Webb City Sentinel market column - Wednesday, July 29, 2020

If you were at the market last Saturday, you saw three new vendors. They’ll be back this Saturday, plus an even newer one! We’ll have farm-raised shrimp from Clear Water Shrimp Farm based near Neosho, Asarum Flower Farm which is a specialty cut flower farm also near Neosho. If you’d like to see beautiful flower photos, check Asarum out on Facebook. Good Golly Tamale from Billings has frozen tamales and fresh tamale sauce. Last Saturday they had green chili chicken, chipotle chicken, and vegetarian cheese. Our newest vendor is Missouri Mushrooms from Ash Grove. They’ll have oyster mushrooms and lion mane mushrooms. More on Saturday below, but first let’s talk about tomorrow.

 

Tomorrow Songbird Kitchen will have made-at-the-market Asian food. Many of our farms, Braker, Harmony, Lee, Whole Earth Harvest Farm (that’s the new name of the Lykou Lee Farm), Nature Valley, and Vang Garden will be at the Thursday market. We’ll also have Helm Honey, Juniper Coffee, and Stormy Farms (with all-natural meats). Thursday is a great day to shop if you want to avoid a crowd, especially after the first half hour. Enjoy Thursdays while you can. Unless the school starting date changes, August 13 will be our last Thursday market of the season.

Now, let’s get back to Saturday. In addition to our four new vendors, most of our farmers will help us bring in August – Agee’s, Braker, E & O, Harmony, the Lees, Nature Valley, OakWoods, Pates, and Still Waters. We expect three bakers – Harmony, Redings Mill, and Sunflower. Two ranches – Garrett and Sunny Lane. And our specialty vendors – 2Ts Soap, DnD Smoked, Juniper Coffee, Kings Kettle Corn, and MaMa JoJo’s.  And I won’t be surprised if we hear from a few more vendors as Saturday nears.

 

Cooking for a Cause on Saturday benefits the Come Back Kids Scholarship program in Sarcoxie.This project is raising funds to provide scholarships to Sarcoxie graduates who agree to return to teach in the Sarcoxie school system. The goal is to raise $100,000 and the scholarships will be for up to $5,000 awarded to junior and seniors in college.  Served from 9 to 11 just north of the pavilion. Max Barnett is on the market stage on Saturday.

The Free Kids Meals this week are:

 

Tomorrow:  Meat and bean taco salad with tomato, cheese, and lettuce, chips, market cantaloupe and watermelon salad, and milk.

Saturday (the kids get a hot breakfast to-go and a sack lunch):  Brownie batter oatmeal with watermelon, and milk AND Hot dog, sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and milk

The meals are free to any child, aged 1 through 18, regardless of residency or income. 

We’ll have market Tuesday from 4 to 7. Ghetto Taco will have street tacos and Cochinita Mexicangrilled corn. There will be a free kids meal. I don’t have the menu yet, but I expect it will be filled with tasty market produce. It’s served from 4:30 to 6:30 in the kids tent north of the pavilion.

Finally, a couple of celebrations. The market was notified this week that it has received a grant from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. They are helping with our music costs to the tune of $1,800 this year. We also learned that the WR Corley Trust has awarded the market’s WIC program $1,000. The WIC program is funded without any government support so gifts from foundations, trusts,
churches, businesses, and individuals are critical to the market’s efforts in making sure young low-income families have access to fresh local foods.

 So three cheers for the arts and three more cheers for the Corley Trust. And three cheers for my newest favorite vegetable – Long Beans.  I’ll have a couple of long bean recipes, including a special family recipe, to share with you next week. See you at the market.