosemary & blueberry vinegars. Angus beef, lamb and free range chicken & eggs. Fresh fish & seafood. Goat cheeses. Hummus & baba ganoush.

Fresh Baked Goods: New vendor, Marvelous Pies, will have apple, chess & pumpkin pies. Take home hearth baked breads, plain or herbed pita bread, baklawa, fruit tarts & tartlets, awesome pecan bars, mint frosted brownies, giant peanut butter Rice Krispie treats and herbed cookies & crackers.

This Weeks Fruits & Vegetables: There will be apples & pears, beets, salad greens mixes, eggplant, okra, potatoes, beans, fresh & dried hot peppers, sweet peppers, acorn, butternut & Japanese squash, heirloom tomatoes, salad & slicing tomatoes with half bushels of Roma tomatoes for canning, freezing or drying.

More Market Favorites: Fresh cut flowers, rose bushes, herb plants, hanging baskets, and Japanese Maples.

News From Deep Woods Mushrooms: Stop by to see Greg & sign up for a mushroom hunt this Saturday from 3 - 5 p.m. in Etowah. Also hot off the press "Shiitake Happens" t-shirts. Due to the significant rains in September, there will be a limited supply of fresh shiitake this week.


Eat Fresh - Eat Local

See you at the Market!
Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Sept. 10, 2009

Flat Rock Tailgate Market
Thursday, September 10, 3 to 6 p.m.

Enjoy End of Summer/Beginning of Fall Crops

Visit Mollie LeBude - September's Vendor of the Month
with free roasted vegetables and pie samples, recipes and storing and cooking of winter squash, pumpkins, butternut, acorn squash, bell peppers, Italian basil, lemon basil ad corn shocks for decorating.

Other Produce:
Full flavored tomatoes, romas for roasting and quantities for sauces and canning, asparagus, lettuce, melons, lima beans, stringless hericot vert, yellow wax beans, and Italian flat beans. Blue potatoes, red okra, eggplant and still some summer squash, shiitake and wild mushrooms, and hot ceyenne peppers.

Prepared Food:
Dessert First with amazing desserts. tomato sauce with meatballs and sausage, chicken wrapped in bacon with rice and white wine gravy, roasted red pepper soup, tomato basil soup, butternut squash bisque, herb bread ($3.50 from $4.00), bakery bread, cookies and tarts, mustard, jams and jellies, bbq sauce, ketchup, spiced pineapple, dried tomatoes, dog bones, chocolate covered pretzels and NEW this week is chocolate and peanut butter candy (Buckeyes).

Welcome New Vendor
Wells Shealy of Three Arrows Farm in Flat Rock is our new vendor offering all natural Angus beef. Enjoy ground beef, select cuts, roasts, ribs, cute steaks and more!

And More:
Maple trees, fresh cut flowers, herb plants, honey, eggs, lamb, chicken, shrimp, fish, scallops, goat cheese.


ORGANIC APPLES WILL BE HERE NEXT WEEK!

Eat Fresh - Eat Local

Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

After 4 p.m. there's still an abundance of 1st grade products to choose from and a lot more parking spaces!! See you there.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Vendor of the Month: September

Mollie LeBude
September 2009

Mollie LeBude of Forest Creek Farm and Nursery in Saluda is “Vendor of the Month” of September. Mollie grows “most anything you can put in a salad” along with potatoes, fresh and dried herbs, sweet corn, blueberries, flowers, fruits, and transplants which she sells at the Flat Rock Tailgate Market

Mollie has a BS in Environmental Science with a business minor, and an MS in Forestry (genetics of breeding for disease resistance). After she married her husband, Anthony, and while she was looking for a full-time job, she started growing veggies and taking the “extras” to market. She then found a full-time job, but was still working two days a week on her farm. Then her farm business took off and now she works full-time on the farm and part-time as a tutor and in Raymond’s Garden Center. Mollie has been a two-time champion at the National Bowed Psaltery Competition at the Down-Home Psaltery Festival in Alabama.

