“Growing Together” at the Nashville Farmers’ Market

The Nashville Farmers’ Market hosted record-breaking crowds this month to kick off the warm season, and we’ve been thrilled to be a part of it as “Growing Together,” the new name for the Refugee Agricultural Program, a partnership between The Nashville Food Project and the Center for Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee.

For the first time, the farmers of Growing Together harvested produce they’ve been growing since early March to sale at the market. Baskets have been overflowing with vibrant komatsuma, a Japanese mustard spinach, and several additional varieties of mustard greens such as sueling and giant red leaf. The farmers also harvested crops like joi choi (a type of bok choy), arugula, cilantro, dill, hakurei turnips and daikon radish.

Each week, two farmers in the collective attend the market to represent the group such as Thomas Piang of Burma and Chandra Paudel of Bhutan, pictured above. We’ve been providing profiles of the farmers along with recipes for featured produce.

Thank you to all the customers who have visited with us so far such as Chef Sam Tucker of Village Bakery & Provisions inside the Market House. He picked up an armful of joi choi during our first market.

We were delighted to see it in subsequent weeks on his menu sauteed with brown butter, chili and lemon.

Clink the links below to see featured farmers for May 7 as well as recipes for sauteed mustard greens and Burmese-style pickled mustard greens:

Farmer Profile - Thomas

Farmer Profile - Chandra