The Franklin Apartment building at 7520 Maple Avenue in Takoma Park, Maryland installed these large, deep rectangular planters for residents to grow vegetables and flowers on the eastern edge of their huge parking lot.
What a sunrise!!! – Or, is this a mural made of recycled/repurposed materials that otherwise might end up in a landfill? I saw a lot of ceramic tiles and glass on my last trip to Community Forklift….and I would love to see more of these murals throughout the area. You can visit this mural at the Takoma Park Library at 101 Philadelphia Avenue, Takoma Park, Maryland.
Sunrise Recycled...a good name I think
Posted in Creative Sustainable ART
Here’s a follow-up to last week’s post (read that one for more details on the exciting project) after attending the unveiling ceremony
this past Sunday. The trail is easily accessible along Carroll Avenue, see
the downloadable trail map. Below, you’ll find photos of all 8 bike sculptures, although the map does not make reference to the one inside the park across from the TSSP food coop, only to the one on the exterior of the park.
Also I should note that #3 on the map was initially hard to find because I
was looking for it on the sidewalk, it is actually mounted on a wrought iron
fence along the sidewalk. Thanks and congratulations to all involved! If anyone
knows of any other recycled public art within the watershed, please let me know
- it’s a growing interest of mine.
Posted in Bicycling, Creative Sustainable ART, Recycling, Sustainable Business Leadership, Uncategorized
Tagged art, bicycling, recycle, Takoma Park
Sometimes if I think enough about a great idea, someone else will actually do it for me! Seriously, kudos to Laura Barclay and all involved. I am very excited to see this project unfold in the Takoma Park community. This article came from the Takoma Park Newsletter, June 2011 edition.
New sculptures made of bicycle parts will be rolling into Takoma Park this month, as the reCYCLE Art of the Bike Project is installed.
The concept, to create public art from mostly bicycle parts, is designed to highlight the art, bicycling and recycling culture of Takoma Park. Seven sculptures were commissioned by the Old Takoma Business Association, and will be mounted along the sidewalks of Carroll Avenue to create a self-guided walking tour. Once installed, the art will remain in place for five months, then be auctioned off to the public at the Takoma Park Street Festival on October 2nd.
Artists, who were chosen by a five-person jury of specialists inclucing artists, an engineer, a museum consultant and an historian, are mostly local. They are sculptor Howard Connelly of Silver Spring (two sculptures), Montgomery College sculpture student Richard Lorr (two sculptures), Takoma Park artists Alison Baker and James Colwell (one sculpture each) and San Diego artist Robert Wertz. reCYCLE is the brainchild of Takoma Park resident Laura Barclay, who works with the City to promote the Old Town business area. Barclay saw a similar project while on vacation in Belfast, Maine and was inspired to bring it home. With support from the Old Town Business Association, Barclay solicited funding, put out a call to artists, recruited a jury and obtained permits for public art. The project is financed by grants from the Takoma Foundation and the City’s Small Community Grant Program, and with support from the Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission, the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op, Mark’s Kitchen, Pyramid Atlantic, Franca Brilliant and Seth Grimes as well as Heritage Building and Renovation and Leda Black.
(sharing from the Bay Trust website) The Chesapeake Bay Trust, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Department of the Environment announced the first-ever grant recipients of the collaborative Green Streets-Green Jobs Initiative, a program designed to promote green streets, urban green infrastructure, and green jobs as part of an overall community or watershed plan. In total, 10 cities and towns were awarded $25,000-$35,000 grants to fund the planning and design of green infrastructure projects within the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia watersheds. This announcement was made at the start of the EPA’s Green Streets-Green Jobs Forum, a two-day event in support of innovative, green infrastructure practices to restore urban waters, promote renewable energy and protect public health and safety.
“The Green Streets-Green Jobs Initiative is a winner because it combines the expertise and resources of federal and state governments with the know-how of local communities to improve our environment by building green streets that reduce urban runoff,” said Senator Ben Cardin, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. “The communities that have been selected to receive these grants will be able to make significant upgrades to the urban landscape.”
