good food is just a few tweaks away

If you’ve been holding your breath waiting for the opening of Green Onion, you’re about to catch that breath of fresh air—and fresh cheese, meat, produce, sauces, and more. In about three weeks—by the end of April—you’ll be standing in line waiting to catch the glint of Killer’s knife as he skillfully excises chicken and pig parts, wrapping them in paper for you to take home for dinner.

Walk by Green Onion, and peer in the windows. The paper’s down, the shelves are up, the cheese orders are in, and now the word is out.

· Meats by Genuine Food Co., Wagon Wheel Ranch, and other fine farms: beef,
chicken, pork, rabbit, and duck—local and less local, high quality, and hormone
free—and Clementine’s sausages
· Clementine specialties—stocks, broths, pickles, sauces, dressings, and more
· Cheeses—25 different kinds, all natural, hormone free
· Bread made exclusively for us by Hamilton Bakery
· Baked goods—mini versions of Clementine’s desserts by Peep
· Deli sandwiches
· Pastas by Field Day, rice, gluten-free goods
· Ice cream, milk, chocolate milk, and more from Prigel Family Creamery
· Yogurt, butter, and more from Trickling Springs
· Eggs from Andy’s Eggs and Mingodale Farm
· Coffee by Zeke’s and Griggs
· Cleaning supplies
· Pet food
· Bulk olive oil and detergent

You can also pick up your CSAs here, whether it’s The Zahradka Farm CSA or our own Genuine Meat CSA. (Please check back for more details soon.)

Before we open, we’ll be patching the floor and walls, tweaking our equipment, and adding finishing touches here and there, like café tables in the front of the store. Before you know it, the bowling alley floors that serve as our countertops will be holding market bags brimming with the best food you can find.

We’re lookin’ good, and before spring is over, you’ll be cookin’ good.

Time and Nourishment

Time. We like to think we are in control of it—especially our own—but it usually gets the better of us. And so the opening planned for April was moved to May, then pushed to June, and then, because we didn’t want to have to shove, we shelved any talk of a new date.

That has not changed.

Right now, some walls need painting; some parts of floor need refinishing; others need grouting; the space and all the equipment need cleaning.

But the signs are up! The food is waiting—even produce, which is growing up in local hothouses. The electricity and heating are updated, and the air conditioning and fireproof drywall have been installed. The lighting is hanging. Two brand-spankin’-new (ADA-approved) bathrooms are ready for all the tail-less sows and boars. There’s a wheelchair-accessible ramp, too. And four tables are eager to receive guests and their order from our fine deli-sandwich menu.

What’s the delay? Well, in addition to wanting to do it right from the start—which includes making later-stage improvements earlier, while the room is gutted—we’ve been one tall man short for the past couple of months. Winston Blick, owner of the Clempire that includes Green Onion and Clementine, has been suffering from double pneumonia. His energy is sapped, and his sleep has been less than sound. Thus, the heavy lifting is left to others.

How can you help? The best way is by enjoying a meal at Clementine! Right now, we have four $15 menu items. And the meat from those meals is organic and all ours—at the Genuine Food Company, raised in conjunction with our partners, Bellvale Farms and Forever Endeavor.

We can also use your help in other ways. Are you a skilled craftsman willing to barter? We can use tile installers and grouters, floor refinishers, painters, and all manner of clean-maker. If you have a proven expertise in one of these areas, please leave your intention and email address in a comment on this post.

Thank you again for continuing to check on our progress. We know you are excited, and so are we. We hope for a soft opening soon—and a healthy Winston way sooner.

grand nopening

As you may realize, tomorrow is April, and we are appear to be the fools.

We admit that in planning our Grand Opening date, our enthusiasm trumped the reality of permits and other procedures. But we are chugging along and expect to open sometime between the first of May and the first of June.

We amended our plan to include café seating, which means we had to add a second restroom—bad for cost projections, but good for seating! We have finally completed the arduous task of selecting and agreeing on a color scheme and will commence with the paintin’ just as soon as the weather cooperates. (Spring—another April fool?) And we continue to amass massively expensive equipment, a favorite pastime.

In other news,

• Our fine friend Peter Mares is working with us on the website, which should be up and running soon. 
• The Zahradka Farms/Green Onion CSA is filling up fast, so if you’re interested in getting in on that Friday market pickup, now’s the time to sign on.
• We are working on the idea of processing veggies, especially tomatoes, so we can have them in the winter.
• We just met with the territory manager of UNFI, the nation’s largest natural foods provider. He’s helping us set up our packaged goods and bulk foods.
• We are also progressing in our setup of bulk detergents—laundry and dish—for sale. You bring in your old containers, and we’ll fill them with the most environmentally friendly soaps we can find.
• Clementine is ramping up charcuterie production for sale at the market.
• Bill deBloom, the daily manager of the market, has been taking classes in meat and in organic and all-natural produce. And we’re all honing our butchering techniques as well, which is good news for our fingers.

So we’re a little off our timeline, but we’ll open this damn market soon and will sneak in a soft opening as soon as possible. Keep your ideas and questions coming—here and on our Facebook page. Thank you for liking this idea and being as excited as we are to make our market your market.

April Foods!

That's right, we said it. On April 1st, the fine folks who bring you Clementine Fine Foods give you another reason to celebrate: Green Onion. As our tag line states, we're a bona-fide food market. In addition to carrying popular restaurant items like house-made pickles and Green Goddess dressing, we'll have a glorious eight-foot case of the finest cheeses known to humankind, as well as milk-fed pork, grass-fed beef, a butchery, oodles of heirloom tomatoes, fresh fruits and vegetables, and a few of our favorite food-related non-food items.

How many times have you wished the Farmer's Market were open on other days of the week? How many times would you have settled for one that stays open past noon on the weekend, when you don't have to get up for work? How many times have you wished that the strollers and cute doggies standing between you and the last bowl of spring greens would vanish?

Your wish has come true.

Join us for the grand opening on Friday, April 1, when the only fools will be the ones who wait till Saturday.