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Farm Tour: 6 New Farms! Wine Sale & Show Wellness Demo Scenes from the Bread Bakery Open House  Task Force Update Tsunami Relief Fund Bring Louise Back  Open Easter Sunday Wine Wednesdays 10% Off for Owners |
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| Easter Specials & Treats! Look for these seasonal specials to make your Easter glow! Egglights, delightful egg-shaped candles in their own carton by Coyote Found, or for a more elegant table setting, try Aliah scented candles also by Coyote Found. The Wellness Department has lots of fun gifts for kids of all ages: jumpropes, spinning tops, and dancing animals, Springtime Frames by Windmill Woodworks. Look for colorful note cards by local artist, Margaret Hazen featuring spring flowers. Read more... |
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| Weekly Produce Specials | Recipe: Carciofi Alla Romana New Products |
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| Weekly Produce Specials | |||||||||||||
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Fresh Florida Strawberries | 1 lb. package | 2 / $3.98 | ||||||||||
| Organic Pink Lady or Granny Smith Apples |
98¢ / lb. | Super Low Price!
| Organic California |
Hass Avocadoes 98¢ / ea. |
Save 69¢ ea.! |
Read more about other Weaver Street Market Specials. |
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| Caroleena's Tuscan Kitchen Recipe: Carciofi Alla Romana |
Local chef and cooking instructor, Carol Barrow, resided in the center of Florence and in the province of Tuscany for ten years where she learned regional cooking from the masters: restaurant owners, farmers, family and friends. She owned Ristorante Vien under the Volta dei Peruzzi in Florence for four years. Caroleena cracks the mysterious code of Tuscan cooking and translates her very special language into easy, delicious and healthy recipes. She will be sharing recipes and tips with us from time to time. Caroleena is available to cook for you in your home. Call her at 960-8875.Carciofi Alla Romana (Fresh Artichokes-Roman style) I don't know why they call them "Roman-style" when anybody who is anybody knows that artichokes are purely Florentine. They were hybrid (a cross between a vegetable called the "cardo" and a vulgar thistle) by order of Caterina dei Medici and brought to France, not Rome! Anyway, most Americans don't really know what to do with the small ones, and most Florentines don't know what to do with the big ones! AND, when Caroleena says "DON'T BE CHEAP", this means throw away ALL of the dark green artichoke leaves, they are too tough to eat for this recipe. Ingredients: One pack of baby artichokes (Peel away ALL of the green leaves. You can stop peeling the leaves away when all that you see are the LIGHT yellow leaves). Now you are close to the heart. Soak this (and your fingers) in water with lemon (the artichokes oxidize and turn black if you don't soak them). One lemon - half for soaking, half for cooking 1/2 bunch Flat Italian Parsley, chopped 6 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup water After you have peeled the artichoke down to almost nothing, cut the hearts into quarters. You will see some light purple leaves and under them, some fuzz. With a small spoon, scoop away the purple and the fuzz. Put the quarters back in the lemon water. You now have fresh, artichoke hearts that you can work with. The next step is to sauté the minced, fresh garlic and half of the chopped parsley, salt and pepper in a frying pan in the extra virgin olive oil. Just before the garlic turns brown, drain and add the artichokes. Start stirring them around in the pan to season them. Add 1/2 cup of water and cover. The artichokes are ready when they are soft, but not mushy (about 15 minutes). Squeeze the other half of the lemon over the artichokes and keep stirring (without a cover) for another minute or so. Turn the heat off and mix in the other half of the raw parsley. You should wind up with about 4 side dish servings. YUM. Buon Appetito! And remember - cook with love AND DON'T BE CHEAP! |
| New Products |
Market-made Vegan Pizza!Errol, in the kitchen, has been busy dreamin' up ways to keep the vegans happy. Look for the new vegan variety of our Market-made Pizza - ready to heat and serve. Peppers, mushrooms, onions and broccoli come on this new offering. For variety, scan the shelves just above the pizza in the deli case and you'll find plenty of extras to dress it up. Try sun dried or roasted tomatoes, sweet piquanté peppers or roasted red peppers, assorted olives, artichokes, caperberries or marinated garlic cloves. Just across the aisle, next to the cheese, you can find an assortment of dried mushrooms. Rehydrate these in warm water for about 30 minutes before placing on your pizza. Heat the pizza for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees on the rack, or a pan or a pizza stone. Fresh, delicious, nutritious pizza - right from your own oven! Everyday low price: $5.49 New Bleu from Colorado! In her quest for really good hand-made cheeses produced here in the United States, Mary Turner, our cheese buyer, has discovered a great bleu from Colorado. Made by Bingham Hill, this "very fresh tasting" bleu cheese is light, crumbly, a little sweet, and less salty than Stilton. It's also made from their very own milk. Learn more about Bingham Hill at their website: www.binghamhill.com |
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| 10th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour Coming Soon! 6 New Farms! | |
| Celebrate Earth Day this year by touring area small farms. The 10th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour will be held this year on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24. Farms will be open both days from 1pm to 5pm. This year, thirty farms are on the tour! All proceeds benefit the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. Advance buttons are $20 for all farms. Buttons and maps are available at Weaver Street Market locations.
