Webb City Sentinel Column - 10-5-12

Wait a minute – what happened to Fall? Well, regardless of the cold forecast for this weekend, we at the market are just stubborn enough to continue celebrating Fall – because it will be back soon. In fact, we have a banner two days lined up for our customers – so brave the weather and come on out today or tomorrow – or both days!

(at right - Zucchini-Pepper Relish - the recipe is at the bottom of the column)

After all, if the IceMusic Festival in Norway is a big success – held outdoors in January in an amphitheater built of snow in way below freezing weather, I’m pretty such we can handle a little cold. And we can actually drive up to the pavilion. IceMusic Festival patrons have a choice of skiing into the concerts or taking a ski lift and walking 20 minutes.

Today we welcome Hazel’s Bakery back to the Friday lunch slot. Hazel’s will serve Meatball Vegetable Soup for $4. It’s the perfect market food because it includes 12 vegetables – that’s about as good for you as it gets and won’t it be just perfect for a cool day? You can eat it at the market or take it home. Hazel’s will also have drinks and cupcakes available for 50 cents each.

Webb City’s own Gospel Strings plays today from 11 to 1.

Tomorrow we’ll be open from 9 to noon. We have a special treat with Robert Scott Bruce of Indianapolis returning to perform. Robert was at the market last year during his Midwest tour with his Celtic harp. This year he’s partnering with veteran musician Joel Conner to bring us “The Music of Simon and Garfunkel.” Robert sings the parts of Garfunkel. A trained operatic tenor, Robert’s sweet voice should be perfect. Joel will sing the part of Simon and play the guitar, though it will probably be his electric guitar since acoustic guitars don’t do well in cold weather. At least it won’t be an ice guitar like you’d find at the IceMusic where every year they feature several ice instruments. Yes, they’ve had an ice guitar, harp, horn… I bet the concerts give the audience chills. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that.

Breakfast will be served by the local chapter of Crime Stoppers which funnels tips about unsolved crimes to law enforcement using an anonymous reward system to folks who call in the tips. The menu is new – pancakes, eggs, and sausage – all cooked to order so it will be hot regardless of the temperature.

Both the meal and the music run from 9 to 11.

We expect to see lots of produce at the market today – green beans, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, green onions, egg plant, radishes, turnips, Swiss chard and other greens, edible pod peas, sweet potatoes, Asian specialty crops and lots more. We should have a good selection of mums and pumpkins of all sizes, including the minis. Tim Green is bringing his gorgeous green peppers and Broken Wire will have peppers of many colors, sweet and hot. We’re expecting our pork rancher and three bakers.

Tomorrow we’ll have no rancher, but Mohaska Farm House will be at the market with their artisan breads, along with Hazel’s Bakery and Arma Bakery.

On both days we’ll having Fall coloring pages for the kids.

Next week is our monthly Second Saturday so we’ll add artists to the mix and the streetcar will be running unless it’s raining hard. We start our pumpkin crafts for kids next week.

The zucchini should weather the cold over the weekend, so hopefully we’ll continue to have a bountiful supply through October. I made the recipe below this week with Carol Parker on KSN and folks raved about it. It’s a great way to use those really big zucchini which are such a buy at the market. Canned, it would make a great personal Christmas present. We still have free canning recipe booklets, canning labels and coupons off for canning supplies at the market information table.

Zucchini-Pepper Relish

3 lbs. zucchini, seeded if necessary
3 onions
2 sweet red peppers
1/4 cup pickling salt
2 1/2 cups sugar (or substitute 1/2 to 2/3 cup Truvia)
1 1/2 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons cornstarch

In a food processor, finely chop zucchini, pulsing with on/off motion. Put zucchini in large bowl.

Finely chop onions in food processor, pulsing. Add to zucchini.

Remove seeds from peppers and finely chop by hand. Add to zucchini.

Sprinkle with pickling salt and stir to blend. Let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Drain off liquid. Rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Drain, pressing out liquid.

In a large heavy pan, combine sugar (or Truvia)), vinegar, dry mustard, celery seed, pepper and turmeric. Bring to a boil stirring. Add drained zucchini mixture and bring back to a boil, stirring frequently.

Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

Combine water and cornstarch, mixing thoroughly. Add to zucchini mixture. Cooking, stirring for 5 minutes.

Refrigerate and serve fresh or seal in sterilized bottles and process according to canning directions.

Webb City Sentinel - 9-29-12

We begin our fall schedule next week with the arrival of October (and fall brings new crops like the edible pod peas in the photo). That means we’ll be open on Fridays from 11 to 2 and Saturdays from 9 to noon. The Tuesday markets are finished for the year. When November, or the first hard freeze, arrives we’ll go to Fridays only until we reopen for the 2013 market season in late April. We plan to stay at the pavilion until truly cold weather sets in. Last year we went to the Clubhouse in November but the winter was so mild we could have stayed at the pavilion. And while we love the Clubhouse – it’s warm and wind-free with lovely bathrooms and kitchen, it’s also tough to fit all our vendors inside and tougher still to redirect our customers there. So it’s the pavilion for us until the weather forces us to move.

