Tuesday we opened the market in a tremendous
storm. The wind was blowing rain from the west so furiously that folks under
the east side of the pavilion were getting wet. You can imagine how drenched
the vendors set up on the west side were. Once it became clear that we had to
drop the sides on the west, we all worked furiously to get them tied into place.
All except the six vendors helping Howard, the kettle corn vendor, hold down
his canopy. It felt like an inland version of those movies showing people tying
the rigging in heavy seas. But thank goodness for those sides!
Despite the foul weather we had a nice turnout
for yesterday’s market. It’s the time of year when missing a market is a shame.
There is such abundance and new crops coming in all the time.
On Saturday Crosslines, our regional food pantry, will receive all the profits from Cooking for a Cause. We are gearing up for a crowd. My husband Phil who ramrods the breakfast has ordered 40 dozen eggs from one of our farms and Central United Methodist Church has lined up an experienced crew to prepare and serve the meal. Scrambled eggs, biscuit and gravy, sausage, hashbrown casserole, slices of local tomatoes, and coffee or juice for $6.
The Granny Chicks will be on the market stage.
The Free Kids Meals are breakfast from 9 to 10
– blackberry parfaits with market fruit and milk. Lunch is from 10:10 to noon is meat and
cheese kabobs, crackers, market produce and milk.
Tuesday Stewart’s Bakery will have roast pork
loin, potatoes, cucumber and onion salad and dinner rolls for $6. Ghetto Taco
will have street tacos.
The Free Kids Meal on Tuesday will be beef nachos, market fruit and veggies, and milk. The Webb
City Police Department will do a free KidPrint. Parents will receive a card
with their child’s finger prints. The police will bring out some of their
impressive vehicles and the fire department will be there with a fire engine. Even
the adults like seeing the equipment and visiting with the folks who keep us
safe.
MU Extension is doing a recipe using crookneck
squash Tuesday. Crookneck cooks up just like regular yellow squash but has
better storage qualities. Our newest grower, Stephanie Gregory, has lots of it
but most folks seem unfamiliar with it. We hope to cure that Tuesday. Stephanie’s
farm, Our Little Piece of Heaven, is located 8 miles east of Diamond. She’ll be
coming on Tuesdays only. Stop by and say hi.
Another new Tuesday vendor, D‘n’D, has a
wide selection of smoked salts and seasonings. There are too many to list but
here are a few: smoked sea salt, smoked peppercorns,
smoked pink Himalayan chipotle salt, and smoked paprika. You’ll get to try some
Tuesday at the Market Lady’s demonstration table. She’s doing sweet corn
flavored with the salts.
Don't forget the market's Empty Bowls 2.0 going on till July 14. Choose a lovely handcrafted bowl at the market or Granny Shaffers, The Bruncheonette, Instant Karma or Eagle Drive In, make a $15 donation, take the bowl home and come to the market on Saturday, July 14 to enjoy dessert.
And that brings us to this week’s “secret” –
the melons are here! Both Braker and E
& O have cantaloupe. Harmony has yellow doll ice box melons (which are
delicious) and soon we should have lots of all kinds of melons – if the weather
cooperates. Owen Detweiler was worried about that storm that went through Tuesday. If it dumped a bunch of rain on the melons he planned to harvest for this week he may just put them in the compost pile. While most of our
farmers were delighted to have rain, those who raise melons want dry, hot weather
during harvest. Rain can ruin the flavor of a melon and Owen won’t purposely
sell a bad melon. Let’s hope the rain missed his farm and we’re soon all
feasting on my favorite berry (yes, according to MU Extension horticulturist
Patrick Berry watermelon is a modified berry!). See what you learn from reading
to the end?
See you at the market!
