On a Roll

Dust off your pedals and ride to the Market in style this Saturday! In partnership with Atlanta City Councilmember Aaron Watson and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, PRFM will host Bike to the Market Day, including helmet fittings and bike safety checks by Peachtree Bikes. Spring is the perfect time to get your wheels spinning for healthy food, healthy bodies, and a healthy planet! Check out the Living Smarter Through Cycling website for more info on this and upcoming rides with Councilmember Watson and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.

Park your bike and stay a while for this week’s Chef Demo, 10:00 a.m. with Linton Hopkins. As founder of the Peachtree Road Farmers Market, there’s no one better to share tales and tips on cooking with local, seasonal ingredients. Hopkins, whose deep Atlanta roots inform his passion for supporting southern farmers, is on a roll—recently receiving his fourth James Beard Award nomination, celebrating Restaurant Eugene’s seventh anniversary, opening H&F Bottle Shop, and making a little trip to the White House Garden where he harvested vegetables with Michelle Obama, DC School children and the White House Chef to celebrate the First Lady’s Chefs Move to Schools initiative. Chef Hopkins' commitment to Georgia’s own bounty is evident through his meticulous and loving house-made preparations of natural meats and fresh, local produce. And this year brings even more presidential treatment as he heads up the Board of Directors for the Southern Foodways Alliance—hail to the chief, y’all!


- Jennifer Maley

Planet PRFM: Celebrate Earth Day!

Peachtree Road Farmers Market shoppers do their part each week to support a healthy earth by choosing local, sustainable foods. The Market is excited to announce that the PRFM shopping experience is about to get even more earth-friendly! Through the hard work of PRFM super-intern, Lovett High School student Avery Wiens, the Market has secured funding from the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation (AFYF) to provide corn-based biodegradable bags to customers for the 2011 Market season. These bags provide cover for more fragile produce like lettuces and herbs, as well as loose items like tomatoes and berries. Together, AFYF and PRFM will save a half-ton of plastic bags from entering landfills. Join us this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. for a special Earth Day weekend presentation about our new partnership, featuring Avery and representatives from the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation.

After the presentation, you’ll want to stick around for the 10:00 a.m. Chef Demo with Jay Swift. At 4th & Swift, he serves up seasonal market menus that change daily to reflect the best ingredients available. Chef Swift’s modern American comfort food + PRFM’s farm-fresh ingredients = the perfect Earth Day weekend demo. In case your invite to the two dinners he’s cooked at the renowned James Beard House in NYC got lost in the mail, now’s your chance to learn from the best! Chef Demos are sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

Once the kids’ tummies are full, bring that energy over to PRFM’s new Kids’ Learning Patch tent–where kids of all ages can learn more about keeping our earth and our bodies healthy.

See you Saturday for a world of fun!


- Jennifer Maley

Get Fresh!

Check out this Saturday’s Chef Demo with Sheri Davis at 10:00 am on 4/16
We loved Chef Sheri Davis’ demo last year when she showed us how easy, fun, and delicious market-fresh cooking can be. Join us this Saturday as we welcome Chef Sheri back to our demo tent where she’ll prepare something wonderful celebrating springtime produce! From her days at Virginia-Highland’s Dish restaurant and at Whole Foods Market to her current work with Chickin Feed, Chef Sheri’s passion is to share the joys of good-for-you and tasty-too food. Chef Demos are sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

In Season: Get your shopping list ready for this Saturday with these springtime favorites: Arugula, Beets, Broccolini, Carrots, Collards, Eggs, Green beans, Herbs, Kale, Lettuce, Onions, Plants, Potatoes, Radishes, Snow Peas, Spring Garlic, Swiss Chard, and Zucchini. Also, we might even see the season’s first strawberries and asparagus!

New Faces at the Market: As you may have seen last week, this season we welcome a few new faces to PRFM: Westside Creamery ice cream truck, Queen of Tarts, King of Pops, Il Bel Cuore olive oil, Many Fold Farm featuring farm-fresh eggs, McMullan Family Farm, Greendale Cheese, Doc's Wood Turning and Green Thread Studios. Stop by and say hello to our new vendors!

Save the Date, Saturday, April 23: Also new to the Market this year is the Kids’ Learning Patch tent, making its debut on April 23. Bring kids of all ages to learn more about keeping our earth and our bodies healthy.


- Jennifer Maley

It's Spring–Time for Fresh Foods!

Opening day is almost here! Have you missed your local farmers and friends as much as they've missed you? Come visit us on Saturday, April 9 from 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. for your favorite vendors and new members of the Peachtree Road Farmers Market family. As the largest producer only market in the state, PRFM will feature over 65 vendors this year - offering fruits, veggies, eggs, organic meats, baked goods, cheese, yogurt, pops, ice cream, Savannah-caught shrimp and much more!

Bring your bells and whistles to celebrate opening day, which will begin with - what else? - an opening bell! BYO-Noise-maker and welcome in the 5th season of the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. April 9 festivities will also include live music and, at 10:00 a.m., the first Chef Demo of the year - you won't want to miss Rosebud's Ron Eyester, who delighted us last year with his awesome humor and delicious farm-fresh food. Don't forget to ask Chef Eyester about his newest addition to the local food scene, The Family Dog.

For a full list of 2011 Chef Demos sponsored by Whole Foods and for other PRFM events, click here.

It's good to be back!


- Jennifer Maley