Saturday, July 7, 2012

US News and World Report votes Old Salem Cobblestone Farmers Market One of America's Best

Wow! We are so humbled. US News and World Report just voted our 2 month old market one of the 11 BEST farmers markets in America!
It was based on reputation, versatility, online user reviews, and overall atmosphere.


Here is what was written about the market AND BETA VERDE:

Winston-Salem, N.C.

With the tantalizing aroma of freshly picked strawberries and ginger cookies wafting through the air, Cobblestone Market's colorful venue is a treat for the senses. Held at the Old Salem Museum & Gardens in Winston-Salem, N.C., the market boasts a lush setting, backed by ancient Moravian gardens. The gorgeous surroundings not only provide shoppers with a lovely ambience, but also a peek into centuries-old organic gardening practices. Every Saturday from May through November, more than 20 vendors gather in Old Salem to sell their fair-trade products. Health-conscious shoppers will be happy to note the market contains only "pesticide-free" produce.
Don't Miss: Sampling the unique offerings of Beta Verde (a dynamic mother-daughter duo that manages the market). Seasonal favorites include Totally Apricot jam and Summer Solstice Cherry preserves.

For the rest of article, click HERE.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Edible Response to Paperless: Join us on July 26 and July 28


Join us for two Food & Art experiences rarely seen in Winston-Salem. In collaboration with SECCA and Whole Artist, we will be creating the edible responses for the Cocktail at the hidden greenhouse on the grounds of SECCA and an Intimate Dining Experience at Beta Verde with performative responses by artists throughout.

Food & Art Greenhouse Cocktail: In response to Paperless, Whole Artist, Site Specific, cocktail hour features architect Brandon Pass & response fare by Beta Verde
Thursday, July 26 @ 5:30 pm
$35 per person
Join us in the casual company of local architect, Brandon Pass where his practice and his interests in what creates Site Specificity will be explored.  Experience a cohesive studio visit with Pass and mother/daughter duo chefs of Beta Verde, who will present bite-sized fare along with cooling tailor-made cocktail mixers, made especially for YOU.
Where else should we cool our heels and consider forms that make up dwellings, days of paper trails gone past and notions of the digital future, but SECCA’s hidden treasure, the private ghostly green house structure.  This space once housed fashionable cocktails parties that now live on, not on paper, but by word of mouth.  Let’s make new history as we celebrate Pass’ notions of how a site can make for infinite location and possibility.

Cocktail Mixer Teaser: A shrub or a shrub... we have both at Beta Verde, some outside and some percolating inside! Mason jars filled with blackberries and a variety of vinegars, are fermenting in anticipation. The old fashioned 'pick me up' is going rogue as the centerpiece cocktail response to SECCA's paperless exhibit. A shrub is an acidulated beverage made of fruit juice, sugar, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention of refrigeration, a shrub syrup was a means of preserving fruit long past its picking.



Food & Art Dinner Experience: Vicki Fowler’s Whole Artist, “In Consideration of Eating the Tree: An Intimate Dining Experience”
Saturday, July 28 @ 7pm
$75 per person
SECCA invites you to participate in Vicki Fowler’s Whole Artist celebratory eulogy in honor of the Tree’s offspring, PAPER. This intimate performative dining experience includes a five course menu with performative response by arists/ artisans in celebration of SECCA’s current exhibit paperless. Menu provided by Beta Verde.


Our response sans the surprise edibles: We think of the way the tree improves the food that we eat, the plants themselves or the animal’s diet. The tree goes through seasonal changes, from providing pollen to honey bees, to fruiting, to shading more sensitive lettuces or flowers, to the shedding of its leaves to prepare for the next year. The tree- fruit bearing, nut bearing- casts its delicacies downward for our benefit and forest fed swine. The tree- maple- replenishes its inner juices. The tree- poplar- is harvested and implanted for mushrooms and the tree- cedar- protects the mushroom logs from inclement weather and decay. 
We respond strongly to the shadow and metaphor of paper - its beauty in every form and its hand to hand connection, the carrier of words with nature.

Tickets for the Cocktail are available through SECCA (Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art) and the dinner through Whole Artist.

The Old Salem Cobblestone Farmers Market

Come visit us at the Old Salem Cobblestone Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9am-12pm! We are vendors and the market managers and our Saturdays have never been so fulfilling and fun!


This independent market is the first Saturday morning producer's only market in Winston-Salem. All of our farmers grow pesticide free and all of the meat vendors are Animal Welfare Approved. Krankies Coffee sells iced coffee and pour-over coffee and Winston-Salem's first food truck, Joaquin's Curb Cuisine makes locally sourced breakfast items. As the second Cobblestone Farmers Market after the Tuesday Cobblestone Farmers Market, the term "Cobblestone" is officially branded as Winston-Salem's independent producer's only markets where you KNOW you will be buying from the producer and there will be no resale.


Locally Grown News wrote a wonderful article on how the market brings Old Salem full circle since Old Salem had been the center of trade once upon a time.







The Opening Day of the market on May 12th featured a 10-piece Moravian band and the blowing of the conch shell, a Moravian tradition, to announce that the market had opened. Even without the Moravian music, the generous feeling of being in a historic setting in a contemporary yet basic way is ever present. Not to mention that that beautiful, cool and sunny day is fondly remembered now in the early July heat.