Besides dropping Tuesdays, the other major change starting next week involves our market meals. Granny Shaffer’s wraps up their season at the market today. They’ve provided us with tasty meals twice a week May through September, often in oppressive heat, and we’ve really appreciated their dedication and yummy food. Next week, Hazel’s Bakery takes over the Friday lunch and will serve a different soup each week. On Saturdays we continue our benefit breakfast, but the menu changes to pancakes, eggs and sausage.

That said, today Granny Shaffer’s is serving hot roast beef sandwiches for lunch. The Plainsfolk will be playing.

Tomorrow Cooking for a Cause includes biscuits and gravy, sausage, and cooked to order eggs. It’s served from 9 to 11 and all profits go to the Ozark Area CROPwalk. CROPwalk is an interfaith walk held in over 2,000 communities nationwide. Our walk is this Sunday and there will be information on it at the market Saturday in case you would like to participate. The focus of the walk is fighting hunger with 1/4 of the funds raised being split locally among Crosslines, Lafayette House, Children’s Haven and the Salvation Army. The rest goes around the world feeding refugees and increasing economic opportunities in areas of chronic poverty. Locally, United Methodist, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Christians (Disciples), Catholics and Baptists walk together. Other churches, businesses and individuals are welcome.

The Loose Notes will play on Saturday.

Keeping the market going two days in a row is a challenge for our growers, but they’re committed to doing it if the weather will cooperate. It’s my job to make sure we have the customers they need on Saturdays when there are festivals galore drawing the customers out of town. So mark your calendars now. On October 6th we have a special musical treat. Joel Conner and Robert Bruce Scott of Indianapolis will present “The Music of Simon & Garfunkel” in much the same way that Simon & Garfunkel originally presented it when barnstorming the U.S. in the 1960's - one guitar and two voices in intricate harmony. Joel Conner, singing Paul Simon’s part, has performed across the United States for nearly 40 years. Robert Bruce Scott is an operatic tenor who performed at the market last year playing his 32-string Celtic harp. We are really pleased to have these musicians stopping at the market during their Oklahoma/Missouri tour.

On October 13th, we’ll have our scarecrow demonstrations. Lisa Sweet, Webb City’s queen of crafts, will demonstrate how to paint the scarecrow’s face – really the only part of the process that takes talent. And for those of us with no talent, she’ll also be giving away her demonstration pieces. I also hope we’ll be able to share some other materials like the clothing used to create the scarecrows. I’ve gone through my closets (is there anything more satisfying than clearing out closets?) and invite you to do the same. If you have long pants, long-sleeved collared shirts, overalls, denim skirts or dresses, old boots or hats, bring them to the market by the 13th and we’ll pass them on to others making scarecrows. The pants and shirts need to be hard woven fabric like denim or cotton. Stretchy fabrics like knits don’t work well. Also, if you have plastic bags, we can use those to stuff the scarecrows. Wouldn’t it be fun if homes and businesses throughout Webb City were decorated with market mums and pumpkins and original scarecrows? And you can add a couple of market carrot driveway markets to complete the effect for only $2 each. Who knows, maybe this winter we’ll get snow and actually need driveway markers.

In the meantime, come to the market and celebrate the fall. There’s still plenty of produce and other good things to buy, great music to listen to and friends to meet and make. See you at the market!

Webb City Sentinel column - 9/21/12

What a lovely time of year. The weather couldn’t be nicer, the rains have greened things up, the pumpkins and mums have arrived and Sammy and Suzie Scarecrow are back on their park bench at the market.

Sammy and Suzie have been fall fixtures at the market for 11 years now. And though their outfits change, their bodies just get a little more stuffing every year and their faces get a good scrubbing – in the washing machine.

(That's Devereaux Lewis of Oronogo, giving Suzy a hug, while his big brother looks on.)

We’ll have a scarecrow building workshop at the market on a Saturday in October but here’s the basics in case you want to start early. Gather up all those plastic shopping bags and two sets of old clothes – either your own or from a resale shop. (Well, I guess you could raid your spouse’s closet.) Regardless of scarecrow gender, you start with one pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Those form the body. Just pin each leg bottom and wrist opening shut with a safety pin and stuff with the bags. Start with the pants, then do the shirt, then tuck the shirt into the pants, pin them together, and add a little stuffing to fill everything out. I always use old boots and gardening gloves for hands and feet, again pinned to the body. For the head, stuff a plastic bag with more plastic bags, put it inside an old white pillow case. Draw or paint a face on a piece of old white sheet, wrap around the head, tie at the bottom and tuck into the shirt, pinning to keep the head in place. I’ve nnever figured out how to keep the head upright, so I just use a stick along the back to keep the scarecrow’s head from lolling about.