We will feature a new farm here each week until the tour. Mystic Farm: New Farmers, Old Farm 
At Mystic Farm, located in Chatham County, just south of Pittsboro, Matthew and Suzanne Holt learn by doing, observing, and talking. They talk to other farms about best practices, they listen to the bees in their hives to see how they're doing and they try and try again when things don't work out. They wanted to farm right out of school, but found land prices in the northeast too high. They came down to North Carolina at the request of a friend and stayed because they liked the area and the great growing season. Not really used to clay soil, though, they dug it up and replaced it only to discover that they'd made a big clay bowl for the water to sit in. They decided to do raised bed gardening and asked a retired farmer to bring his tractor over to help with the tilling. After a few seasons the farmers simply said, "why don't you farm over here instead of me bringing my tractor over there?" So they leased his old farm, where to their delight, they discovered an overgrown orchard of apple, pear, blueberry, pecan, and chestnut trees. Slowly they have been clearing the overgrowth of weeds and bushes and pruning and reshaping the trees to maximize sunlight and production. Caring for an orchard, and bees to keep it pollinated, comes naturally to Matthew and Suzanne, having grown up in apple country in New Jersey. John Strickland of Busy Bee Farm helped them get started keeping bees and harvesting honey. They grew the number of hives on their land to about twenty, then lost half of them one winter. This seemed to indicate to Matthew that the bees would do much better with fewer hives nearby competing for the flowers. The bees seemed to be happier, too, with more room. They used to lose bees to spring swarming, but now have learned to anticipate the conditions that cause swarming and to adjust the hive before the bees feel pressed to leave. They both swear that bees send out scouts on Palm Sunday and swarm on Easter. They both like to have a lot of variety in their work, so they also have an organic raised-bed garden where they grow heirloom lettuce, peas, broccoli, strawberries, potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, tomatillas, sweet potatoes and more. This year, for fun and to keep things interesting, they'll try growing Spanish peanuts, sunflowers, and irises. A stack of shiitake and oyster mushroom logs occupy a shed on the edge of the property, another project to keep them busy. The farm is organic and they rely on themselves to plant, weed and harvest without the use of heavy equipment. You can visit them for the first time this year on the Piedmont Farm Tour or at the Carrboro's Farmers' Market. |
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| Read more about other local producers. | |
| First Annual Spring Wine Sale and Show - Coming Soon! | |
 Our fall wine sale and show last year was such a great success, we've decided to hold the sale and show twice a year. This spring, the sale will be held from April 1 until April 17. And just like last fall, GREAT deals can be found on wines from around the world - some up to 40% off! This is a "no risk" wine sale, as you can stop by either wine show to sample every wine on sale. The show in Carrboro will be held on Saturday, April 2 from 1 until 5. The show in Southern Village will be held on Saturday, April 9 from 1 until 5. Tickets are $5.00 and are available at both Weaver Street Market locations. A portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit Women's Birth and Wellness Center.
