The cantaloupe came in at the market yesterday
and the watermelon won’t be far behind. Melons love the heat, so they must be deliriously
happy. The field tomatoes are coming in, the okra is beginning, the peppers are
popping up, the market is awash with egg plant. Yes, it’s summertime. Time to
dress cool and eat fresh.
On Thursday the free kids meal is served from
11 to 1 and will be chicken salad with crackers, blackberries and cantaloupe and
some market veggies.
Stewart’s Bakery is serving spaghetti and
meatballs with green salad for $6. Rob Pommert is on the market stage.
Saturday the free kids meal is served from 9
to 11 and it will be biscuit and gravy and blackberries.
Cooking for a Cause will benefit Joplin NALA. NALA,
working with volunteer mentors, teaches adults reading and math skills as well
as English as a Second Language to people who grew up speaking a non-English
language. Reading may seem an easy skill for those of us who learned as
children, but for those adults who did not being unable to read is a tremendous
barrier to getting a good job or even reading with your own children. And for
immigrants and new citizens of our country it is an important step to being an
active and productive member of our community.
Cooking for a Cause is served from 9 to 11 and
includes various combinations of biscuits and gravy, sausages, eggs cooked to
order, slices of farm fresh tomatoes and coffee or juice.
Stewart’s
Bakery will have Chicken Tortilla Soup for eat-in or take-away for $5 a
pint. Folks raved about it the last time it was served.
Corky Dow plays on the market stage on
Saturday. He always brings a fellow musician and always gives us a good show.
Oakwoods Farm is bringing the pepper roaster
Saturday. This is a special treat – only a couple of markets in the state have farmers
with pepper roasters – and the roaster appears relatively late in the season
because all those colorful hot and sweet peppers tend to ripen later than many
other vegetables. But they are ripe now, so load up! We'll also have honey and cut flowers at the Saturday market.
On Tuesday, Stewart’s Bakery will serve meatloaf,
potatoes and pasta salad for $6 and 1/4 pound hotdog with all the trimmin’s for
$5.
You may have noticed that we were flooded with
corn the week of Fourth of July and then had hardly any for a couple of markets
– and that the melons are running a bit late. You can thank all that rain in
the spring. The fields were so wet that the farmers couldn’t get in to plant
for a week and that caused the gap we experienced. Farming is often at the
mercy of the weather and while we have some amazing farmers, they haven’t
figured out how to plant in mud. We seem to be getting past the gaps, but
should another lean sweet corn market appear, just enjoy all the other good
things at the market! You sure won’t go
hungry.
See you at the market.