Now you’re ready to dress your scarecrow and top with an old hat. The outer garb will fade in the sun but that’s perfect, because changing the outfit each year is great fun. The inner body will be fine for reuse year after year.

Now all you need to do is give your scarecrow a name, add a few pumpkins and mums and celebrate fall. Don’t forget the festive ornamental corn decorations grown and made by our youngest vendor, 13-year-old Lane Luthi. You’ll find him at his sisters’ mum stand.

The market is open today from 11 to 2 and is loaded with beautiful produce. It is amazing how quickly plants perk up with some rain. You’ll see a wide selection of eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and squash. Today we’ll have the first of the sweet potatoes. And of course we’ll onions, green onions, radishes, Swiss chard, and other greens – basically a ton of local, fresh vegetables. Our pumpkin grower, Webb Citian Heath Reineke, is selling all his pumpkins for $3 each regardless of size. There will be baked goods both today and tomorrow, including Hazel’s Bakery with pies, cakes, muffins, cookies and fruit breads.

Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is serving chicken tetrazzini, green beans, dessert and a beverage for $6 today. Center Creek Bluegrass plays.

Tomorrow we celebrate Market Roots. This Webb City original has been copied across the country and celebrates where our food – and we – originated. The Historical Society will have a world map where everyone can mark their ancestral home. The Genealogical Society’s books will be for sale: Families & Histories of Webb City, Carterville, & Oronogo Vol. I for $65 and Pictorial History of Webb City, Carterville & Oronogo Vol II for $30.

Every vendor will have a sign with their birth place and where their ancestors came from. In the case of our immigrant farmers, we show when and where they became US citizens. There are always several tables full of produce currently in season and where scientists think they originated. Sure hope we have watermelon so we can have Africa represented on the table. The table also has artifacts from around the world just to give the display a little more flavor – after all, you don’t get to taste the display so you’ll have to savor it with your eyes.

The Carl Junction Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star serves breakfast tomorrow and will give their profits to one of the many charities they support like the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Society. The Green Earth Band plays. Be sure and ask them to play “The Market Song” written especially about the Webb City market.

There’s a lot going on in Webb City tomorrow with the market open from 9 to noon, Webbstock all day at the high school and Minerva’s open house downtown in the afternoon. Why not make it a Webb City day and visit them all?

On Tuesday, Granny Shaffer’s at the Market serves hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken salad sandwiches and chef salads. Gospel Strings performs.

It’s a wonderful time of year to visit the market. See you there!

Webb City Sentinel column - 9-14-12

As the long hot summer comes to an end, it’s time to evaluate one season and plan for the next. For the second year in a row, the summer heat devastated some crops like sweet corn, reduced the supplies of others, and left us market volunteers drained at the end of each day. Our farmers showed amazing resilience, as did our customers. Customer attendance remained steady even in 100 plus degree weather and that’s what keeps us volunteers and our vendors going.

If you’ve been at the market lately, you know that our current produce supply is amazing given the heat of August. We have loads of heat-loving crops like egg plant (in many varieties) and okra. We also have good supplies of green beans, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, onions, and lots of other things. We are short on tomatoes but should begin seeing more as the fall crops mature. Tomatoes won’t set their fruit if the temperature doesn’t drop to the low 70’s sometime during the day. So, we have a gap in production as a result of those hot days.

Because we had such a promising start this spring with about twice as much produce through May as ever before, we may still end up with an average season. I sure wish we could have maintained that great beginning. Still, it was a good summer in many ways. Probably the top of my list is the fact that six of my farmers received help from the Governor’s emergency drought fund that has allowed them to put in wells at their farms. These new wells mean we should have good fall crops which we might not have seen otherwise. Even with the recent rains, the subsoil is so dry that we are still considered by the experts to be in drought and that puts fall crops in jeopardy unless they have a consistent, assured source of water.

With drought apparently being the new normal in our area, these farms were looking at eventual failure without wells. A good spring is just not sufficient to carry a farm through a poor summer every year. Now they’ll have a way to sustain much of their production even in drought. These new wells will benefit our farm families and our customers and will make the market stronger, too.

Some of the other good things about this summer –

We were fortunate to have our market intern, Lindsey Rollins. Lindsey, a senior at MSSU in health science, was a God-send, capable, willing, bright and interested. We were also incredibly fortunate in acquiring a new market volunteer, Janet Taylor. Like Lindsey, Janet is a quick-learner and willing to take on anything. Even on the days she works, she’ll often pop over to help with set up and take down which are our most work-intensive times. She also was willing to take on management of the dreaded peach line – capable and brave.