Senator Cardin joined top officials from the EPA, Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and Department of the Environment, local and regional technical experts and mayors from the selected towns to discuss plans for green street/green infrastructure projects that reduce polluted runoff and create green jobs in urban areas. The Green Streets-Green Jobs awardees include: BaltimoreCity, College Park, University Park, Capitol Heights, Bladensburg, Edmonston, Mount Rainier, Hyattsville, Cottage City and Colmar Manor.
“Green infrastructure projects offer more cost-effective approaches to water protection while at the same time making our communities cleaner, healthier and more desirable places to live and work,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “By managing rainwater as a resource instead of a problem, communities can save $27 for every $1 invested in green infrastructure.”
The Green Streets-Green Jobs Initiative, administered through the Trust’s Watershed Assistance Grant Program, supports the implementation of President Obama’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order through the creation of “green streets.” A “green street” is a street that 1) minimizes impact through an approach that incorporates water quality, energy-efficiency, and other environmental best practices; 2) integrates a system of stormwater management to increase infiltration and/or reduce flow; 3) reduces the amount of water that is piped directly into streams; 4) makes the best use of the street tree canopy for stormwater interception, temperature mitigation and air quality improvement; 5) encourages pedestrian and/or bicycle access; and 5) provides an aesthetic advantage to a community.
“These mayors and towns are shining examples of community stewardship efforts that are taking hold across Maryland and across the broader Chesapeake Baywatershed,” said Allen Hance, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. “The Trust looks forward to providing continued support for innovative green infrastructure projects that link together three outcomes sought by all communities: improved livability, a strengthened local economy and a healthier environment.”
Posted in Green Jobs
As someone who has been seeking a new green professional position, I want to extend as much support to anyone else out there who might be looking as well. Please contact me with any additional resources to share on www.ecostudio.info.
Local Green Collar Training Programs
A crucial starting point for the rejuvenation of our economy and getting many more in our workforce back to work, not to mention in jobs that create a sense of tremendous contribution, is to focus on building rapid, large-scale deployment of energy independence and employment training to support the green-energy industry in five key areas:
Green DMV is non-profit organization seeking to promote sustainability and green jobs in low-income communities across America as a pathway out of poverty. The organization was founded and self-funded by cofounders, Philip O’Neal and Rhon Hayes in 2007. The initial focus is our nation’s capital and the Washington Metropolitan Area (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia – DMV) to help influence policy change in the region that will spur sustainable green job growth and equitable environmental policies. Green DMV is fueled by a passion to ensure that the green economy is inclusive of all people.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s Green Zone Environmental Program (GZEP) is one of the largest green jobs training program for youth in the nation. GZEP introduces District youth, age 14 to 21, to the green job labor market, exposing them to numerous exciting career paths and offers academic enrichment opportunities. The program’s primary goal is to afford young adults an opportunity to develop the skills and work ethic necessary to succeed in the workplace. District youth workers participating in GZEP work on projects that have immeasurable sustainability benefits on the District.
The Green Builders Council of DC has embarked on the process of taking unprecedented steps to see that workers in DC are skilled in eco-friendly modes of construction. Through the creation and management of one of the city’s largest green jobs training programs, the development of the nation’s first green training module for contruction workers, and a unique weatherization program for DC youth, GBCDC is working to ensure ‘green building’ goes hand-in-hand with job creation and the strengthening of our local economy.
The BlueGreen Alliance is a national, strategic partnership between labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. The Alliance organizes the annual national conference GOOD JOBS GREEN JOBS
Listed below are some of the most commonly utilized sites for finding broader employment within areas of renewable energy, conservation, green building, fair trade and other areas of sustainability.