To learn more about Mollie or sign up for her newsletter, go to
www.fcfn.blogspot.com

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Aug. 26, 2009

Eat Fresh Produce from Our Local Farmers!

From Paul Shoemaker:

The recent weather is fabulous for ripening tomatoes! This week Paul will have lima beans (butter beans), Asian beans, green beans, yellow wax beans, and a real treat of late summer asparagus! Fruits will include blueberries, sugar nut melons and red and yellow watermelons.


From Norman Nichols:
Japanese maples, Astile Diamant, Elodie Lilium, butterfly bushes and horse tails for your pond.

From Greg Carter (The Fungi!):
Mushrooms will include shiitake, lobster, chanterells, oysters and more.

From Richard of Chanteloupe Farm:

Green bell peppers, burgundy and green okra, colorful zucchini, varieties of acorn squash, French fillet yellow beans, yellow wax and Italian pole beans, blue and Swedish peanut fingerling potatoes, onion variety, garlic and eggs.


If you're looking for a prepared meal, Gayann will have: Corn cheddar chowder topped with chives and hickory smoked bacon, tomato basil bisque, gazpacho, meatloaf with tomato relish served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, a baked chicken and white wine dish served with jasmine rice, bread & butter pickles and basil green goddess dressing.


And Last But Not Least:
Peaches galore, fresh cut flowers, herb plants, hanging baskets, chicken, lamb, seafood, desserts, cookies and other baked goods, honey, goat cheese, natural peppermint, lavender soap made with a goat milk base and always more, more, more!


Eat Fresh - Eat Local

Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

Parking Note: We now have parking attendants to help you find parking & keep the traffic flowing (sorry no valet parking!). If you are picking up your CSA basket please do not park in front of the vendor's booth it really backs the traffic up. Just a hint: After 4 p.m. there's still an abundance of 1st grade products to choose from and a lot more parking spaces!! See you there.

Summer Music in Flat Rock News - Angela Easterling Performs Sept. 5th

Angela Easterling was raised in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Much of her childhood was spent on the farm that has been in her family since 1791, seven generations. A performer all her life, Angela began playing guitar and writing songs while studying at Emerson College in Boston. More and more her music returned to the place her heart called home.

Easterling’s songs run the range of emotions of a woman fully assessing her family’s past and present with a new life perspective, juxtaposing the personal with outside forces. “As much as I love writing, a song doesn’t seem real until you have shared it with others. Then it takes on a life of its own and doesn’t belong to me anymore, it belongs to everyone. I feel so blessed and fortunate to be able to make my way through the world by sharing my music and my stories.” Angela embraced her heritage in a big way as a writer and an artist on her debut album, "Earning Her Wings", chosen as "Americana Pick of the Year" by Smart Choice Music. Her newly released CD "Black Top Road" produced by Will Kimbrough is receiving wide recognition on the country/folk/alternative music horizon. Her CDs will be available at the concert. For more info on Angela see:  www.myspace.com/easterling

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - August 20, 2009

This week at the market:

Market Favorites:
Lamb, chicken, eggs. Fresh fish & seafood. Free range eggs. Goat cheeses. Local honey. Jams, jellies, relishes, gourmet mustards, BBQ Sauce, salad dressings, hummous & babaganous.

This Weeks Vegetables:
We continue to have a plethera of wonderful vine ripened tomatoes, summer squash, acorn and butternut squash, russet potatoes, white eggplant, giant purple eggplant, burgundy & green okra, red & green peppers, shiitake & wild mushrooms, sweet corn, cucumbers, carrots, onions, garlic, leeks and more.

Fresh Fruits:
We have delectable melons, blueberries, cherries, peaches & strawberries. Apples are comming soon.

Fresh Baked Goods:

Hearth baked breads, cookies, fig & raspberry frangipane tarts, awsome pecan bars, orange chocolate cheese cake bites, lemon tartlets, herbed pita bread, baklawa and even dog cookies for your best friend.

More Market Favorites:
Fresh cut flowers, herb plants, hanging baskets, eucoliptis trees, Japanese Maples & Amarillis plants.