Our cooking demonstrations underwritten by the Missouri Foundation for Health have been a real plus for the market this summer. We made contact with some wonderful resource people like Carolyn Smith and Susan Pittman who relished teaching others how to prepare fresh produce. Many customers made a stop at the demonstration table a part of their market routine. We got to try some very tasty dishes, sometimes with unfamiliar ingredients. I learned from Susan last Saturday that I actually prefer long beans over green beans. They’re similar in taste, but the long bean is firmer with a texture that I like very much. If you’d like to give it a try, you’ll find the recipe on the market’s web site: webbcityfarmersmarket.com. We also have it at the market. (The photo is of folks crowding around to try the long beans.)

Our canning program was a hit this summer with lots of sample mixes, recipe booklets and coupons. We still have all the freebies available, so if you’re in a canning mood – and with the loads of green beans we have now, how could you not be? – stop by and pick up instructions and discounts.

Now, on to the future. Since we’re expecting bountiful fall crops due to increased irrigation, the market can be open on both Fridays and Saturdays through October. That’s good news for our shoppers who can only shop on Saturdays. We did a survey last Saturday and of the 50 participants, only two shopped more than once a week at the market. That means that the vast majority of responders only come on Saturdays.
Come October, we’ll drop the Tuesday market till next spring. Then at the end of October, we’ll go to our winter market schedule which is every Friday from 11 to 2. The only exception that we anticipate is the annual Thanksgiving Market which is the day before Thanksgiving. Then, unlike every other “shop” in the country, we won’t be open the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Enough of the past and the future! Today, Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is serving stuffed baked potato with a choice of broccoli and cheese or chili and cheese, plus a drink for $5. Drew Pommert will play easy listening favorites. The Tri-State Iris Society will be at the market with more than 100 iris plants for sale.

Tomorrow, the Civil Air Patrol serves Cooking for a Cause breakfast. The Civil Air Patrol is made up of young people planning to join the Air Force. The Granny Chicks will perform so bring your dancing shoes! The first pumpkins will be for sale at the market. We're expecting over 600 to come in this fall.

On Tuesday, Granny Shaffer’s at the Market grills up hot dogs and hamburgers and also serves chicken salad sandwiches and chef salad. Gary Kyger will play classic country hits.

The market lost a good friend this week with the death of Merle Lortz. Merle lent his support to the market through this paper and the Wise Buyer, but when I think of him as a market customer I think of his discovery of fresh broccoli. He’d eaten broccoli before, but he’d never eaten fresh, local broccoli – delicious! Merle, I’m going to miss you and your sweet nature and I’ll think of you every time I see the market broccoli that you found so delightful.

Webb City Sentinel column - 9-7-12

A few years ago a friend scolded me that every time I made a recipe on TV it was something so calorie laden that she couldn’t hope to enjoy it. I have to admit, she was right. If it wasn’t an outright sugar-laden dessert, it was a side or main drenched in butter. I began looking for a few healthy recipes but my heart wasn’t in it. I love desserts and rich foods.

A grant the market received this year from the Missouri Foundation for Health gave me the motivation I needed ($7,000 will do that for you). But my new appreciation for healthy recipes was the exact result both the Foundation and the market were hoping for and it wasn’t based on dollars. It was from tasting the recipes. Week after week, we have had cooking demonstrations of good-for-you recipes, and you know what, they’ve been really good and satisfying.

(Eggplant continues to come in abundance and variety - we have at least 5 kinds in all sizes at the market)

This week provides great examples. Tuesday Carolyn Smith, former teacher at Webb City High School, demonstrated Creole Okra. I was pretty sure that I didn’t like okra unless it was deep-fat fried. Guess what? Creole Okra is tasty, filling and chockfull of veggies. That same day I was on Carol Parker doing a recipe of a dish I had enjoyed while on vacation in Prague. I’m certainly no culinary expert so it was a treat for me to have written down what I guessed to be the recipe and then after returning home to find it on-line almost exactly as I’d guessed. Actually, the dish I prepared at KSN was even better than the one I had in Prague. I think the difference was the amount of grilling I did with the veggies. I’d heard it said, but don’t remember experiencing it before in such profusion. Grilling veggies intensifies their flavor. Grilling a bunch and combining them knocks the flavor out of the park. This dish was so rich that I think it could pass for a main dish. It doesn’t need it for taste, but you could add chicken for protein. I’ve printed the recipe below.

Tomorrow nutritionist Susan Pittman teaches us how to cook with long beans. It’s an Asian specialty crop that several of our Hmong farmers grow. It’s sometimes confused by customers with green beans even though it’s usually 8 to 12 inches long, which would be a very long green bean. Long beans have a softer texture and are more flexible, and less crisp, than green beans. They range in color from light green to almost purple and the color determines how they are best prepared. We’ll have a tip sheet on long beans at the demo table. Who knows? They may become a favorite at your house.

