Yes, this crazy weather is supposed to dump
frigid air on us this weekend. Thank goodness for our enclosed market and big
heaters. (Thank you, City of Webb City!) We’ll be firing the heaters up early
tomorrow so the pavilion is comfy when we open at 9.
The Kids Garden Club is back in action
tomorrow and they are planting tiny gardens with tiny seeds. Master Gardeners Eric and Debbie will lead
the children in making egg carton gardens, planting radish, spinach and lettuce
seed. You will be amazed at how small those seeds are. The club meets in the
center section of the pavilion and it will be come and go throughout the
morning - and free.
Breakfast is biscuit and gravy, eggs, hash
brown casserole, and a choice of sausage or bacon. Coffee or juice is 50 cents.
Stewart’s Bakery will have spaghetti and meat balls with a hot roll for take
away or eat in for $5.
Richard Hugh Roberts will perform from the
Great American Songbook, favorites from the great musicals and performers of
the past.
We’ll have seven farmers tomorrow, along with
bakers, jam and jelly makers, and lots of other excellent vendors. We’re
expecting four farms with eggs so we should have plenty. (Shhh, this is a bit
of a secret, but Penn Acres is bringing duck eggs. Supply is limited now but
should grow as all the ducks begin laying.)
We’ve had four full days of workshops and
conferences in the last two weeks. And it’s been hard to sit inside with the
weather so nice. In fact, I had a two hour planning meeting with my
horticulture friends from Extension on Wednesday afternoon and we held it
outside! It really only needed an hour
and a half but it was so beautiful we lingered. Our topic was developing a
grant application for an idea inspired by George Washington Carver’s Jessup
Wagons. Carver designed a mini-Agriculture School that traveled (pulled by a horse) to the farms. If
successful, we’re going to be relying on our trucks and cars, but the concept
is the same. We want to build kits themed on protected growing (low tunnels and
caterpillar tunnels), irrigation, pesticide/spraying, and on technology – yes,
we want to teach our farmers how drones, and other technologies, can save them
time and money. The kits will go on farm visits and also be used in workshops. (Completely off the subject, that's a photo of Joe Palmer's birdhouses. He has them at the market for only $8 each.)
I know you’ve heard it before, but University
of Missouri and Lincoln University Extension have been essential partners in
training our farmers to be successful growers of top quality products. These
kits, if funded, will provide tools to continue and expand on those efforts. Much
of the training we do is in a classroom. That’s a beginning but hands-on
training will solidify the knowledge shared.
There was a time not so long ago that small
and medium sized farms seemed on the way to extinction in our country. That
trend has been reversed – partly because many in today’s generation are keen to
be farmers, partly because there is a much stronger demand for local foods and
support for local farmers and, in our case, partly because Extension and the
market has teamed together to provide the best agricultural knowledge to our
farmers.
And when I say the best, I mean the best. We are
fortunate to have a tremendous team of educators/mentors in Extension in
southwest Missouri and also we have brought in some of the top experts in
winter production and food safety. Even now we are working on a tomato
conference with the one of the country’s top tomato experts for this summer. So
three cheers for Extension and for our farmers who are always ready to learn
more – even when it takes them from the farm in beautiful weather.
Brave the cold tomorrow. The sunny days have
made the high tunnels exploded with beautiful produce that you can enjoy all
week. It is amazing how long the market greens, when properly stored, last. If
you buy enough they should take you clear through the week.
See you at the market!