Business for Social Responsibility, a group that helps companies navigate sustainability issues, is a good place to start. SustainableBusiness.com is an excellent source for employment because it broadly covers all sectors that impact sustainability: government, renewable energy, efficiency, green building, green investing, and organics. Others are treehugger.com and ecojobs.com, which include a broad array of positions from conservation to engineering to international opportunities. The Fair Trade Federation Job Board lists opportunities with Fair Trade businesses within the FTF network of over 250 members. Idealist.org focuses on the non-profit sector. Greenjobs.com focuses on the renewable fuel industry. GreenBiz.com, Great Green Careers, Green Dream Jobs from Sustainable Business.com, Sustain Lane and GreenJobs.net also contain employment boards.
The Green Collar Blog lists RECRUITERS who focus on social or environmental responsibility, they are also developing a list of green job training and education programs for later in 2011.
(below: Eco Studio offers a page consolidating these links – easy to share with a friend)
And, since I am also looking for an incredible green job - please extend my RESUME
to someone who might be interested in a stellar green and entrepreneurial professional.
Posted in Green Jobs
Chicken Pot Pie at Hunter's Head Tavern
Driving through the surroundings of Middleburg, Virginia (Fauquier County) to reach this weekend’s local foodie destination in Upperville, fox hunting is apparently the sport of choice in the area deemed “Virginia H-U-N-T country”. The locals’ affinity for English things is also noticed in the red telephone booths typical of London in front of several businesses, including Hunter’s Head Tavern (9048 John S. Mosby Hwy). As we were parking the car, a wave of British patrons exited the tavern, and I now wondered if these phone booths were actually some sort of Dr. Who travel vessel. Of course, the fare on the tavern’s menu was also typical British. While the jaw-dropping surrounding countryside and charming streets and businesses of both Middleburg and Upperville extended the trip into late afternoon, the tavern was our first stop since I came to explore how it was integrated into an extendable local sustainable farm business model.
Ayrshire Farm, located in Upperville at 21846 Trappe Road, is a fully-certified organic, humane and USDA-inspected farm, raising heritage breed livestock. The farm itself is spectacular and the original plantation house dates back to 1821. Ayrshire Farm also owns and supplies its farm products to three local retail establishments: Home Farm Store, a traditional Butcher Shop, in what appears to be a former bank building, sells organic, local, and other specialty foods with a loft old-fashioned soda bar, in Middleburg, Virginia, Hunter’s Head Tavern in Upperville, Virginia and Home Farm Catering Company offering catering for private on-farm (a spectacular dreamy site), tavern or off-site events. Ayrshire Farm products are also available at the Inn of Little Washington and Nora’s Restaurant.
Hunter’s Head Tavern is a deservedly popular neighborhood spot and an authentic English Pub that serves pub fare, fine dining cuisine, and mouthwatering homemade desserts. At Hunter’s Head Tavern, you can experience organic local farm meats and produce harvested from neighboring Ayrshire Farm. From burgers and bangers, to roasted chickens, to veal and pork chops, Hunter’s Head Tavern provides a unique opportunity for customers to have confidence that their meals come from a farm dedicated to maintaining the health and well being of its animals. After almost 100 years as a tenant house, antique shop, and office, current owner Sandy Lerner’s efforts in 1997 to open a restaurant in Upperville were repeatedly blocked, particularly by the monied horsy set. Consequently, fox hunters are not allowed to cross her property, and her disdain for them is reflected in the restaurant’s name: Hunter’s Head.
Wonderful domestic and imported beers are available on tap, along with an excellent wine selection including local and organic wines. Five different dining rooms and extensive outdoor seating during the summer season, provide a dynamic dining experience including family-friendly, romantic, and neighborhood pub-style. The Tavern also accommodates private parties.
There are some striking original remnants, such as fireplaces, walls and mantles, of the 1750s log cabin built by Scotsman Steven McPherson, known as the Old Carr House for a second-generation Irishman Joseph Carr who bought the farm and cabin and later opened a general store as well as founded Upperville. The ordering system is true British tavern style. Guests place an order at the bar’s open Dutch door and then take a numbered wooden spoon to be placed in the empty wine bottle sitting on the table; servers look for your number and deliver your order directly to your table in one of the atmospheric tavern rooms or outside on the terrace, in good weather.