There’s a lot going on today and tomorrow at the market. Today, Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is serving chicken & noodles, potatoes & gravy, apple crisp & drink $6. Chef salad & drink are $6 and a slice of pie is $2. We’ve moved picnic tables under the pavilion so folks can eat high and dry. Jack and Lee Ann Sours will play traditional music.

It’s the first Friday of the month so we’ll have gardening advice from the University of Missouri Extension and Lincoln University Extension in the form of Patrick Byers and Shon Bishop. While both specialize in produce, they can also help with questions regarding trees and lawns.

Today is our last day for canning drawings. We’re concluding our food preservation program with two very large drawings. Each includes 86 packets each for Kosher dill pickles mix and for freezer jam pectin. The winners will also receive a food preservation recipe book and a market shopping bag. The drawings will be held at 1 pm today and the winners do not need to be present.

Tomorrow is the market’s annual Arts in the Park celebration. The Spiva Center for the Arts will run a Veggie Arts table. Children (and children at heart) can make artistic creations. If past experience holds, we’ll see a lot of whimsical zucchini, cucumber and pepper people. The Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center will help children create a paper monarch butterfly. Top off the free fun with a ride on Old No. 60, Webb City’s restored streetcar. It will run from 9 to 11 am.

Meanwhile, we’ll enjoy the dulcet voices of father and son musical team Rob and Drew Pommert from 9 to 10:30. From 10:40 to 11:30 Dyanne Lile, Devri Brock, John Wilkins, and Ross Bruns, with accompanist: Kathy Nenadal perform family-friendly selections from HOT Scandals (HOT stands for Heartland Opera Theatre which hosting HOT Scandals Friday and Saturday nights at the Webb City Route 66 Civic Center.).

Our Cooking for a Cause breakfast will be served by members of the Webb City Park Board and profits will benefit the parks.

Next Tuesday, we welcome back Hazel’s Bakery to our weekday market. The bakery plans to be at every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday through September. In October, the market goes to Fridays only.

Come for lunch and enjoy the market debut of Kelly Cecil, blues and folk musician Tuesday. Carolyn Smith demonstrates our last good-for-you recipe of the year – Cucumber Cups Stuffed with Spicy Crab. Yum.

Speaking of yum, here’s that recipe I promised:

Pasta with Grilled Vegetables
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into quarters
1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into quarters
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into quarters
6 baby eggplants, cut lengthwise into quarters (I used Japanese eggplant, quartered for roasting and then cut into bite-sized pieces)
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 plum (egg or Italian) tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh purple basil or fresh green basil
freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh spinach tagliatelle pasta
Preheat grill to a high heat.

Place red, yellow and green pepper quarters, skin side up, under grill. Cook for 5-10 minutes until skins are blistered and charred. Place peppers in a plastic food bag and set aside until cool enough to handle. (You can save time and get perfectly roasted peppers right at the market every Friday and many Saturdays at Broken Wire.) Remove skins from peppers. Cut flesh into thick slices.

Brush cut surfaces of eggplant lightly with oil. Grill for 2-3 minutes each side or until tender and golden.

Place tomatoes, skin side down, under grill. Cook for 2 minutes or until soft.
Heat remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until onion is soft and golden. Add red, yellow and green peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, basil and black pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes.

Cook pasta in boiling water in a large saucepan following packet directions. Drain well. To serve, divide pasta between warm serving bowls. Top with vegetable mixture.
Serving suggestion: This pretty pasta dish is delightful for casual entertaining. A complete meal might start with a mixed green salad and crusty bread (from Mohaska Farmhouse) and finish with a selection of fresh seasonal fruit.

Serves 4

When I had this dish in Prague last month it also had grilled zucchini in it, as well as a little butter on the pasta and rosemary which the Czechs love. For KSN I added the zucchini and switched to a locally available pasta that is enriched with carrot, spinach and tomato providing a full vegetable serving in a 4 oz. serving of pasta.

Webb City Sentinel column - 8/31/12

Okra - learn to Creole it on Tuesday!

I’ve been away for a couple of weeks seeing some of the great cities of central Europe and a lot of its countryside as well. I saw some pretty spectacular things and met some lovely people, but as always, it is good to be home.

Within 12 hours of being home, I was reminded that Webb City is a very good place indeed to live. I was speaking to one of my farmers on the phone Thursday morning when I heard a thump. I abruptly said “Gotta go, bye.” I knew it had to be my mother taking a tumble while she watered plants. Indeed I found her on the floor in the reception room next to my office. She was struggling to sit up, holding her left hand. I’d no sooner helped her into a sitting position when in walked Jackie Clark and two other Webb City firemen, Doug Moore and Scott Pink. My first thought was that they were making their annual inspection of commercial property, but no, they were just driving by and Doug had seen Mother fall inside the office. Now that’s paying attention. Doug, who is a paramedic, gave Mother a quick going-over. Then he and Scott helped her into a chair. Meanwhile Jackie had called the ambulance. Did you know that the ambulance crew will come and evaluate the situation and if they don’t take you anywhere there is no charge?

