Today is the last day of the season for the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market.

Too bad. This is one great farmers market. I was there two weeks ago and I was wildly impressed. In many ways, I consider it the state’s best farmers market. Its best aspects certainly put it in the same company with the St. Paul Farmers Market and the Mill City Farmers Market.

First off, it’s got a great location. A major indicator of a market’s place in the community is its address, and Rochester’s market has a doozy, a premium piece of real estate on the edge of Mayo Memorial Park in the heart of the city. While I was browsing through the market I often forgot that I was in a parking lot. Partly because there are so many mature shade trees, and partly because the Zumbro River’s curving banks, the park’s well-tended green spaces, downtown’s modern skyline and several local landmarks (including the chic new Rochester Art Center, a zinc- and copper-clad beauty) all provide a picturesque backdrop.

A perfect site: On the Zumbro, in a park, with the city all around it.

I’ve said this before, but what the heck, I’ll say it again: The Realtor mantra of “location, location, location” doesn’t just apply to the housing industry, it also pertains to the local food movement. When the city of Rochester devotes this centrally located, beautifully situated spot to a weekly gathering of farmers and shoppers, it demonstrates the high priority the city places on local agriculture.

What a novel notion, right? So often, markets are relegated to less-than-ideal locations that thrive despite their physical limitations, such is the hunger for locally raised foods. Markets like Rochester’s demonstrate that the community not only wants to support the local farming economy, it wants to out-and-out celebrate it by handing over a place where the whole town wants to gather, a place so appealing that the simple act of driving, biking or walking to it is a pleasure, a place so appealing that you find yourself lingering while you’re shopping - running into neighbors, making new acquaintances, people-watching, the social intercourse of the public forum that is disappearing behind chat rooms - and anticipating the next visit when you’re not. A place so attractive and so convenient that it’s a pleasure - rather than a place that puts obstacles to shopping.

It doesn’t hurt that the market is smack dab in the middle of the state’s most productive agricultural region. Their were 55 vendors (all locals) doing a brisk business that Saturday. Prices seemed competitive, and the assortment was extremely impressive, the kind of critical mass that allows customers to make a significant dent in their weekly food shopping needs. There were plenty of staples, but what really grabbed my attention was the variety of not-so-familiar alternatives.

Lonny and Matt Dietz, the father-and-son team from Whitewater Gardens (near Altura, Minn. and Whitewater State Park) were selling three kinds of carrots, four kinds of beets and more than a dozen different peppers.

Martha Warthesen of Many Hands Garden (in Theilmar, Minn.) was selling stunning red cipollinis, five varieties of potatoes and several types of beets.

It was all about heirloom tomatoes at From the Earth Foods (Marian Township, Minn.), as well as both a salad mix and a braising mix, the latter a tumble of mezzuna, red Russian kale, tatsoi, red mustard, komatsuna (green mustard) and arugula. “It’s something different,” said farmer Courtney Buchholtz. “I love it. It’s nice to have something spicy, something peppery.”

I was all over John Marshall’s Bluebell and King of the North grapes, raised at his Great River Vineyard in Lake City, Minn. “Bluebells are an old U of M hybrid that just about died out,” he said. “I was lucky to get it, because it turned out to be my most popular table grape.” Marshall sells his grapes to wineries (he doesn’t produce wine himself) and sells cold-hardy vines to growers all over the country.

A basket of gorgeous red shallots caught my eye at the busy Earthen Path Organic Farm stand.

There were also probably 15 kinds of herbs, four great-looking eggplants and the biggest array of peppers I’ve ever seen at a Minnesota market. “We can take you around the world with heat,” said Dean Proctor, who was helping out farmer Steven Schwen. He estimated that the farm, located in Oak Center, Minn., cultivates 15 sweet pepper varieties and nearly 20 in the hot category.

The market also boasts a terrific variety of proteins: beef from Sandy Hill Acres, pork from Hidden Stream Farm (Elgin, Minn.), bison from Shepard Buffalo Farm (Mazeppa, Minn.), elk from Pronschinske Elk Farm (Winona, Minn.) and poultry and eggs from Hershey Acres (St. Charles, Minn.).