The Tavern continues its British heritage by serving organic Scottish Highland cattle and Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs. It stews its beef in Guinness, makes its Welsh rarebit with English Cheddars, and lays out tea midweek and seasonal custard year-round. My dining partner enjoyed the bangers and potatoes, a very generous portion that I was happy to share since my puff pastry-topped chicken pot pie turned out to be the smallest entree on the menu. Chips here, of course, mean french fries. It should be pointed out that despite the name, Hunter’s Head is not only carnivore country. Lighter and vegetarian options include salmon and tuna, a variety of salads and seafood Caesars as well as vegetarian versions of either the pot or shepherd’s pie. I will definitely be back to explore more of the menu!
Open for dinner daily; afternoon tea Tue-Wed-Thu;
Lunch Tues-Sunday; 540-592-9020
Outdoor seating available in good weather.
http://www.huntersheadtavern.com/
The 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference takes place February 8-10 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Conference is the leading forum for sharing ideas and strategies for building a green economy that creates good jobs, reduces global warming and confronts other environmental problems, and secures America’s economic and environmental future. The 2010 Conference brought together nearly 3,000 people from across the country.
This year’s workshops represent important concentrations in building the green economy, including: Green Infrastructure and Transportation; State and Local Initiatives and Partnerships; Workforce, Economic Development and Youth Education; Emerging Green Sectors: Recycling, Chemicals, Water, Agriculture and Other Growing Industries; Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency; Business, Investments and New Markets; and Clean Energy Manufacturing. Speakers include EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, and Vice President Biden’s Chief Economic and Economic Advisor Jared Bernstein. For more, view the agenda.
Registration: $175. Starting Monday (today), you can register for the Conference on-site only on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration will be held on the Lobby Level, adjacent to the Marriot Ballroom, Monday from 3:00 – 9:00 p.m., Tuesday from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., and Wednesday from 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in DC
When: Tuesday – Thursday
For more information: www.greenjobsconference.org/
Posted in Green Jobs
I launched into the green movement when I opened The People Garden natural food delivery service back in 1997 in Mount Pleasant and then a retail market in 2000. I operated the business under a triple social-environmental-economic mission and invested a lot of thought and creativity to provide organic, natural, healthy foods at affordable prices for all income ranges. So, I thought I’d share some insight I learned early on in that process. If you think eating healthy and organic foods means sacrificing in other areas of your budget, starve not! With these shopping tips, you can stock your shelves with organic, free-range and whole foods — and still have money for an occasional night out on the town at one of our many restaurants offering sustainable choices.
1. Browse the aisles of price-busting warehouses. These retailers, such as Costco, are carrying more and more organic items in large sizes that you cannot find elsewhere. If you don’t have the space or need for such quantity, split the membership fee and quantities with a friend. Traveling together also saves gas!
2. Shop at stores that have bulk sections. The last thing you’d want to pay for is excessive packaging that gets immediately thrown into your trash or recycling. Bulk grains, cereals, beans, nuts, dried fruit, and even chocolate-covered espresso beans are a lot cheaper per pound than items that come in a box, colorful bag or can. Compare, for example, the price of one pound of organic brown rice in the bulk section of Whole Foods at generally $0.99 against the 1-pound packaged bag for $2.49. You can also save almost $1 per pound on granola. Barley is one of the cheapest grains for making a delicious side dish or soup. (See the tip #20 for learning to cook with more of these affordable yet unfamiliar grains and beans.)
3. Ask your favorite natural food store to order an entire case of your favorite products. Split with a friend or two if needed. Generally, retailers will give you a 10% discount on a case order because there is much less processing for them and no stocking required…and it builds fantastic customer support and loyalty. Retailers with bulk sections generally receive those items in 25-50 lb bags that you could also order. If they refuse, shop around!
