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Memorial Day Weekend Opener - Saturday Market

5/29/2024

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The most anticipated weekend of the year in Green Bay for me has finally arrived- opening weekend for all of our farmer’s markets. The Saturday morning market downtown has long been my favorite to get myself ready for the rest of the week, and now that I live alone, shopping with more care for potential food waste is essential. I’m approaching this year with that in mind and creating as many delicious meals as possible from what I buy from our local farmers to share with you.

​Likewise, I intend to highlight both new and old vendors that help me make those meals. Our farmers are knowledgeable of what they produce. Many of them can and will tell you their favorite ways to cook and eat their own products. This is a resource both new and old cooks often have time to tap into while making their purchases. I strongly encourage you to do this and build relationships amongst your own favorites at the myriad of Farmer’s Markets in the region this spring and summer.
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This early in the season in Northeast Wisconsin sometimes sees a smaller number of choices with the cold often holding off growing season up here longer than most other parts of the country, but it’s been warm this year. I fully expected to see items in the stalls that I wouldn’t normally see in Green Bay until later in June. For that reason, I decided to spend most of my time during this market with my old favorites.

This was unfortunately the kind of Saturday morning where I needed to walk right past Cold Climate Farms. They always have a line forming first thing in the morning, and even after some time browsing other stalls, they still had a significant line waiting to purchase with them. This is an opportunity for me to put my attention elsewhere, and it's an opportunity I can’t let pass.

I found many similarities in the available produce this time of year compared to last year– the choices are much more limited this soon than they will be in even two weeks. There was, however, an abundance of early season alliums to sample. Green garlic has already come, and I wonder if we’ve missed our window for garlic scapes. I’ll find out in a few short weeks, as I often don’t see scapes for sale until later in June. Even if that window has passed, I did manage to get my hands on a bundle of chive blossoms– a treat I have never tried before. Green onion with a strong, purple bulb. Green Garlic. Chive blossoms– these were the mixed wares I left with from Adam’s Heirlooms and Full Circle Community Farm. 

Asparagus was available at almost every grower’s stall, and I suspect that will remain the same next week. Next weekend will be asparagus weekend for me, as I entered this week with two very specific goals: I needed Irish bacon, and I needed ramps. Ramps were unfortunately not with any of the vendors on site that I’ve seen in the past. This could be another growing season issue. It’s been so warm this year that my expectations will surely be tested every week. At least I got my Irish bacon and my wide selection of alliums to enjoy with a sliced loaf of Breadsmith Sourdough.

This year, we are embarking on a true Market Meals Segment where the main ingredients of a dish must come from our local Farmers’ Markets here in Green Bay. As this week’s meals are finished, this article will be updated with links to the recipes I created. 

I love ours Farmers’ Markets in Green Bay, and if I can convince even one reader to visit based on a meal I cook, then I consider it an honor to send them to our local farmers.

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Behnke Farms at the Saturday Market

5/30/2023

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The Farmer’s Market Season kicked off last week, and I made sure I found my way downtown for the Saturday Morning Market first and foremost. The evening markets across Green Bay offer a variety of vendors and new experiences. However, I have a soft place in my heart for the Saturday Morning Market after years of attendance. It’s my priority each week once the weather turns. I have many vendors that I make a point to visit, but I know that I’ve missed out on good stuff in years past. Turns out, even after nearly four years, I still haven’t discovered all of the gems.

Near the Walnut Street Entrance sits the Behnke Farms van, and it’s a van I have both stopped at and walked past a thousand times. This is my fourth year attending the market, and for that reason it sometimes feels hard to find something new to highlight for you, dear readers. Behnke Farm recently caught my attention again over the winter when they started carrying and advertising their picahna at the Winter Market on Military.​
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I never made it out to the winter market, but I can’t miss the downtown market. The cut that most interested me is now more available at our area grocery stores. However, I had no hopes of finding picanha with our local vendors until now. I can give the money I would have spent at Festival, Hy-Vee, or Pick N Save with a Wisconsin farmer instead. So, I did. For a little over fifteen dollars, I got my hands on a slab of picanha big enough to cut several steaks out of it.

