This weekend was most productive at the markets. First I want to tell you about Black Cherry tomatoes. I bought them from Eastward Gardens at Rainbow Blossom Sunday, mostly because I'd never had them and was feeling adventurous. If you've never had them, run, don't walk, to your nearest farmers market and buy as many as you can. They truly are like candy. I actually had to buy a second pint because I ate the first one I'd bought for dinner.

Secondly, being as we are in peak season here in KY, I had my pick of wonderfulness at my 2 markets. I got Roma tomatoes and bell peppers from my fellow vendors Kathy and Vincent, eggplant from Magic Acres Farm and the above mentioned tomatoes as well as another variety whose name I don't remember. The Romas and mystery variety will be turned into tomato jam this week. The eggplant will become Eggplant Jerky. But tonight I was inspired and made a pork stir-fry. We're actually trying to transition to a mostly vegetarian diet. To be honest meat has become so expensive it just makes economic sense for us. Dad says he's game so I thought this stir-fry might help with the transition. I confess the brussels sprouts and pork came from Kroger. Sometimes inspiration strikes when something's out of season or the farmers market isn't handy. This stir-fry could easily be meatless, I don't think the pork would have been missed. Use whatever veggies you have handy or whatever's in season. I would have preferred green onion and some broccoli will definitely make it in next time. Below is my mise en place, and yes, the glass of wine is central to the process.

FARMERS MARKET STIR-FRY

1 medium bell pepper
2 Roma tomatoes sliced and halved
1 Asian eggplant, sliced
12oz package brussels sprouts, thawed and halved
2 Carrots shredded
1/2 medium union sliced
2T minced garlic
Meat of your choice or no meat at all. This was 2 pork loin chops, cubed

Sauce: 
1/3c FLF Bourbon Peach Preserves
2t soy sauce
1t cornstarch (optional)

Saute meat in a hot skillet with a little olive oil. Remove from pan. Add a bit more oil, saute vegetables and garlic until desired doneness. Whisk preserves, soy sauce and cornstarch (if using it, it makes a thicker sauce) in a bowl. Add meat to vegetables, add sauce. Cook until sauce is hot. Serve over rice or pasta. I got approximately 3 servings, but that's how many I make. Add more veggies and you'll get more servings.

It was a huge hit, Biscuit even enjoyed the left overs.

Today would have been, my little brother, Tudor's 49th birthday. He was, in essence, the catalyst for Flying Leap Farm. We spent so many late nights talking about his experience with the farmers markets in Seattle and Oregon. We tossed so many ideas around about what could we sell at a farmers market. We thought it would be the best of all possible worlds to make a living providing good food directly to people. When he died, I realized you can't let dreams wait. There won't always be time, and the time is never right. So thank you Tudor. I love you and miss you and every day I do a market I wish you were there and think how much you would have loved it.

We've come such a long way in 4 years, and now we begin a new phase. Welcome to our blog. The plan is to offer recipes for what's fresh at the market, tell you about new items we'll be introducing and to share our journey as we attempt to buy our "real" farm. But as they say, the best laid plans... So bear with me as I figure out how this works, comments and suggestions are of course always welcome.

As some of you know, we recently dramatically downsized in order to save some money to buy our farm. We cut the cable cord, cut our LG&E bill by approximately $200 a month and no longer have a $75 / month water bill. To be honest, I am not enjoying apartment living. I believe there's a circus troop living above us and they seem to need to practice at midnight and 6am, with music. I'm fighting the urge to yell, "Get off my lawn." But, at least we have a roof. I'll appreciate the move to the country that much more.

To FLF business. We've had enormous success with our Gluten-Free / Vegan veggie burgers and tomorrow we'll have the Maple Apple Breakfast Sausage again. Pat's come up with a new, spicy bean dip we'll also roll out tomorrow, and we're working on some gluten-free / vegan snacks.

So lots of exciting changes and products in the works. Stay tuned.

We turn ideas into food!

We are purveyors of fine gourmet condiments & seasonings.
We are an urban herb farm located in Louisville, KY. We grow all the herbs used in our products with no pesticides, artificial or animal fertilizers. Anything we don't grow ourselves; we buy locally, as much as possible.

 Check out our catalog on Facebook. Send us an e-mail to flyingleapfarm@live.com with your order and we will be happy to ship it directly to you. We accept all major credit and debit cards.