4. Ask to review the distributor’s sales catalogs. Natural food distributors provide retailers with monthly sales catalogs, offering an incredible amount of products at savings of 25% and some times more. Buy a case of what’s on sale and ask to get the sales discount. This is something a smaller, independent store is more likely to accommodate – and yet another good reason for frequenting them.
5. Keep a “best price” comparison list for all of your favorite food vendors for one month, then select the best prices for each product and shop accordingly. Shortly, you will know the prices by heart and will immediately know if you spot a great deal elsewhere. My routine is to save Saturdays for recreational and entertainment activities while Sundays I start with an early routine at the gym followed by stopping at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market, then Trader Joe’s, then Whole Foods and finally at the Giant two blocks from my house in Takoma Park or the Safeway on the way home – usually followed by working in my own garden to see what I can add to the day’s mix. While this sounds like it would take a lot of time, I actually speed through stores by becoming more familiar with each store’s layout, not needing to check prices and being able to use the 15-items-or-less check-out in some cases. Important to note, I thoughtfully planned this routine along a continuous path I would otherwise take as not to use extra miles.
6. Buy the store’s brand name products. If you really want to save money, forget clipping coupons for higher priced labels that, even with the coupon, come in above the store’s own brand of the same product. Trader Joe’s brand of soy milk, yogurt, cereal, toilet paper, coffee, etc. are a consistently much lower price than any of the other brand names sold in the store. Whole Foods’ 365 brand products are also a great savings. Of course, compare sugar and other nutritional information.
7. Don’t buy primarily organic at supermarkets that don’t specialize in natural foods. The prices are much higher than at natural food stores, even though the selection is expanding and Giant does offer their Nature’s Promise brand (still at a higher price than elsewhere). Of course, Giant does offer frequent shopper discounts on selected items that really help lower the overall bill; so, look out for these regular deals on the Nature’s Promise meats and other products.
8. Learn to create menus based on what’s on sale in the produce, meat fish departments. The most costly shopping trips are the ones that entail a pre-planned and inflexible menu and shopping list. Instead, buy the 10 produce, fish, meat items at the best sale prices and then plan a menu. Most likely, these items will also be in season and fresher.
9. Stock up your pantry when things are on sale. Why buy the same pasta or olive oil every shopping trip regardless of what price it is? Before you put any item in your cart, walk the aisles (or look for the weekly sales flyer online or at the entrance) and adjust your list based upon what’s on sale. Buy 3 or more of the items you use regularly or know you’ll need in the next month or two (if non-perishable). Having a well-stocked pantry will also allow you to go back home and find recipes for produce, fish, meat sale items without having to go back to the grocery store for missing ingredients.
10. Keep a fully stocked pantry. How often have you spent a ridiculous amount on a pizza delivery, and then felt sick the next day, simply because you didn’t have anything at home to eat and you didn’t feel like going to the grocery store.
11. Don’t forget your tote bags. Most stores offer a 5 cent refund or other incentive per bag. Put each of those nickels in a piggy bank and you’ll see that it does make a difference!
12. Negotiate at farmers markets. Make friends with the farmers and learn their names to better your negotiations. Let them know to bring brusied or slightly wilted or bruised produce for you to buy at a reduced price, there are a lot of recipes where you’ll never know the difference – like tomato sauce or cobbler. Learn to come around at the end of the market when they’d rather sell at any price than lose the produce and have to take it home (beware that most markets have strict rules about not selling a minute after closing time).
13. Learn which foods are most susceptible to pesticides. Do all the foods you buy need to be organic? When money matters, you should prioritize by which ones could be most effected by pesticides and most harmful to you. Bananas and onions are among the produce items least susceptible to pesticides, and the most vulnerable include strawberries, bell peppers and potatoes. Download the Environmental Working Group’s guide at www.foodnews.org.