​I also purchased a package of Cudighi style sausage from them during my stop after we discussed how unusual it was that I knew what the picanha cut of beef was. Cudighi was a mystery to me though. They described it as a sweet Italian Sausage from the UP that they told me is often served as a sandwich or formed into patties for burgers. Regional styles of meat processing are one of my favorite things. I’ve never made it up to the UP, so until I stopped at their van, I had no idea what Cudighi even was.
While these special buys that I made this weekend are possible with Behnke Farms, you can get your hands on a variety of beef and pork cuts from them. Among their specialty items are their homemade brats with a variety of flavors, multiple cuts of bacon, brat patties, and jerky. I don’t recall ever seeing tallow on sale at a market stand, but if you like to use animal fats in your cooking, you can get your hands on it with Behnke Farms for a very reasonable price. Did I mention they also carry oxtails for your booyah needs when the fall comes?

I now know better than to walk by Behnke Farms every Saturday. Reasonably priced beef, pork, and eggs are right there on the way out of the market. Visit early for the best selection, and tell them Eating Normal sent you. Their location at the market makes them easy to find if you’re parking in the garage. Not able to make it to the Saturday Market? They’re proud supporters of the Market on Military which begins its Summer hours this week.

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Adam's Heirlooms - A Farmer's Market Education

9/30/2022

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The number of heirloom variety growers at the Saturday Morning Farmer’s Market has grown in the last few years, but one of those I have always kept my eye on is Adam’s Heirlooms, who frequently had vegetable varieties on the table that I never saw before that day. One weekend, I happened to stop by and see two words that excite an avid cook: Berkshire Pork.

Berkshire hogs originally hail from England, and in many cooking circles, they are considered some of the best available to a modern cook. They may not be Iberico pigs, but this variety of hog is talked about nearly as often as their Spanish, acorn eating relatives. I had to stop. I had to buy, and I learned a lot from the folks at the stand.
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One of the Berkshire pork products they offered that day was an Irish Cut Bacon, something I had somehow never heard of before. It skirts the line by including two cuts at once, a little of the belly along the loin to give you the best of both worlds. The Irish bacon has been the foundation of every breakfast I cooked for myself this week, from as simple as a plate of bacon and eggs to a bacon infused frittata.  I also walked away with a package of sausage and a product known as pullet eggs.

Pullet eggs so rarely make it to the market because many farmers prize them for their own. These eggs are the earliest eggs laid by chickens, often within the first four weeks of a hen’s egg laying career. They’re so small that they are more comparable to a quail egg than a chicken egg.

The comparison picture I took from the top down really does not do the size difference much justice. The egg on the bottom right is one of the pullet eggs, much rounder than the top left.


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While most of my energy was focused on the animal husbandry portion of their offerings, the varieties of peppers and other vegetables on the other end of their stand remained peculiar and unusual compared to the other vendors at the market that morning.  I will be back to investigate those further during the final farmer’s market as hot sauce preparations begin several weeks late in the Eating Normal House.

Of note, you can access their website to pre-order what interests you most and pick it up at the Market this weekend. They have home delivery in the Manitowoc area if that is more your speed. I can only wish for a home delivery in Green Bay in the fast approaching off season.
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The Revolution Market Undergoes Its Own Revolution

7/2/2022

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I’ll be honest. I haven’t been back to the Revolution Market since Produce with Purpose moved out to pursue their stand alone operation and packing site. My work schedule doesn’t offer me many opportunities to visit the smaller vendors in town that close around five, Revolution Market included, so when I saw their Grand Opening to celebrate the renovations since Produce With Purpose left the facility, I knew I had to be there.

We arrived right at their five pm start time, and the crowd was already there. So many other members of the media were there taking pictures, but it was good for me to still be remembered by the ladies running Bountiful Boards and Souper Day. We spotted each other through the crowds and made time to talk when able. Being introduced to all of the new offerings by the people responsible remains the best part about the location.
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Early visitors to the Grand Opening
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Mushroom Gouda Soup from Souper Day
Souper Day has perhaps taken on the greatest changes since the vendor switch up earlier this year. Their space may have expanded, but so has their menu. These changes came in just in time for the shifting of the seasons that cause most people to give up on hot soup for the year. Cold sandwiches and gazpachos are now available, making Souper Day as viable an option in the summer as it is in the winter.

​Bountiful Boards has expanded to fill in the space left behind after Produce with Purpose left the market, and that means three cold cases of cheese to turn it into a proper cheese shop. This fills a hole left behind in Green Bay upon the closure of Nala’s Cheese and Wine in Bellevue sometime last year, and it makes it much more likely that I’ll make more frequent visits to the market in order to see them.
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Their previous business model focused entirely on the boards wasn’t as inviting for me as a person who doesn’t do much hosting at home. Access to a big cheese case, however, is very inviting. Cheese and crackers are a common snack in the Eating Normal House, and we left this visit with a brand new cheese in our lives after enjoying the cheese tasting during the event.