After making my first swing through the popular market I realized that I was starving; lucky for me, it was the first week for a food cart featuring breakfast sandwiches made using thick slices of ham, zesty sausages and eggs, all from Vreeman Farms in Mazeppa, Minn.

The market’s first foray into prepared foods.

Breakfast. And it was only $2.50.

I asked a few farmers why they thought the market was such a success.

Lonny Dietz of Whitewater Gardens in Altura, Minn. “One of the nice things about farmers markets is that people can rent a few acres and get into business,” he said.

“The customer base is is building, it’s getting busier all the time,” said Lonny Dietz. “People are interested in local foods. There’s a good mix of vendors here, a good variety. But it’s also the social aspect. People are talking to one another, customers are talking to farmers. You don’t get that in the big-box stores. You can’t buy tomatoes at their peak ripeness at a big-box store, either.”

Martha Warthesen of Many Hands Garden in Theilman, Minn., named her farm “Many Hands” because she has four children, and when they were young, she had a lot of helping hands. “Now they’re all grown, and I don’t have enough hands,” she said with a laugh.

Margo Warthesen, who has been selling at the market for 22 years, said that the region’s strong agricultural sector plays a big role in the market’s success. “We’re rich in soil here,” she said. “And we have a lot of committed customers. That’s half the battle: a committed, well-educated customer.”

John Marshall of Great River Vineyard in Lake City, Minn.

“This is the place to come for quality,” said John Marshall, as he waved away the bees hovering over his grapes. “Everyone has top-grade stuff here. They need to, otherwise it doesn’t sell.”

Sure, there’s room for improvement. Aside from those inexpensive - and delicious - Vreeman Farms sandwiches (and weak, 50-cent coffee) and a few stands offering decent but not exceptional baked goods, there’s really nothing in terms of eat-and-shop choices. (Mill City Farmers Market managers know the value of great grazing options; not every shopper cooks, but they all eat). The market could use more dairy products; I only ran across a single cheese vendor. There’s a conveniently located parking lot, but getting in and out of it is a maddening exercise, at least for a market novice who didn’t know his way around. Better signage around town wouldn’t be such a bad thing, either.

But all good things in good time, right? In the meantime, I’m going to put a few notes into my 2009 calendar and make the effort to plan a few daytrips to Rochester next summer. Some Twin Cities market managers ought to do the same.

If you’re a baker, you need to be a regular reader of zoebakes.com. It’s the lively, well-written and extremely useful website produced by Minneapolis pastry chef and teacher Zoe Francois. You probably know Zoe from her book (co-written by Jeff Hertzberg), “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” (Thomas Dunne, $27.95), and if you don’t, you should run out and buy it today, it will change the way you bake bread.

Zoe is always posting something irresistible on her blog, but she recently outdid herself with a crazy-good carrot cake, based on a recipe from “The Essential Baker” by Carole Bloom (Wiley, $40). Zoe has a way of making baking seem like a task that even a nobody like me could accomplish, and this impressive layer cake is a good example of how she walks hesitant bakers through the process, tossing in pastry chef tricks that cookbooks rarely mention. She often does this by including tons of step-by-step photos. It’s a teaching practice that I respond to as someone who learns more by watching rather than by reading.

I have to admit that I got a little confused when it came to some of Zoe’s directions. For example: to prepare the cake batter, she writes, “Mix all the ingredients together.” I don’t know about you, but this not-so-confident baker needs a little more detail than that, so I cribbed some additional instructions from my guide to all things baking, Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking” (Houghton Mifflin, $40). Here’s my version of Zoe’s (and Carole’s) recipe:

ULTIMATE CARROT CAKE
Serves 10.
Note: From Zoe Francois and “The Essential Baker” by Carole Bloom, with additional direction from “Baking” by Dorie Greenspan. Francois notes that the frosting makes more than enough to frost the cake. “Now I spread the leftovers on everything,” wrote Francois.