After an evaluation, the paramedics recommended I take Mother to Urgent Care and have the hand x-rayed just in case there was a fracture.

So three happy things – no fracture was revealed by the x-ray and Mother will be fine, our Webb City firemen are wonderful and if you think you have a health emergency, in Webb City you can call the ambulance service for a professional evaluation without worrying about wasting your money. If you end up spending money taking the ambulance, it was well-spent on a potentially life-threatening emergency.

By the way, another thing Webb City has over central Europe is that our city has not been destroyed by wars over and over again. The palace at Budapest had been destroyed 86 times in the last 1,000 years. That’s about once every two or three generations. Well, OK - I'm math challenged - it's probably more like once in every four or five generations. Still I expect most generations experienced the destruction and/or the reconstruction.

And there’s also language. I was told by a Hungarian that their language was one of the most beautiful languages in the world and that it was a shame only 15 million people spoke it. About a billion people speak English, so we can talk to a lot more people – which is lucky for us because we Americans usually only speak English. Unlike us, about half of those billion people who speak English learned it as a second language.

In addition to your produce, you could pick up some language skills at the market. Many of our Hmong farmers speak not only Hmong and some English, but also Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian and French. In fact, one family speaks primarily in French. When I first visited the farm of the Yang family several years ago, their teenage son served as translator as we went through the fields. It slowly dawned on me that I could understand some of the conversation between mother and son. No, I had not miraculously learned Hmong, they were speaking in French. In fact, the son is French, having been born in France where the family lived prior to coming to the United States. Ma Yang and her husband Tang are very kind to let me practice my high school French on them whenever we’re at the market. I long ago forgot everything I knew about French verb tenses so I must sound atrocious, but they encourage me.

Since I am blessed with a French daughter-in-law I have picked up a few French phrases that Emmanuelle often uses with my granddaughter Madeleine, but I’m not sure how useful “walk, walk!”, “open your mouth” and “don’t spit” are going to be in other settings. The Yangs are helping me expand to “Good day”, “how are you?” and “is that zucchini?”.

It should be a good morning or bon jour today at the market. In previous years, the forecast of rain could mean a very slow market day, but I am confident that our vendors and customers will come out in force and rejoice in the rain. Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is serving ham, scalloped potatoes, a veggie side, peach crisp and a drink for $6. The Loose Notes are playing. Today is the last day for Lady Abigail’s Bakery. Abigail has taken on a full time job elsewhere. Hazel’s Bakery will be adding Tuesdays and Fridays to their Saturday schedule starting September 11th.

Tomorrow, the Webb City Choir Boosters are serving breakfast from 9 to 11. Center Creek Bluegrass is playing.

On Tuesday, Bill Adkins is slated to play, but he’s under the weather, so watch our facebook page in case that changes. Granny Shaffer’s at the Market will have hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken salad sandwiches and chef salad. Tom Rhodes will be our only baker, so if you want baked sweets, load up today and tomorrow. Carolyn Smith will be at our good-for-you cooking demonstration table with Creole Okra.

Next Saturday is our annual Arts in the Park day so we’re pulling out all the stops with three musical groups – at 9 am, Rob and Drew Pommert play, at 10 the Suzuki String Academy plays and at 11 Heartland Opera brings family friendly versions of songs from their Hot Scandals show playing next Friday and Saturday night at the Route 66 Civic Center.

See you at the market!

Webb City Sentinel Column - 8/24/12

I have to admit that right this minute, as I sit on a ship on the Danube listening to a concert of arias, the farmers market could seem remote. But though a long way away, the market’s people and products are not really far from my mind. And, too, food is always of interest to me.

My husband Phil who ramrods the Saturday breakfast emails me that the CP Center volunteers did a fabulous job preparing and serving breakfast last week and that they were wonderfully supported by the community. I hope for the same results tomorrow when the high school band boosters do breakfast. Now that school is back in session, we really need our customers and friends to come out on Saturdays. This becomes even more important as the September festivals approach. No matter what your plans, I bet you can fit in breakfast at the market. Enjoy some lovely music, fresh local produce, new – or old - friends and have a great start to the weekend and create some wonderful memories for your children or grandchildren – and yourself.