Souper Day and Bountiful Boards have also taken on joint ventures in catering. If you’re looking to supply a tasty, locally produced lunch to an office or an event, stop in to the Revolution Market to investigate your options. Many of the potential items were available for sampling and viewing during the Grand Opening event– including a lunch box which would fill that office lunch void perfectly. We took home one of their cold sandwiches for lunch the next day and enjoyed the Souper Day crafted sandwich with Bountiful Boards cheese to its fullest.
Perhaps most exciting for me was the opportunity to sample future offerings from the next tenant at the Revolution Building: McKayla Marie Sweets. A bakery is exactly what that region of town needs. Her sample macarons moved so quickly that they were gone within the first hour of the event, but I got my hands on her peanut butter and cacao nib mini macaron before then. The bitter raw chocolate flavor of the cacao nib balanced perfectly with the peanut butter flavored cookie. Their dainty size made them an attractive feature of the table. You couldn’t go by without grabbing one.

The owner hopes to be ready for business in August, and we will be there to say hello and welcome them into their new facility. The small business growth going on in the Revolution Market is exciting to watch. We wish the new tenants luck in their endeavor! Green Bay is spoiled for bakeries of all kinds, but dare I say none of them have made a macaron that got me as excited as theirs?

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McKayla Marie Sweets Sample Stand
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New to the building are two attractions: a kombucha bar and a small cold case of locally sourced produce from a collective of local growers. We did not get in to sample the kombucha, but we did take a look at the local produce that the market has added to the corner to keep people like me coming in even if we’re not in the market for lunch. If you miss Produce with Purpose over there like we do, it eases the pain a little.

These new expansions provide all businesses involved with a great opportunity, and we as a community would be foolish to ignore the opportunity that it also presents us. Eating well and eating local in the age of inflation takes some of the pain out of the wallet by putting the money into the hands of people you know, and the people here will know you. They make it their responsibility. 

Here’s to a new era at the Revolution Market.
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Revolution Market's Oktoberfest 2021

10/24/2021

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Fall arrived in a rush this past week, and with it came the cool mornings I have been waiting for for weeks now. I woke up on Saturday morning ready to face the day and the inaugural Oktoberfest over at Revolution Market. The staff and vendors at Revolution have been some of my greatest supporters, hitting that like button for me at many opportunities. Who would I be if I didn’t set aside the time to visit an event that showed so much promise and brought together so many great vendors from across our Green Bay Community?

This event also presented itself as an opportunity to fill up my entire fridge with local goods where I have mostly stopped myself at my limit at the morning farmer’s markets for the last few weeks. We love the resident vendors of Revolution Market, and I was very excited to meet some new folks at Oktoberfest.

Some of these vendors we’ll discuss in their own separate articles as we spent a lot of time with them during the event, and their food deserves their own highlights. I had no idea what to expect when I showed up at the lot. The interior of Revolution was too small in my head to fit every single vendor that their facebook marketing promised, so I figured there would be parking lot spill over.

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Kickaas Cheese - Market Vendor Highlight

10/1/2021

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Green Bay’s Saturday morning market has been my favorite event of the year since my first visit. This new, relaxed season with fewer COVID guidelines has opened it up in a whole new way, and over the course of this new season, I’ve become very familiar with a Green Bay Cheesemaker-- Kickass Cheese-- who is our highlighted vendor this week. There’s not much time left in the season, so they absolutely deserve the recognition while shoppers still have a chance to visit.

We stop by their stall every week when we visit the farmer’s market looking for something new to try. Brie, cheddars, curds, jack cheeses, swiss, parmesan… They’ve got something for everyone, and their flavors regularly rotate. If you want to get an idea of what they have to offer before you make a visit to them at the market, you can visit their website to see pictures and descriptions of every variety that they produce on the reg.
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Day One: Eating All Local

4/17/2021

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Morning comes, and the grocery order of the day before is safely stored in my refrigerator. The sheer amount of produce and meat that came from local sources is somewhat hard to believe even after a delicious spring and summer farmer’s market season with other vendors in Green Bay. Produce with Purpose Farm has a strong variety available for the time of year, and access to humanely raised and butchered meats propelled them up the list of my favorite places to shop in the last month. It only made sense that I would eventually set up a farm box pick up, and here we are using it as a challenge opportunity.

