Our Summer Vacation is almost here! This year the market will be closed August 5 through August 19th for our yearly vacation. We hope to see you before August 5th. We appreciate your patronage and look forward to seeing you again on August 20th.
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Okra is one of those veggies people either love or despise. Those who love it, can’t get enough and those who despise it complain about it’s slimy taste. While I occasionally enjoy some fried okra with ranch dressing, it may not be the healthiest combination. Having fresh locally grown okra brought to the market daily, made me realize we hadn’t had it at home yet. While my girls may not eat everything I put on their plate, I’m always encouraging them to try new things.
Okra is very easy to grow, especially with Florida’s hot weather. Some relatives include cotton, hollyhock and hibiscus. If you plan to grow it in your garden, make sure you have well-drained soils in full sun. It prefers slightly acidic to slightly alkaline soils (pH 6.5-7.5). Okra can be grown by direct sowing or by setting transplants. Make sure you soak the seeds overnight before sowing.
When selecting Okra make sure it has a beautiful shade of green. Preferably, you should pick them when they are about the size of a small finger or your “pinkie”. The smaller they are, the less “slimy” they tend to be. Also, the smaller the seeds are.
What are some of your favorite ways to prepare it?
This past weekend I had the pleasure to join #SundaySupper host Isabel Laesing at the first ever Food and Wine Conference in Orlando Florida. I first met Isabel at a Tampa Bay bloggers event at our market. When she mentioned she was planning a conference, I was intrigued. We kept in touch and decided to be an event sponsor. After many requests for our strawberry cookies on Twitter, how could I not share the strawberry goodness? 😉 Loaded with our strawberry cookies, I headed to Orlando on Saturday.
Not sure what to expect, I arrived at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort Hotel. The grounds surrounding the hotel were gorgeous. I can only imagine what the rooms must have looked like. I must say, I was surprised by the swag bag. So many nationally recognized brands such as Idaho Potatoes, Dixie Crystals, Duda Farm Fresh Foods and Stonyfield Yogurt. But my heart was happy when I saw so many local brands: Datz, Wish Farms and Mario Foods!
Some of the topics discussed at the Food and Wine Conference included SEO Best practices by Dan Cristo creator of Triberr and Nicole Cook from the Daily Dish Recipes. I had heard of Triberr, but did not realize how powerful it can be for any blogger. By joining, you can find other bloggers like yourself and share each other’s content. Another great panel was Writing that Gets Noticed by “The Media” with Janet Keeler (Tampa Bay Times), Jeff Houck (Tampa Tribune), Pam Settle (Good Living Magazine) and Gayle Guyardo (News Channel 8).
I was lucky enough to meet Sara Moulton from Good Morning America. She previously hosted “Sara’s Secrets” on the Food Network. She was part of the panel on The Process of Writing a Cookbook. Unfortunately, I was unable to return on Sunday for her cooking demonstration. 🙁 I sure look forward to next year’s Food and Wine conference. Isabel did an amazing job at selecting the location and the panelist topics. As a brand blogger, this is one conference to come back to!
Main take aways from the Food and Wine Conference for bloggers:
Have you heard of Triberr? Are you on it?
What other blogger conferences are you planning on attending this year?