For cake:
Butter for pans
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. finely grated carrots
1 1/4 c. shredded coconut
1 c. chopped dried cherries
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/4 c. canola oil
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
For frosting:
24 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 c. powdered sugar
4 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
4 tsp. freshly grated orange zest
2 c. shredded coconut for garnish

Directions
To prepare cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of two 9″ inch round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt. In another medium bowl, stir together carrots, coconut and dried cherries. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar and oil until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and orange zest and beat until well-blended. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing just until dried ingredients disappear. Stir in carrot mixture. Divide batter in half, pour into prepared pans and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and cool for about 5 minutes. Run a knife around sides of cakes and unmold them. Invert them to right-side-up and cool to room temperature (cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight, or frozen for up to 2 months).
To prepare frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add in powdered sugar and continue to beat until frosting is very smooth. Add vanilla extract, lemon zest and orange zest and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
To assemble cake: Peel off parchment paper from bottom of cake. Using a sawing motion with a thin serrated knife, slice off very top of cake (save and eat later). Then cut cake in 2 or 3 equal layers, sliding layers onto a cardboard round or other flat surface (the false bottom of a tart pan works perfectly), repeating with second cake round. Put about 1 cup frosting on top of cut cake. Using an offset spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of first layer. Place cake layer on top of frosted layer and spread more icing, repeating with remaining layers. Place about 2 cups frosting on top of cake and spread evenly. Generously spread remaining frosting on sides of cake. Using a spatula, spread frosting to create swirls on the cake (frosting is very soft, so you won’t want to try for anything too exacting). Press coconut onto sides and sprinkle coconut on top of cake.

WARM EGGPLANT-BUTTERNUT SQUASH SALAD
Serves 4 to 6.
Note: From “The Soul of a New Cuisine” by Marcus Samuelsson” (Wiley, $40). Sumac, a dried and ground berry (it’s one of the principle ingredients in za’atar), is available at many ethnic grocery stores.

1 1/2 tbsp. sumac
1/2 c. olive oil, divided
2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 6 c.)
1 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
Finely chopped zest of 1 lemon
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 red chilies, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
1/3 c. honey
1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. loosely packed baby spinach leaves
Juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp. freshly chopped parsley
Salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine sumac with 7 tablespoons olive oil. In a large bowl, toss squash with half of sumac-infused oil, spread on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for about 40 minutes, or until tender. After squash has cooked for 15 minutes, toss eggplant with remaining sumac-infused oil and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast until tender, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan over low heat, warm remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add ginger, lemon zest, garlic and chiles and saute until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add honey and water, stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat and set aside. Remove vegetables from oven and transfer to a large bowl. Add spinach, chile mixture, lime juice and parsley and toss until spinach wilts slightly. Season with salt and serve.

I think that you’re either a beet person, or you’re not; there’s no middle ground.

I’m a beet person.

I like them roasted, straight up, and I often follow a Marcus Samuelsson technique: Scrub the beets, trim the tops, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spread a shallow layer of kosher salt in a baking pan and arrange the beets on top of the salt. Roast 45 minutes to an hour, until the beets are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from oven. When beets are cool enough to handle, peel skins and put them to use in salads or just eating them straight up (or with a little horseradish, which is how I like them, to cut against their natural sweetness).

I ran across a few great-sounding beet recipes. Give them a shot and tell me what you think.

ROASTED BEET CROSTINI
Serves 4.
Note: This recipe must be prepared in advance. From “Vegetarian Sandwiches” by Paulette Mitchell (Chronicle Books, $16.95).