A friend told me last month that his granddaughter made her annual visit recently and spotted his cloth shopping bag. Are we going to the market? He had used the bag when he took her to the market last summer. Who says kids don’t enjoy simple pleasures?
Actually we all enjoy such pleasures, regardless of age. I was surprised recently when volunteer Rick Ford shared with me some photos he’d taken at a Saturday market. One showed a view of a crowd of our Saturday shoppers. There were a few seniors like me, as well as teens and children, but most were young and mid-aged adults. When we opened 13 years ago, 80 percent of our customers were older than me. As I’ve aged, the customers have become younger! Now we run the gamut which is wonderful because not only does variety add spice to the market, but it also bodes well for our future. Now we just need to acquire more young farmers.

Sad to say, we are losing one of our younger farmers – Hector Troyer who, with his family, is moving to the Stockton area to run a home for troubled teens. This will be his last season with us for at least two years. He and Lois will be wonderful mentors for the teens but we are sure going to miss them.

Should you know of anyone interested in learning to farm, young or old, stop by the information table. We can hook them up with training or possibly even an internship opportunity.

Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is serving beef and noodles today with potatoes and gravy, drink and dessert for $6. They’ll also have chef salad. Gospel Strings performs.

Tomorrow as I said earlier the band boosters serve breakfast. Red Bridge plays. Trish Reed will demonstrate how to pickle okra.

Tuesday, Granny Shaffer’s will serve hot dogs, hamburgers, chef salad and chicken salad sandwiches. Erik Brown and the Flatlanders perform. Carolyn Smith demonstrates a grain salad chock full of veggies - Southwestern Quinoa Salad.

Here’s a bit of serendipity. My traveling companion Joan Letsinger and I arrived after dark last week into our hotel in Prague. It faced a long narrow central park. Imagine my delight when the next morning we stepped out of the building to find a small open air market right at our front door. A couple of produce stands, a couple of bakers, others selling wine, olives and olive oils, a few crafts. The produce at European markets looks perfect and is beautifully displayed, but you can tell by the variety that it is not all coming from one farm and it’s pretty obvious that the seller hasn’t grown any of it. They just buy it, display it and sell it. They are not producer-only markets like we often have in the US. The big give-away is the smell or rather the lack of smell. At our market, smells fill the pavilion – peaches and melons, especially, but also the herbs and the roasting peppers. So soak up the market this weekend and next Tuesday with all your senses – and enjoy being in Webb City where your food comes straight from the hands that grew it.

Webb City Sentinel column - 8-18-12

The cooler weather has been a welcome break for all of us, especially for our farmers. You can imagine the stress of working every day outside in the July heat and the reduced rewards it produced in terms of production and extra work it created in irrigating. Unfortunately, it’s a rare farmer around here that can simply turn on the pump. For most, limited water means watering the crops in sections. At least one of my farmers can only water at night because their residential well cannot keep up with household needs and field needs at the same time so they end up working day and night. And, almost all our farmers have to make choices – like do I keep the blackberry bushes alive or the tomato plants alive, or do I keep the tomatoes alive or the squash alive.

The prospects are looking brighter for several of our market farmers, including the one irrigating off his residential well, because they are drilling new wells funded in part by the Governor’s emergency drought order. At least four of our farmers are drilling wells that will salvage their summer crops and enable them to produce a fall crop. I still have at least four more farmers that also need more reliable water. One of them is watering from her residential well which is located a good quarter mile from her 4 acres of crops. Every time I visit, her van’s cargo space is loaded with gallon milk jugs filled with water that she rations out to her plantings. Imagine trying to keep four acres alive that way. It’s just not possible.

In the 13 years the market has been open, we’ve had one really wonderful season when the temperatures and rainfall were perfect all summer. We’ve had three brutal summers, with the worst being this year and last. If these brutal years are our new normal, improved water sources and improved watering systems are the only way we can hope to have local produce during the summer. My farmers are already well on their way to improved watering systems. None use overhead watering anymore. All have switched to drip irrigation which uses much less water. Now many still need wells or ponds to supply that water and thanks to the governor’s program, we’re four farms closer to securing our supply of local produce. Here’s hoping for the other four farms.

Another positive funding experience we’ve had this year has been our grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. MFFH was created when Blue Cross/Blue Shield converted from a nonprofit to a for-profit company. They were not allowed to take their “profits” into the new company so they created a foundation that promotes better health in Missouri. Last year Freeman Hospital received a grant from them that helped them start their farmers markets in Joplin and Neosho. This year, we received a small grant that has allowed us to have cooking demonstrations on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The demonstrations have been very well received and, hopefully, have taught folks ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into their diets. That's one of our demonstrators, nutritionist Susan Pittman, in the photo. We hope, of course, that we get to team with MFFH on many other projects in the future.

