You would think that this time of year I wouldn't be scrambling for vendor space. After all, the growing season is over, right? Not by a long shot. The pavilion will be full tomorrow and mostly with fresh local produce!
Tomorrow we are expecting 16 farms with everything from our usual
tomatoes, zucchini, squash, lettuce, broccoli and more to those rarer
treasurers like apples and fresh picked out pecans. Our ranchers will have
pork, beef, chicken, lamb and – wait for it – pheasant. This time of year
Center Creek brings their “processed skin-on, free-flight, homegrown pheasant,
which are raised without antibiotics or hormones.”
We think all our farms are special but Center Creek certainly wears
that description easily – they raise all sorts of special things and focus on
organic methods and sustainable practices. Some of the special things they’ll
have tomorrow include salad greens/braising mix, arugula, and other greens, cherry
tomatoes, eggplants, microgreens, herbs, and lots of ghost peppers, Trinidad
scorpions, peach scorpions, habanero, and fatalii peppers and other peppers. In
case you are unfamiliar with ghost and scorpion peppers, let me give you a
heads up – they are the hottest known peppers in the world. Now that’s special. (That's a photo of the growing structures at Center Creek. The fields are behind the tunnels.)
Carole with Fairhaven Garden called to say they would have picked
out pecans tomorrow. John Pate is bringing apples from the orchard tomorrow –
not a lot so don’t dawdle.
Way Back Bakery will have their fried pies and also a quilt and
other goods sewn by Amish hands. Edith is due at the market with her lovely
sewn goods as well. Garden ‘N’ Goats will have their goat soap in the south end
of the pavilion.
Others expected include Redings Mill Bread Co., The Red Tamale, Kings Kettle Corn and honey and
frozen blueberries from Robertson Family Farm. Yes, it will be a packed
pavilion and we’ll need lots of customers to cart our carefully grown and
crafted goods home.
Stewart’s Bakery will serve breakfast – eggs cooked to order,
biscuit and gravy, sausage, and hash brown casserole for $5. A giant cinnamon
roll is $3. Both include a drink.
Jeff Simpson and Corky Dow will fill the pavilion with bluegrass. They’ll
also do sing-alongs of children’s songs with any kids wanting to share the
stage.
On Tuesday, Stewart’s Bakery will serve
all-you-can-eat pinto beans, with fried potatoes and cornbread for $6. Rob
Pommert will play.
Extension will sample winged beans and
measuring any sales increase that results. Winged beans appeared at the market
last year but they’ve been grown for centuries in Asia and yet this may be your
first chance to try them. You have heard the saying that there is no waste from
the tail to the snout of a pig; you can make some kind of food out of pretty
much everything but the squeal. Well, the same is true of the winged bean – the
root, the leaves, the flowers, the beans, they are all edible. But you’ll
probably only find the bean at the market. Be sure to try it.
Next Saturday is Fall Foto Day when Bob Foos
takes portraits at the market. There are two $15 packages available – 8 wallets
with two 4x5s or 8 wallets with one 5x7. Add an 8x10 to either package and the total
cost is $20. You can also order extra wallets, 4x5s and 5x7s in case you want
to share the photos with the whole family.
Let us review – don’t miss the market tomorrow
– or Tuesday – or next Saturday. Come dressed for a fall photo next Saturday. Don’t
worry, no matter what you wear you’ll look good next to Sammy Scarecrow. See
you there!