For marinated goat cheese:
4 to 6 oz. fresh white goat cheese
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly minced rosemary
1 tsp. freshly minced basil
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
For crostini:
8 3/8-inch thick slices French baquette
Olive oil, as neededFor vinaigrette:
2 tbsp. hazelnut oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Dash of salt
For topping:
4 red beets, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices (greens reserved)
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1/4 c. coarsely chopped red onion
2 c. coarsely shredded stemmed beet greens
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
To prepare marinated goat cheese: Cut cheese into 1-inch pieces and place in an 8-ounce glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. In a measuring cup, combine olive oil, garlic, rosemary, basil, pepper and salt and pour mixture over cheese, adding more oil if necessary to cover top of cheese. Cap jar and shake to evenly distribute oil-herbs mixture. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
To prepare toasts: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly brush olive oil on both sides of each bread slice. Arrange slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for about 2 minutes per side, or until toasts are golden brown but not firm all the way through.
To prepare vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together hazelnut oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, pepper and salt and reserve.
To prepare beets: Preheat broiler. In a medium bowl, toss beet slices with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Spread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat source, turning once, for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are fork-tender. Remove from broiler and cool until beets can be easily handled. Meanwhile, in a medium pan over medium-high heat, warm remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 minutes. Add greens and cook, stirring constantly, until they are wilted, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat. Cover a work surface in waxed paper and don disposable plastic gloves to prevent staining. Cut beet slices into 1/4-inch-wide strips. Whisk vinaigrette then stir in beets and beet greens.
To prepare crostini: Using a spoon, and draining out any excess oil, spread toasts with marinated goat cheese, top with beet mixture and sprinkle with pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

ROASTED BEETS IN CAYENNE-BUTTERMILK DRESSING
Serves 6.
Note: From “Sparks in the Kitchen” by Katy Sparks (Knopf, $30). “If you have any pits of blue cheese in the fridge, you can add them to this salad, as well as some toasted nuts like almonds, pecans or walnuts,” writes Sparks. “These beets are also an amazing side dish for fried chicken or anything barbecued.”

1 1/2 lbs. red and gold beets, unpeeled, with stems trimmed and washed
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 sprigs thyme
2 strips lemon or orange peel
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp. creme fraiche
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. cayenne
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Make 2 separate packages from 1-foot-square pieces of double-layer aluminum foil. Place half of beets in center of each square, and add to each package 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 sprig thyme, 1 strip of peel and salt and pepper. Close package tightly, place on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes. While beets are roasting, combine creme fraiche, buttermilk, garlic, cayenne, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. After 30 minutes of roasting, open a package and pierce beets with a sharp knife; it should pull out easily when they are tender. If beets aren’t ready, close foil and continue to roast, checking for doneness every 10 minutes. When tender, open foil packages to let steam escape and cool before peeling (skins will rub right off). Reserve cooking liquid that collects in packages, it can be drizzled over beets along with dressing. To serve (beets can be warm or cold), arrange beets on a platter, dress with buttermilk dressing and serve.

My last CSA delivery from Burning River Farm arrived a few days ago.

Despite the cool weather and the end of the growing season as we know it, Mike managed to stuff that box to the rafters. Some items were trade from other farms: Apples (from Deedon Lake Orchard in Turtle Lake, Wis.) and potatoes from Driftless Organics in Soldiers Grove, Wis.

But most came from the farm, and there was a great deal to celebrate in this last delivery: Beets (Mike noted that the greens ‘aren’t so great’ but they’ll do in a pinch), gorgeous purple carrots, acorn squash, rutabagas (”they’re sweet from the frost,” said Mike) and a kale-collards selection that reminded me, once again, why Burning River Farm is so special; the greens have been flat-out spectacular.

“The last delivery is all packed and put away in the cooler for the night, awaiting deliver tomorrow,” Mike writes in his final newsletter. “We move lately like we are living in a dream, a little slower with the cold mornings. One more day of weaving through traffic and running boxes to doorsteps. One last week of harvest, washing and counting. Hopefully soon there will be some time for different dreams before the spring cracks the winter and a new season starts. Work will continue here for a few more weeks. From now until the ground freezes, there are fields to cultivate and fences to build, greenhouses to erect and tractors to prep for hibernation.

“I’ve been thinking much about next year. I’ll send out a letter in a few weeks after some time of gathering those thoughts and let you all know what things are looking like from this end. So much is learned through a season that, despite being tired and ready for a break, I am also excited about all the possibilities!”

Here’s where I’ll be this Saturday morning: The Mill City Farmers Market.

