I guess the word got out that we were open on Friday and Saturday. Between the two days, July 4 and 5, we had thousands of people come to the market. Good thing we were loaded with produce. In fact, even with all those people, we still sent corn home. Now that’s a lot of corn. (photos from Thursday's farm visits)
Carolyn Smith demonstrated roasted
sweet corn seasoned with PT Gardens’ seasoned salts at the market Tuesday. Folks
must have agreed it was good because PT Gardens’ sales were up 70% that day. They’re
at the market every Tuesday and sell many varieties of salts blended with
seasonings such as garlic, onion, bacon, plus a salt called “Dragon’s Breath”. Yes,
that would be the hot one. They don’t grow the salt, but they do grow all the
seasonings that they add (except the bacon which they buy from local ranchers).
They also sell a variety of fresh cut herbs.
Carolyn is one of our new market
volunteers and what a jewel she is. As a retired family and consumer
sciences teacher, she is perfect for our nutrition education program, always
bringing us interesting tastes and techniques and wonderful displays. She makes
it look easy. And she doesn’t stop with her demonstrations. She and her husband
stay and help us put away the market at the end of the day when she
demonstrates. Yes, we are fortunate to have so many wonderful volunteers – like
Susan who helps on Fridays. Not only has she learned all the set up and
operation, but she’s a nurse to boot and advises us when there is a medical
problem. Last week a customer fell while getting in her car, and Susan’s advice
was “call the ambulance”. It was good advice. (And, with the EMTs’ help,
everything worked out just fine.)
Another new volunteer is Dan, who is at the market most
Saturday mornings helping with set up and driving the golf cart. Thursday he
went with me to do farm inspections. As a gardener, bee keeper and keeper of
chickens, he’s just right for the job. On Friday he’s training our newest
volunteer, Roger, who will be driving the market cart. This time of year, the
cart is essential because three bags of sweet corn and two melons are just a
bit heavy to carry while walking a quarter mile to your car.
Wait, did I say melons?
Yes, I did. The first of the cantaloupe came in last Tuesday. We’ll have
a few today and we expect hundreds by tomorrow (and may even have some watermelon).
Every season has its delights, but it’s sure hard to beat melons, sweet corn
and field tomatoes. I had a Cherokee Purple from Green’s Greenhouse for dinner
tonight. Being heirlooms, they can sure look ugly, but nothing beats the taste.
So what other delights does this week’s market hold? Today (Friday from 11 to 2), the Sours play traditional music. Granny
Shaffers at the Market serves home style chicken and noodles and chicken salad
sandwiches. We’ve had to suspend our Extension cooking demonstrations for a
while because we are so full. There’s just no extra space to set up a
demonstration table. Today we expect 22 growers, 2 dairies, 2 ranchers, an egg
farmer, plus nine other food related vendors, plus music. That’s a lot to fit
into our pavilion!
Tomorrow (Saturday from 9 to noon), we’re going to squeeze in two new vendors and I
guarantee that you’ll find them special. M & M Bistro will be at the market
with two “sandwiches” – a gyro pita wrap and a chicken pita wrap. My husband,
Phil, and I did their inspection last week. Boy, that was a tough gig. The
wraps were delicious and the baklava was as good as I’ve ever eaten. Yes, there
will be baklava, too! And it only gets
better, because our other new vendor makes French pastries. You can expect
plain and savory croissants, gougeres and other delights from Justin Mason of
Red Lab Farm. Yes, I had to look up gourgere, too. It’s a savory pastry made of
choux (pronounced “shoo”) pastry and various kinds of cheese. Choux pastry is
also used to make beignets, cream puffs and éclairs. It’s leavened by steam,
not by baking powder, baking soda or yeast.
Justin brought some samples by Tuesday’s market for us to try. (We
volunteers lead a hard life.) I had Teng
Yang, of Nature Valley, try the croissant because he lived in France for many
years. He gave it a big thumbs up.
Tomorrow we welcome Cliff Walker and Rebecca Hawkins to the
market for the first time. You may have heard them as part of the Rebecca
Hawkins Project at Minerva’s Candy Company.
All of which is pretty exciting news, but it doesn’t end there.
On Tuesday, we expect yet another new vendor – Carmine’s Wood Fired Pizza. Carmine’s
will bake to order hand-tossed pizza’s using market veggies – at last we’ll
have a vegetarian choice on Tuesdays. He’ll also do meat pizzas. It should be a
great option, along with Dogs on the Roll who will be offering their hot dogs
in various choices, pulled pork sandwiches and Frito pies.
The Pommerts will perform.
See you at the market. In fact, why not come to them all this
week so your sweet corn is as fresh as possible? Fresh is always nice, but in sweet corn it is
fabulous!