Vendor of the Month, Paul Shoemaker of Holly Spring Farm and Nursery in Mills River says, "With the recent sunshine, lots of tomatoes are reaching their full rich tomato flavor, from the mini-salad to extra large slicers and jumbo Heirlooms. We'll also have Asian beans, eggplants, peppers and sweetcorn. Our Canary Island melons, 'Sugar Nut', have finally ripened, as well as the red watermelons, 'Starlight'. We'll also have "just picked" blueberries.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - August 13, 2009

Come Out This Week to Enjoy the Bounty of Summer

Our "Vendor of the Month", Paul Shoemaker of Holly Spring Farm and Nursery in Mills River, will be offering free samples of his amazing heirloom tomatoes and homemade bruschetta. Along with his tomatoes, Paul will have luscious melons, blueberries, eggplant, Asian beans and Swiss chard. Come say "hi" to Paul and his wife, Simone, and enjoy a free sample or two!

And More Vegetables

Summer squash, acorn and butternut squash, russet potatoes, Swedish peanut potatoes, blue potatoes, burgundy/green okra, red & green peppers, garlic, beets, shiitake and wild mushrooms, sweet corn, cucumbers, carrots, onions and more.

And What Else?

Blueberries, cherries, peaches and apples. Rose water, lavender bath salts, eggs, maple trees, fresh flowers, jams, jellies, rose bushes, goat cheese, fresh shrimp, fish, chicken, Dessert First, Lebanese baked good including herbed flat bread (which is wonderful stuffed with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, basil and feta), bread and cookies, honey, herb plants and lemonade.

Parking Note:
We now have parking attendants to help you find parking & keep the traffic flowing (sorry no valet parking!). If you are picking up your CSA basket please do not park in front of the vendor's booth it really backs the traffic up. Just a hint: After 4p.m. there's still an abundance of products to choose from and a lot more parking spaces!! See you there.

Eat Fresh - Eat Local

Remember, no sales before 3:00 p.m!

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - August 6, 2009

Fresh Veggies This Week:
Tomatoes, heirloom & hybrid types, okra, eggplant, green peppers, cucumbers, Swiss chard, sweet corn, russet baking potatoes, onions, leeks, garlic, several types of beans, cabbage, summer squashes, acorn & butternut squashes, shitaki & wild mushrooms.

Fresh Fruit:
Melons, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb & blackberries. Sorry no peaches this week.

Baked Goods:
Chocolate dipped pretzels, spiced pineapple, hearth baked breads, cookies, cupcakes, fresh fruit pastries, pecan bars, peanut butter cheesecake bites & homemade dog biscuits.

Other Goodies:
Fresh Fish & Seafood, Chicken, Goat Cheese & Eggs
Gourmet Mustard, BBQ Sauce, Jams, Jellies & Relishes
Fresh Cut Flowers, Herb & Perennial Plants

Parking Note:
We now have parking attendants to help you find parking & keep the traffic flowing (sorry no valet parking!). If you are picking up your CSA basket please do not park in front of the vendor's booth it really backs the traffic up. Just a hint: after 4 p.m. there's still an abundance of products to choose from a lot more parking spaces!! See you there.

Eat Fresh - Eat Local

Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - Vendor of the Month - August

The Flat Rock Tailgate Market will feature Paul and Simone Shoemaker of Holly Spring Farm & Nursery in Mills River as “Vendor of the Month” for August. The Shoemakers specialize in heirloom tomatoes and a variety of farm fresh vegetables, melons, and blueberries which they sell at the Flat Rock Tailgate Market held every Thursday afternoon from 3-6 in the parking area behind the Cherry Cottage and next to Hubba Hubba Smokehouse along Little Rainbow Row in Flat Rock. The market will continue through November 5 and is free and open to the public.

Paul comes from a family of tomato farmers, raised on a truck farm in New Jersey. He holds a B.S. in Agricultural Research and an M.S. in Plant Pathology from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Cornell University. He and his wife came to WNC as a professor with NC State University doing research and extension work on tomato and other crop diseases to benefit NC mountain farmers. He also worked at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River.