Dropping in on the market has become a Saturday morning habit of mine over the past five months, and it will be hard to drop it from my weekend routine; I guess I’ll have to get back to my yoga class. But yes, Oct. 18 marks the market’s last regular-season day.

I’ve written about why this market ranks at the top of my most-admired markets list, so I won’t go there again. But I would like to express my gratitude for a job well done, by the market management, the farmers, the vendors and the sponsors, as well as to the thousands of customers who support this valuable community asset. It’s that support that will ensure the market’s continued survival and success, and hopefully spawn more market enterprises in the Twin Cities area.

Aside from a big shopping list, a wad of cash and an appetite (and this time I’m going to be greedy and not share a single one of Carrie Summer’s mini-doughnuts, hot out of the fryer at the Chef Shack), I’ll be bringing some non-perishable food items for the Emergency Food Shelf Network.

I’ll also be sure to get down to the riverfront by 10 a.m., because that’s when my editor Lee Svitak Dean will be front-and-center in the market’s cooking demonstration area, explaining her formula for gingered squash soup. Don’t miss it. Lee, who understands home cooks and their needs better than anyone else in town, has been making Taste great for more than 15 years, and she knows her stuff; there’s a reason why she won that James Beard award, and why Saveur magazine wrote, “Lee Svitak Dean, whose ‘Taste’ section -which includes an annual roundup of Minnesota’s 50 best food finds from artisanal butter to hot dishes - makes out-of-towners, like us, hungry too.”

Lee at her well-organized cubicle in the Star Tribune newsroom. I’ve finally stopped wondering what she must be thinking when she looks at the pigpen that is my work space.

That soup recipe (I’ve posted it below) is from her great new cookbook, “Come One, Come All” (Minnesota Historical Society Press, $29.95), which is hitting bookstores this week. The book features Lee’s picks for more than 150 of the best recipes that have been published in Taste, all organized into 32 thoughtful, easy-to-make seasonal menus. At 11 a.m., Lee will be selling and signing copies. If you’re a Taste reader, you’ll get a ton of use out of this excellent resource (and, as they say in the publishing business, it makes for a perfect gift).

When the clock strikes 1 p.m. on Saturday, here’s what I won’t be: bummed out. While the market is going away until next spring, a number of vendors will continue to meet on a monthly basis. Not in the Mill City Museum’s train shed, but at the new Local D’Lish, a locally focused food shop located in the warehouse district, about eight blocks northeast of the market, at 208 1st St. N. Circle these dates: Nov. 15 and Dec. 20, 2008 and Jan. 17, Feb. 21, March 21 and April 18, 2009. Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

GINGERED SQUASH SOUP
Serves 6.
Note: From “Come One, Come All” by Lee Svitak Dean.

About 3 lbs. winter squash, such as delicate or butternut (about 4 c. cooked)
1 tbsp. or more freshly grated ginger root
3 c. low-sodium vegetable stock (or water or chicken broth)
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 c. heavy cream
Sour cream, for garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. (If the squash is too hard to cut in half, poke holes in it with a knife and microwave for several minutes to soften.) Place squash halves face down in a lightly oiled baking dish or on a baking sheet; cover with aluminum foil. Bake until the pulp is soft, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and scoop pulp from the skin; discard skin. In a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together cooked squash, ginger and stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes, breaking up squash with a spoon. Remove soup from heat and puree with a food processor or blender until smooth. If desired, strain for a smoother texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add nutmeg. Stir in cream and heat throughout. Serve hot, garnished with a small dab of sour cream.

Here’s a second recipe that’s tuned to the season, comes together in a snap and aims to please.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES WITH SAGE
Serves 8.
Note: From “Come One, Come All.”

4 medium beets, peeled and quartered
4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into cubes
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
1/4 c. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
8 fresh sage leaves
Coarse salt and freshly ground cracked pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, toss beets, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, sweet potato and onion with olive oil, garlic and sage. Spread vegetables on a heavy rimmed baking sheet or pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast until tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. (If prepared ahead and oven space is limited, reheat slowly, covered, on the stove with a little additional oil, or covered in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes).