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| Master Gardeners work with the kids. |
The potato patch is in place at the Kids Community
Garden (with the help of over 200 children) and now we’re getting excited about
the Free Summer Meals for Kids! The meals start on Saturday which is the first
market day after school is out. We’re changing up the Saturday meal a bit this
year. Last year we found that many kids had already eaten breakfast by the time
they came to market so this year we’re doing breakfast from 9 to 10, then
taking ten minutes to switch out to lunch which will be served until noon. The
menu this Saturday is a breakfast served from 9 to 10 - pancake and sausage on
a stick, orange juice and milk, followed by lunch served from 10:10 to noon –
ham and cheese sandwich, market veggies and milk. Families who want to spend
the morning in the park can feed the kids breakfast, do a little shopping or
listen to music, head over to the splash pad, enjoy a walk, or feed the geese and
then come back for lunch.
Beginning Saturday, we’ll serve the meal at
every market. This Tuesday’s meal, served from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, is soft tacos,
market veggies and milk. Next Thursday’s meal, served from 11 to 1, is beef
nachos, market veggies and milk.
Children, from ages 1 through 18, may eat for
free. There are no income or residency requirements.
Tomorrow (remember, no kids meal yet!),
Extension is demonstrating a recipe using kohlrabi. This veggie originates from
Germany and to me tastes a bit like the stem of broccoli only crunchier. Many
people, myself included, prefer the stem over the head because it is sweeter. Be
sure to try kohlrabi which is good raw or cooked.
We have a new musical team – Randy Corbin and
Phil Greer – playing on Thursday. Apple Road Farm will serve baked pasta with
meat sauce and cheese, a side salad, bread and dessert for $6.
Hopefully you’ll notice some activity in the
Kids tent, but not by kids. We are serving our annual Thank You meal there Thursday
for city employees and the park board and city council. It’s our small way of
acknowledging how much the city does for the market. The park workers and
public works have helped us out many times. So has the fire department, which
among other things, sent a crew over complete with fire truck to help get the
sidings on the pavilion before the first winter storm last fall. The police are
a regular presence at the market keeping an eye on things and during the summer
they coming once a month to do KidPrints for children. The city council, the
park board, the city hall staff and water department all provide support and
encouragement that is essential to our success. 
Breakfast for the adults is served from 9 to
11. All profits from Cooking for a Cause will benefit the Webb City High School
Choir Boosters.
The Pommerts perform on the market stage.
The Kids Garden Club will transplant impatiens
and butterfly flowers and will color “Fierce Flowers”.
Next Tuesday Scott Eastman is playing and Ghetto
Taco will serve street tacos for supper.
Now for what you really want to know – what’s
in season? Well, the yellow squash,
zucchini and cucumbers came into their own at yesterday’s market. We’ve gone
from just a few to piles of them. And, yes, it is early for that kind of
abundance but our farmers really know how to grow. Sadly, they can’t control
the weather and so the strawberry crop has suffered from the downpours we’ve
had lately. Even so, we had several hundred quarts yesterday, but that was not nearly enough to satisfy demand. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we’ll see a bigger harvest. We still have asparagus but that will soon be a memory so enjoy it while you can. Pate’s Orchard will be at the market Saturday with tomatoes and cucumbers. John tells me that the peach crop came through the freezes well but will be a little late this year. Look for peaches toward the end of June.
Something else to look for - our Turquoise
Tables. The Turquoise Tables movement is a quiet national movement encouraging
folks to build community by painting a table turquoise and moving it to the
front or side yard rather than the back yard. And sitting at it two or three
times a week, inviting others to sit there as well, with or without you. A team
of volunteers came last Saturday from Joplin with paint donated by Sherwin
Williams and painted the two tables we had sanded and ready.
It seemed like a natural fit for the market
where all are welcome and invited to sit and visit with old and new friends. Probably
all of our tables should be turquoise but having only two will make them stand
out and be our way of saying “Welcome, stay and visit for a while.” Let’s build community. We look forward to
seeing you this week.