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1 Week All Local Cooking Challenge

4/10/2021

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Hi folks, long time no write. It’s been a hell of a few months. My health is still not quite where I want to be, but I’m very excited about a challenge I issued for myself starting Thursday, April 15th with a big farm box from Produce with Purpose over at Revolution Market in Green Bay. I’ve debated for a long time if I should start picking up with them weekly after several pleasant in person visits and their new delivery service through Eat Street, and I woke up on a Sunday morning with a fresh idea: let’s cook and eat local only for one whole week starting with them.

And trust me, I know I’ve been screaming on the rooftops about how much I love this place. It might even be getting annoying. I really believe in what they’re doing over there in trying to make these kinds of goods accessible throughout the year. Home delivery, farm boxes, daily vendor hours. It’s dedication, and I’m dedicated to it. It’s a mission I believe in, and to try to live it a little bit more myself, here’s what I’m doing.

My husband and I try to stick to a $100.00 grocery budget a week, which I will surpass slightly buying local meat for our meals. I’m okay with a little extra money out the door to eat local. We’ve got a few weeks in our area before the farmer’s markets start opening and more and more vendors start selling. If this little challenge works out, we will continue to spend nearly every cent of our grocery budget on our local growers and producers.

Here are my rules:
  • The majority of what we eat each day needs to come from this grocery box
    • Dipping into the pantry to supplement is okay
    • Frozen meats from earlier in the year also okay
  • Leftovers count for a meal the following day
    • Nothing wrong with cooking big
  • I will be baking with the Organic Artisan Blend Bread Flour i bought
    • I recently revived Quaran-Tina, AKA my lockdown sourdough, she needs friends
  • Try new things
    • I’ve never had swiss chard or ramps, time to play!

If this sounds like something you want to try yourself, Produce with Purpose is open for box building until 7 am on Tuesday each week to give them time to gather up what you order. Green Bay and Fox Valley locals have got some time to figure out what they want if you want to do this with me.

Visit their Barn2Door ordering website here if you’re interested.

Below is a list of what I personally ordered for the coming week, and if I come out of a recipe particularly proud, I’ll post it for you to try!

  • Buttercase Cheese
  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Carrots
  • Crimini Mushrooms
  • Organic Chicken Eggs
  • Baby Swiss Chard
  • Russet Potatoes
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • 1 Baguette
  • Organic Artisan Blend Bread Flour
  • Dozen Duck Eggs
  • German Butterball Potatoes
  • Flatleaf Parsley
  • Rck’s Foraged Pizza Pizza Kit
  • Scallions
  • 3lb Onion Mix
  • Green Garlic
  • Ramps
  • Brussel Sprouts
  • Broccolini
  • King Trumpet Mushrooms
  • Chicken Wings
  • Bacon from Roskums
  • Pork Spare Ribs
  • Beef Knuckle Bones-- For Stock


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Produce With Purpose & Revolution Market

3/14/2021

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Sunday, March 7th, my husband and I went out on a whim to a little building on Holmgren Way that I've watched from a distance for the better part of a year now. Crippled by closures this time last year, Revolution Market got off to a slow start while they prepared to welcome vendors into their space. Those restrictions are gone. Vendors are in their stalls, and Sundays are for Produce with Purpose as one of the only vendors on site during the weekend.

We didn't know what to expect when we arrived. Google Maps told us the whole building was closed, but Facebook told us better. Signs outside let us know that someone was indeed on site and selling. That someone was Rick from Produce with Purpose, holding down the fort at his indoor farmer's market with product availability across the board.

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Green Bay's Saturday Market: Week 1

6/8/2020

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I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was when Farmer’s Market season came back around. I’ve been waiting for it as the weather got nicer out of my office window. I’ve been waiting for it since I moved to Green Bay. I had the expectation that the Farmer’s Markets would be miles above any that I went to in the smaller towns that I’ve lived in up until this point, and I was right to hold those expectations. The Saturday Morning Market that’s held on Washington street downtown is apparently smaller than the Wednesday market, but we’ll get to that one soon.

What matters is that this Saturday Market was the perfect way for me to get my feet wet in the local scene of growers, cheese producers, and meat purveyors. With around ninety vendors in attendance, I can say with relative certainty that I probably won’t have to use a big box grocery store for my shopping unless I need canned goods, sodas, or the like to renew our stockpile. I can support the local community for all of my regular cooking needs.

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