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - July 30, 2009

What's At the Market This Week?


YOU READY? HERE GOES!:
Corn, tomatoes (including Heirloom), cucumbers, potatoes (red, blue and Swedish fingerling), onions, carrots, Asian long beans, pole beans, hericot vert, yellow wax beans, Italian flat beans, okra, arugala, lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, garlic, patty pan squash, zucchini, shitaki and wild mushrooms...and that's just the veggies!

We'll also have blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, peaches, apples, blackberries...and that's just the fruit!

Fresh Seafood, Chicken and Goat Cheese

Flowers and Plants and Herbs

Beautiful maple trees, roses, sunflowers and an array of gorgeous cut flowers to decorate your home or business!

Baked Goods
As always, the Flat Rock Village Bakery will be offering their wonderful breads and cookies, Majdi will have his delightful Lebanese baked goods and Kristin of Dessert First will offer SC peach crumb bars, Flat Rock blackberry tarts, frangi pane tarts, her yummy (my favorite) pecan bars and NC blueberry cheese tarts.

What Else?
Local honey, home made dog biscuits, gourmet mustard, bbq sauce, jams and jellies including, new this week, peach/rhubarb jam and strawberry freezer jam, and two flavors of chocolate dipped pretzels!

New Vendor
Stop by and welcome Susan to the market. She will have a wide range of medicinal herb products made from herbs she either finds or grows. She may even have fresh blueberry pies and home made grape juice!

Speaking of juice, a couple of vendors will be selling ice cold lemonade for your market shopping pleasure! AND, don't forget that Hubba-Hubba Smoke House is open until 7pm. You might want to plan your market visit later in the day so you can enjoy a scrumptious bbq dinner.

And believe it or not, there's even more. So come, bring your shopping bags and enjoy the Flat Rock Tailgate Marekt. RAIN OR SHINE!

Eat Fresh - Eat Local
Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.
Come After 4:00 p.m. for Convenient Parking
Visit our webpage - The Flat Rock Tailgate Market

Flat Rock Tailgate Market News - July 23, 2009

More tomatoes are coming in!

Early tomatoes, heirlooms & "tasty little salad tomatoes" will be available this week at the Flat Rock Tailgate Market. According to our resident tomato expert, Paul Shoemaker, the cool nights & warm dry days in July have been the ideal growing climate for tomatoes here in Western North Carolina. So expect a good crop this year.

Plenty of zucchini, summer squashes, cucumbers, green & yellow beans, sweet corn, beets, cabbage, radishes, garlic, onions, shiitake & wild mushrooms along with a selection of different types of lettuce will be available.

Get some organic strawberries, blueberries & blackberries to top your ice cream or baked into pies, crisps or crumbles. Lisa will have her jams & jellies and some cool ice tea or lemonade.

Fresh Seafood, Chicken & Lamb
Lot's of choices here: shrimp, scallops, a variety of whole fish & fillets. You can find farm raised lamb, chicken & fresh eggs too. Don't forget the locally made chevre' & feta goat cheese.

Baked Goods
Bring home some Lebanese snowballs, manoushi (herb bread w/feta, tomatoes & onion), pita bread, spinach & herb pies, hearth baked breads or cookies. Locally grown fruit tarts, crumb bars & cakes with a "pick your own" sampler box by Kristin. Jane will be here this week with her herbed cookies & crackers.

There's a beautiful selection of fresh cut flowers & hanging baskets not to mention herb, perennial plants, day lilies & Japanese maples ready for planting.

Food, Inc. (the movie)

This movie probes the question: "How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets & serve to our families?" It takes a look a big aggro. business and it's effects on what we eat. Just another reason to buy locally grown & raised foods. Highly recommended viewing by Molly Sharp & David Voorhees. Now showing for a limited time at the Carolina Cinemas (formerly known as the Hollywood Theaters) in Asheville. Official Food, Inc. Movie Site

Eat Fresh - Eat Local

Sorry, no sales before 3:00 p.m.

Come After 4:00 p.m. for Convenient Parking

Visit our Webpage - The Flat Rock Tailgate Market