Family Fun at the Salem, NH Farmer's Market! Part 1

This past Sunday, the guys and I decided we wanted to visit a farmer's market that we hadn't been to before.  We decided to Check out the Salem, NH Farmer's Market.  It is located on Lake St. at the Lake Street Garden Center.  The market is open on the first and third Sunday of the month during the winter.  The hours are 12pm-4pm until May.  The market was founded in 2010.

I can honestly say what drew me most on the list of vendors was Brookford Farm.  Brookford Farm is a NH farm that offers raw milk, yogurt, cheeses, all from grass-fed cows.  They also have pastured pork, Grass-fed Beef, free-range eggs, New England Grain, vegetables, and a Whole Diet Based CSA Share.  Their site is beautiful and their staff is very friendly.  At the market, I met Jamieson, and he told me he has been part of the Brookford Farm for two years.  He had a table set up in front of an old white truck that was reminiscent of the old milk man's trucks.  When we arrived Jamieson was still setting up.  I held back from running over....I was dying to try raw milk.  I have never tried it, and have read of many health benefits of consuming raw milk.

Doesn't this remind you of the old milk man's trucks?

This is a quote found on the Brookford Farm website.  "Our milk is also raw, meaning that it’s never pasteurized, or subjected to high temperatures. We believe that raw milk is better to drink because it contains beneficial probiotic microorganisms, vitamins, and enzymes. It’s also much higher in vitamins like beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E. Even some people who are lactose intolerant are able to drink milk in its raw state, since the enzyme lactase, which helps to digest lactose, is not destroyed by the high heat of pasteurization.  Many people also think that Brookford Farm milk is uncommonly delicious. In 2010, we were awarded “Best Milk” by New Hampshire Magazine, and have won numerous awards from milk distributors like Organic Valley and other organizations."

I have to say, me and my family totally agree with New Hampshire Magazine.  Brookford Farm Milk is honestly the best we ever had.  My son normally drinks chocolate milk, but he loved it so much he had three glasses.  He said "it's so creamy and delicioussssssssss!  Can I have more?"  Normally, we are not milk drinkers, and usually we have to (and I hate to admit that we are so wasteful) throw out part of our milk because it has gone sour.  This milk was so tasty, and like Aidan said creamy, and sweet.  We drank the half gallon in two days.  I can't wait to go back to get more.  We love that it comes in Ball Canning jars too.  We use them for everything at home.  Drinking, canning, storing leftovers, making yogurt.  I told Jamieson about my blog as I was buying the milk and he offered to give me some yogurt to review.  That too, was just as great as the milk, smooth, creamy, and fresh.  I like to make yogurt when I have the time, but I haven't in a while so we were excited to try new to us products and support a local business.  I can definitely say that I will be looking into their other products and continue to buy milk and yogurt from them.

Cookies, Crispy pops, and Marshmallow samples!  YUM!

Cupcakes

We needed something to enjoy our milk with and the place for that was Modern Sweets, a Merrimack, NH based baking business run by a mom named Charlotte.  Her booth was so cute it drew me over.  She had beautifully decorated cupcakes, and Easter cookies, and homemade graham crackers drizzled in chocolate, and some rice crispy pops.  I started talking to her about how great everything looked. She told me she just recently started her business a few weeks prior.  She is definitely off to a great start.




 She offered samples of her homemade marshmallows, and once one melted in my mouth, she had me sold.  I told her that I have a blog, and when I told her the name she mentioned seeing it on a search.  She offered me some of her Easter sugar cookies, and two different flavored cupcakes to review.  I knew Aidan and I would have fun trying them out, and I bought some of her marshmallows and graham crackers so we could make some microwaved smores.  All perfect to taste with our Brookford milk. 


And the taste testing begins!....



We went to the market Sunday and Aidan and my niece tasted some of the cookies, and loved them!

Monday after school, Aidan and I set up for our sampling!  We couldn't wait for supper.  We had a lot of fun.  First was the milk and cupcakes.  The cupcake on the left is chocolate with peanut butter frosting.  My boy loves chocolate, but only really likes peanut butter in sandwiches, so he wanted to have some cookies instead.  I liked the cupcake.  Then we tasted the beautifully decorated carrot cake flavored cupcake.  I love carrot cake and so does Aidan.  We make one for John's birthday every year.  I adored this cupcake...I was proud of myself.  I didn't devour it.  I split it in three.  I needed to leave room for the Smores we were about to create in our microwave, while Aidan was busy dunking an Easter egg shaped sugar cookie in his second glass of milk...Those were really good, but I behaved.  I had some Pulled Pork cooking in my crock pot that we purchased the meat from the market Sunday from Hurd Farm.  ( I will talk about that in post 2).  We had some smores we had to make!

 I apologize for the lousy lighting here.  These pictures do not do justice to the delicious Graham Crackers, marshmallows, and smores we created with our Modern Sweets.  I don't think after eating these graham crackers that I will ever want a boxed one again....This was....amazing.  I will have to try to make some with Aidan for those times we don't have a chance to catch up with Charlotte at the market.

 Are they making you hungry yet?  These are not flimsy graham crackers, but dense, crispy, tasty goodness.  They had just the right amount of chocolate to make good smores.  If you are going to make some smores, it is a good idea to remember that these are fresh, homemade ingredients, without all the preservatives of the store bought marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.  We don't have a huge microwave and it only took about 7-8 seconds...(make sure you stand and watch, so you don't get a huge mess) to get some ooey-gooey smores perfection.  Seriously, screw you Nabisco, Hersheys, and Kraft.....Modern Sweets are where the best smores are at.  And no, Charlotte did not pay me to say that....that's my opinion, and the evidence is below!  See what I mean??????  (Again, sorry for the lighting, the skylights are great, until you need a picture!)

I will post soon about the other great products and vendors at the Salem, NH Farmers' Market.  We will definitely making a return trip soon!