14. Try to create healthy meals for $5 or less per person. Keep your receipts and then figure out how much each meal cost you according to how much of each item you used. Keep the least costly menus of the week and share them with friends. Make a challenge or game out of who (if you eat with others) can create the least expensive meal of the week.
15. Make a soup. A large pot of soup will feed two people for at least five meals, it can be frozen for another week, and can use up a lot of your produce ends. Bean soups are some of the most affordable. When making rice or barley as a side dish, you can make enough to have leftovers that would be a great addition to an upcoming soup. I generally make a weekly soup on Sunday night while also making that night’s dinner – that way, it’s ready when I come home Monday night and the flavor is even richer.
16. Grow a garden, get a community garden plot. Focus on the more expensive produce items at the supermarket.
17. Learn to can. You can order a couple of cases of produce from your local farmer at great savings and have that produce items throughout the winter. Save money at Christmas too by giving the canned food as gifts.
18. Split an order of a whole or half free-range cow or pig from a local farm that butchers or butcher. I split an order with my mother, sister-in-law and one of her friends last year and we had meat for months at a fraction of what it would normally cost.
19. Follow your local favoritie stores on Facebook and Twitter. I know Whole Foods promotes all of their deals on these social media outlets, and Fridays tend to be the biggest broadcast of deals. Of course, Whole Foods does offer one-time daily deals and weekly daily deals such as Wednesdays for rotisserie chickens, that warrant working a small mid-week grocery trip into your routine if you live or work nearby.
20. Take Healthy Living’s cooking classes that teach people how to make a natural meal for $5 or less – you can also support their work teaching low-income individuals. See www.healthylivinginc.org for upcoming dates.
I had to sit down and begin this blog entry the morning after visiting the Sheppard Mansion’s recent addition of the all-natural, all local, year-round Carriage House Market in the rear of their property. I am postponing my morning bike ride while my mouth is still watering from the breakfast of my purchases of their delectable freshly baked bread, goat cheese (from Spriggs Delight Farm), and the most flaky layered sticky bun this Pennsylvania Dutch boy has ever had. Having read about these sticky buns on Chef Andrew Little’s blog for weeks as he was promoting the opening of the market, and then seeing him personally deliver them from the Sheppard Mansion’s kitchen to the market table, I had to get out of bed early this morning knowing that they were waiting downstairs.
Chef Little’s blogs and posts always exude his passion, humor, creativity in presentation and twists on old favorites, and dedication to the highest quality ingredients so well that you can almost taste his food; however, the biggest draw for me to the market, that’s a drive 70 miles just over the Maryland border in lieu of the Takoma Park Farmers Market, is Chef Little’s unequaled and award-winning dedication to promoting local farm-to-table, humane and sustainable dining. Let me tell you, it was well worth the drive and I will be back again soon. I had the great pleasure of learning that this dedication is shared by the owners of the mansion, sisters Heather Sheppard Lunn and Kathryn Sheppard Hoar, whose great grandparents were the original resident owners of the mansion. The idea for the market initially evolved from positive feedback from people who were invited to meet local producers at the annual fall Harvest dinner designed to thank the producers. Heather, the lead managing owner and visionary of The Carriage House Market, was very gracious to give me her time to detail her passionate vision and purpose for the market, despite streams of customers flocking through the doors throughout our conversation.
Built in 1913, the mansion was totally restored in 1999 to provide a full-service inn featuring 6 guest rooms with sumptuous overnight accommodations. The elegant Dining Room and Cocktail Lounge opened approximately five years ago and offers ever-changing menus to the local community Wednesday through Saturday nights, and Chef’s Tasting Menus are offered on weekends with optional wine pairings. Opened on October 29th to an apparently amazing reception, where visitors could actually “meet the meat” still walking on all fours and some of the producers, The Carriage House Market is a broader extension of The Sheppard Mansion’s commitment to connecting people to fresh, natural foods grown and produced on nearby farms. The carriage house has a history of family members “tinkering and discovering” with special projects, Heather and Kathryn’s father used to repair a collection of antique cars here. So, naturally, now having two young daughters herself who are experimenting with new foods on a daily basis, Heather wanted the market to be a place for families as well as the ever-growing number of local Foodies, who have compromised the broadest sense of demographics already in the first fourteen days of the market. In wanting to connect people with their food and learn about the producers, Heather was also very conscious of bringing as many producers of quality products within 100 miles to the market so that customers could lessen their carbon foot print by doing one-stop shopping for local sustainable foods.