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| Read more about the Center | |
| Read more about this Center and other Birth Centers. | |
| Wellness Demo: Ancient Sun Blue-Green Algae Tasting | |
Saturday March 26, 2005, 11-3 in our Carrboro Store This Wild Organic Blue-Green Algae is harvested from the Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon. A representative from Ancient Sun will be on hand. Come sample and bring your questions about their products. |
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| Read more about this company and its products. | |
| First Bread Bakery Open House a Smashing Success! | |
About fifty people turned out last Sunday night for the first ever Open House in the Weaver Street Bread Bakery. Guests snacked on fruit, cheese, and (you guessed it) bread! There were a lot of bread-related questions in the air, and two people showed up with dough to bake in our oven. We even dug out some extra dough for the children to play with.The bread wasn't just delicious, it was educational as well: on one table was sourdough, desem, and vollkornbrot, three breads made with three different types of starter. The differences between the starters and between starter and yeast were described on posters behind the sampling table. At another table, guests could try rustic and country breads, two very different breads made with the exact same dough. The secrets of production were divulged on another poster. About a dozen people mixed their own dough during our "hand-mixing lessons," and then everyone watched in awe as head baker Brian made ciabatta, a three-day bread, in about 20 minutes. (Okay, he had made some parts ahead of time.) Overall, the Open House was deemed a great success. Keep an eye out for the next one! |
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| Task Force Update | |
Give a hand to these hard-thinking consumer owners!Whew! After seven long, thoughtful meetings, the Task Force to the Board of Directors has wrapped up their work understanding and clarifying their values relating to the Weaver Street Market owner investment system. The group will bring their thoughts to the next Board meeting, where the Board will craft new policy to send on to management. In early May, Weaver Street will be holding open forum meetings for all owners to comment on the Board's policy and the resulting proposals for changes to the system. In addition to the meetings, there will be opportunities to respond to any changes by mail, in the store, and electronically. All owners will have information about any possible changes mailed to their homes in addition to information available in the stores and on the website. Help us keep you informed! Stop by the service desk to update your email and street address, or sign up on the website for our email newsletter, The Beet. |
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| Read about Weaver Street's structure. | |
| Tsunami Relief Fund Update | |
As we look to supporting long-term reconstruction efforts by the tsunami survivors, Weaver Street Market is now donating our collected funds and a portion of our rice, coffee and tea sales to the Tsunami Cooperative Recovery Fund created by the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF). Cooperative development organizations from the United States have been working in the affected region for decades and CDF hopes to provide them and existing cooperatives in the region with additional cooperative development resources to assist in the recovery from this massive disaster. |
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| Click here to read more about how cooperatives are the best option for rebuilding. To donate directly to the Tsunami Cooperative Recovery Fund, or for more information, please click here to visit www.TsunamiRecovery.coop. |
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| Bring Louise Back! | |
Our good and steady friend Louise, pictured at left with musicians from the Carrboro Music Festival a few years ago, was vandalized last fall, and we miss her so much. Please contribute what you can into the donation jars at the Weaver Street Market registers to help Louise's creators get her back in shape and back on her bench on Weaver Street. |
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| Panzanella Open Easter Sunday |
| Panzanella will be open Easter Sunday, March 27, for brunch from 11:00am until 2:30pm and for dinner from 5:30pm until 9:00pm. Specials and the regular menus will be available. Reservations are recommended for parties of 6 or more. Call 929-6626. |
| Visit Panzanella's website to view all menus (lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch). |
| Wine Wednesdays |
Due to popular demand, the Wine Wednesday Special has been extended through the month of March. Each Wednesday, Panzanella features 5 different specially selected bottles of wine for only $10 per bottle (tax not included)! Don’t miss this chance to enjoy a great bottle of wine at a great value. Featured wines are available by the bottle only. Regular wine list is available. |
| Visit Panzanella's website to view all menus (lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch). |
| Owners Get 10% Off! |
Through the end of April, owners will receive a 10% discount EVERY time they eat at Panzanella Sunday through Thursday (closed Monday). Simply print out the coupon available in the link below, fill out your name and owner number and sign each coupon. Present to your server upon ordering your meal. Unlimited usage but you must have a coupon each time you dine. So print out a stack of coupons and dine often! There are so many delicious items on the menus this winter - you’ll want to sample them all!
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| Click here to print your coupons. |