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This Weekend at the Marshfield Farmers' Market

Cinnamon Scented Ornaments for the Kids & Rushing Chairs and Food Traditions for the Adults

By Lorrie Dahlen December 18, 2014
At the Marshfield Winter Farmers’ Market there are cinnamon scented ornaments for the kids, rushing chairs and food traditions to try for the adults. . . . here are the details.

This Saturday the farmers’ market has a free workshop on how to rush chairs (see picture).  Bring yours with the materials and Doug Lowry will assist you with your project.  The workshop runs then entire market 10 am – 2 pm.  For the kids there will be cinnamon scented ornaments to decorate.  You can expect the lively music of Dan Durkee, plenty of fresh local produce, meats, baked goods and confections.  If you’re not the fanciful chef in the kitchen try the prepared foods to make a great impression at your holiday table.  There are also crafters with centerpieces, ornaments, and gifts.  Finally the best gift of all is a gift certificate to the farmers’ market, available at the manager’s booth.  Paired with an insulated market bag and BPA-free water bottle you are giving a gift of discovery, local and healthy foods and your recipient can choose items from over 30 vendors.

Thinking of December the holidays have traditions regarding religion, gift giving, being with family, and joining in jovial holiday parties.   But, gazing back to childhood holiday experiences it is also the foods we ate that sticks solidly in my memory, waiting with anticipation for the select items.  Christmas had a somewhat flexible menu but certain foods were always present, seemingly necessary for the celebration to be held, creating a holiday abyss if not there.  Being of German descent I had the opportunity to enjoy two days’ worth of tradition.  Christmas eve was our big day of friends, food and gift exchange until late in the night followed by a quiet family Christmas morning with a special brunch of stuffed crepes.  Later we’d enjoy a Christmas Day dinner at a friend’s house.  

While most holidays have very specific traditional foods like Easter ham and Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas has a much wider diversity of food traditions unique to each family.  Thanksgiving foods were born from this land’s heritage; other religious holidays like Passover, Easter and Hanukah are celebrated with foods based on religious roots.  But Christmas menus, although a religious holiday, appear to come from an individual family’s heritage.  Diversity in Christmas food traditions is logical here, as we are a country built of immigrants.   
Reaching out to others for menu traditions led me to wonderful dishes to sneak onto our own table.  Many also have ingredients available at the farmers’ market included red cabbage, usually cooked with onion, bacon, apple cider vinegar and applesauce until tender and brilliant in color, typical southern German fare.  It is delicious with home-made noodles known as spetzle or dumplings called knoedel.  Of course chunky mashed potatoes with skins, (blue or red colored potatoes add fun conversations), butternut roasted to sweet perfection, and lively salads are popular too.  Another tempting selection was steamed lobster with clam chowder, often a summer meal but a treat for Christmas Eve!  Other popular seafood choices were shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, fresh oysters, and oyster stew. 

If handy in the kitchen, perhaps corn pudding and plum pudding could be an interesting addition, as would a Stolen.  Reading the recipe, the plum pudding could knock your socks off; have you rolling under the table happily drunk.  It takes a month to make it true to tradition, but a few days or a week is sufficient.  I had no idea so many fruits, and cognac, went into this dish.  If you’d like to give some of these dishes a try the market has many of the recipes on line at www.MarshfieldFair.org/fm.htm  and in the market e-newsletter due out tomorrow.

The winter farmers’ market opens the 3rd Saturday each month, 10am -2pm. Located at 140 Main St. it is wheelchair and stroller friendly, has lots of free parking and it’s heated indoors under the grandstands.  For more information call 781-635-0889 or on Facebook: “Fans of the Marshfield Farmers Market”.