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| Let's not be formal - call me Blossom. |
Big news first – We ARE open on Friday,
July 4th, from 11 to 2 and on Saturday, July 5th, from 9
to noon and we’ll be loaded with fresh-from-the-farm sweet corn. The field
tomatoes are coming in and the growers’ tables are loaded with all the good
things of summer.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled column -
I just finished another full day of
farm visits. My traveling companions were Randy Garrett and David Middleton
with Lincoln University Cooperative Extension and Patrick Byers with University
of Missouri Extension. We visited two novice growers, four experienced growers
and a dairy. I’m there to document production and look for food safety issues. Extension
is there to advise me in case I have a question, which I often do have, and to
help the growers. At one place, they advised the grower to stop watering his
tomatoes overhead to reduce the spread of early blight. The grower is new at it
and thought the plants would benefit from a refreshing shower. That would be a
no. At two other farms there were questions about harvesting early varieties of
apples. Another farmer needed help with training and pruning blackberries. Everywhere
we had three sets of eyes alert for pests and disease.
We are so fortunate to have
professionals joining the farm inspections. Our farmers are better for it and
the produce you buy at the market is better because of it.
If you have gardening questions, you
can catch up with Patrick at the market tomorrow (Friday). He’ll have a table
near the market information table. As a horticulturist, Patrick is
knowledgeable about both decorative and food plants so come take advantage of
his visit to the market.
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| David Middleton of Lincoln U walks with a grower's grandson. We love our farm visits! |
Now you may ask – what kind of state
employee works on the Fourth of July?
Well, one like Patrick. He has family plans in Kansas for the evening
and figured he might as well stick to his first Friday schedule at our market.
On Friday, we are expecting Marlee’s
Creamery with raw milk, several blueberry growers, and most of our other
growers. However, you’ll have to come on Saturday for honey. The Amos’ are
taking Friday off, as is Granny Shaffer’s at the Market. Dogs on the Roll is
filling in for lunch with hot dogs, chili dogs, chili cheese dogs, pulled pork
and Frito pie. On the market stage is JR Sampson and Friends. One of the “friends”
is Corky Dow of Carthage who has graced our stage many times. With Corky
coming, I’m thinking bluegrass.
We’re open from 11 to 2 as usual on
Friday, but there’s nothing usual about it!
Redings Mill (aka Jamey Smith formerly known as Mohaska Farmhouse)
returns to the market Friday. We are thrilled to have him back with his wonderful
artisan breads. Jamey plans to be at all the markets from now on, as does
Hillside Farms, known for their elephant garlic. They began harvesting garlic
last week and are expecting such a bumper crop that they hope we’ll all start
thinking “I’m hungry, where’s the garlic?"
We have a new grower at the market,
Owen Detweiler whose farm is northwest of Lamar. He hopes to be our “melon man”
and on our visit today I could see why. He’s growing a lot of melons, they look
great and he clearly loves growing them. He had 60 cantaloupes at the market
Tuesday and he says the watermelon and musk melons aren’t far behind. If he has
enough to justify the drive (since he’s Amish he has to hire a driver) he’ll be
at the market Saturday. And he’s certain to be here on Tuesday. Owen
specializes in melons but he also grows sweet corn, tomatoes and a variety of
other crops. I’m looking forward to his “lunchbox peppers” which are small
sweet peppers that come in a variety of colors. I think they’ll be a big hit at
the market when they’re ready for harvest in a week or two.
Brown Moss is playing Saturday and
Cooking for a Cause benefits Crosslines, our regional food pantry. This is
normally our biggest breakfast benefit of the year and we will be ready for a
crowd. I hope you’ll spread the word and come out for cooked-to-order
farm-fresh eggs, biscuits and gravy, and sausages. Your breakfast will satisfy
your hunger while your purchase will curb the hunger of your neighbors in need.
Win – win!
Another reason to visit the market on
Saturday is the cooking demonstration. Frank Reiter, a foodie of the first
order (google Frank about Food to find his blog and Facebook page), will
demonstrate and give samples of blueberry lamb kebabs with mint cucumber sauce.
Tuesday we’re open from 4 to 6 and Owen
Detweiler should be there with melons. Market Lady Carolyn Smith will have
another great cooking demo for us – she did herb-marinated vegetables last week
using our FoodSaver marinator. Who knew such a product existed. Using vacuum
pressure to infuse the meat or vegetable, it only takes 10 minutes to marinate
instead of hours.
It’s that time of year when every
market seems better than the last. It is High Season!