An important element of Heather’s vision is to extend this sense of connection to food bought in the market back to family dinner tables by encouraging people 
to build stronger personal connections with each other through the meals they share and more regularity in family meals and sharing home-cooked meals with others in the community. In other words, she intends to bring local food AND families back to the table! (She believes that the fifteen-thirty minutes at the table can be the most productive and rewarding of the day.) Heather uniquely demonstrates her vision through an amazingly refined rustic and engaging presentation and design of the market. After slowly making my way through the primary area of the market, reading about each and every local food producer, I was delighted to discover that the market extended through a door to a smaller room that first appeared to be a very elegant dining room. A main marketing strategy Heather is employing to accomplish her mission is promoting the concept of “bringing the lost art of dining back to the table” by carefully selecting pieces customers could use to adorn their tables and make the meals that much more special and alluring. This room does not showcase any food item, but rather Heather has created an artful ambiance through servingware products, French linens (the one exception to the ‘local only’ rule), fresh organic flowers from Windbourne Farms, and other tableware to inspire customers to be more deliberate and whimsical in setting the tables and atmosphere in which they will eat foods from the market. Some of these great finds include hand-thrown and hand-produced stoneware from Hanover that is normally only sold at craft fairs, kid-safe dishware, wooden crafted spoons and cutting boards by Chester P. Basil, and an eclectic display of antique pieces (“the prettiest form of recycling”) to add “a sense of elegance to the table”. Additionally, the market offers great host(ess) gifts or stocking stuffers such as ‘Wash Your Mouth Out’ soaps. Since my visit, I hear you wouldn’t believe the amazing quality and presentation of the fresh holiday wreaths from Windbourne Farms!
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Back to the food! - among many more offerings, at the Carriage House Market you will find milk and butter from Apple Valley Creamery, vinegar and honey from Willow Pond Farm, cider and jams from Latimore Valley Farm, Beevia Farms home-made granola, nitrate and hormone-free natural meats and eggs from Rettland Farm and the full line of Toigo Orchards value-added natural farm products like Bourbon Peaches, ‘Birth of Pain’ Bloody Mary Mix or heirloom tomato sauces & salsas. Lancaster Fine Foods is apparently a great nearby resource that serves as a certified test and production kitchen for expanding the number of local producers who could extend their season with value-added natural farm products. Of course, Chef Little is contributing to the mix as well with fresh soups, breads, pretzel rolls and those above-mentioned sticky bun delights – which get sold within minutes of being in the market. By the way, you can also enjoy fresh coffee with that sticky bun and I hear Christmas cookies are now being sold as well.
I see lots of growth and success for this market. The enterprising team at Sheppard Mansion is already expanding their niche and offerings by developing their own kitchen garden/farmette and will provide local beers and regular beer tasting at the market by Christmas, pending the final blessing of their permit. Heather intends to include cookbooks that specialize in grass-fed meat and locally grown produce.
Look for “The Carriage House Market” on Facebook or visit for yourself at 117 Frederick Street, Hanover, Pennsylvania, in the rear of the Sheppard Mansion, Wednesdays through Fridays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. or Saturdays 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Telephone (717) 633-7500. Follow Chef Little’s blog at http://www.chefandrewlittle.blogspot.com/
 | Laura Barclay on Part 2 – with photos! … |
 | Linda on Part 2 – with photos! … |
| Linda on Part 2 – with photos! … |
 | jeremy on The Carriage House Market … |
 | Eco Studio on The Carriage House Market … |