I was checking out at a grocery store last week, getting some balsamic vinegar for one of the demonstrations, when the cashier asked “why is it that Webb City’s market has so much going on?” I think there are lots of reasons. Our volunteers are essential for many of the things we do, as are our vendors. Our vendors don’t just set up and sell. They set up, and then help each other or the volunteers. For example, the Lee family who sell at the north end of the pavilion always take down and stow our market umbrellas at the end of market. Seems like a small enough task, but after a long day of working in 100+ degrees, it takes commitment to take on another hot task. Robin Green of Green’s Greenhouse always wipes off our tables and benches before market. And, of course, our farmers are key in our educational efforts, whether it’s the Kids Community Garden or the annual Food Safety workshop. The fact that the media is generous in their coverage and the Sentinel generous in their ads allows us to spread the word about all the activities and what’s in season. And finally, those grants make a huge difference – whether they’re for education like the USDA specialty crops grants that we’ve received three years running (and we’re pretty sure we’re in line for another one this year that will bring a major conference on Winter Produce Production to Webb City), or the Missouri Arts Council grant that has helped fund our music for 10 years or our Ball Jar grant that allows us to introduce folks to food preservation or the MFFH grant will provides our cooking demonstrations. Yes, there’s a lot going on at the market.

Our Webb City folks will be particularly interested in next Tuesday’s cooking demonstration because it is the debut of Carolyn Smith at the market. Carolyn was the Family and Consumer Science instructor at Webb City High School prior to her retirement. She will demonstrate healthy lunches that can be packed for school or work.

Today, Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is frying up catfish right at the market and serving it with fried potatoes and onions, coleslaw, green tomato relish, dessert and drink for $6. Jack and Lee Ann Sours play traditional music.

Tomorrow, we’re in for a treat when one of our area’s premier blue grass groups, No Apparent Reason, plays at the market. Not only will they put on a great show, but they are donating their fee from the market to Cooking for a Cause. The Saturday breakfast will benefit the CP Center here in Webb City. Breakfast, biscuits and gravy, sausage, fried or scrambled eggs, farm fresh tomatoes and drinks are served from 9 to 11.

Nutritionist Theresa Dohm demonstrates a good-for-you recipe tomorrow.

It’s another great weekend at the market. Don’t miss it.

Webb City Sentinel column - 8-10-12

It’s National Farmers Market Week but it’s a typical week in Webb City because we celebrate every week. For example, today we have Center Creek Bluegrass playing, plus a bonus - Sadie’s Dollar, a young local group, will play while the Center Creek players take a break for lunch. And they’ll certainly take a break because Granny Shaffer’s at the Market is serving their famous fried chicken, with potato salad, three-bean salad, drink and dessert. And that’s not all folks, because Jon Skinner, urban forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation, will be at the market to diagnosis bug and disease problems and advise you on late summer tree care and fall tree planting. Plus we’ll have our healthy recipes and food preservation table set up as we do at every market loaded with recipes and all sorts of canning goodies like labels, recipe booklets and coupons.

Tomorrow may be even more fun than today because nutritionist Susan Pittman will demonstrate Rigatoni with Grilled Vegetables. (That's Bob Foos demonstrating making Pesto last Tuesday.) Drew Pommert will play his guitar and sing. The streetcar will give free rides from 9 to 11. The Joplin Exchange Club will serve breakfast of biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, farm fresh tomatoes. All profits go to Healing the Family Counseling Center, a non-profit that works to build stronger families and prevent child abuse. Other non-profits at the market tomorrow include The Forget-Me-Not team raising funds for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. They’ll have homebaked cookies for sale, as well as cold sodas and water, handcrafted flower clips and hair bows and insulated drink cups which can be personalized with the owner’s name. The A.D.K. Teacher Sorority will sell cardinal door stops to benefit Children’s Haven and the Children’s Center.

So you can see, every market is special – we don’t need a farmers market week for an excuse. However, our market is definitely part of the national celebration. The Farmers Market Coalition, which is the national organization of markets, sends out a press release every day during the national week. Each release centers on a different aspect of markets and is illustrated by the relevant activities of five markets nationwide. On Wednesday, Webb City was recognized for our mentoring program, improving farming skills. On Thursday we were recognized for our gleaning program, specifically all the produce our farmers donated last year that fed hundreds of volunteers working in the tornado fields.

Our mentoring program has garnered national attention several times. We are really fortunate to have both farmers and extension folks dedicated to improving the success of our market’s farmers. For example, on Monday I drove down to a farm in Anderson that needs a well. I had with me a very experienced farmer, plus two Extension consultants. (That's Ed Browning,left, Extension Ag Engineer Specialist, with our farmer.) I was there for transportation, organization and as “cultural attaché”. I don’t speak Hmong but I have worked with our Hmong farmers enough that I’m pretty good at asking the right questions and insisting on answers. (The Hmong are incredibly polite. If they don’t understand something, they’ll rarely indicate that, not wanting to inconvenience you. So I keep asking questions until I’m sure everyone is on the same page.) Two hours later, plans were in place. And in two weeks, the well will be too.

On the gleaning front, my farmers are continuing their tradition of generosity by donating produce at the end of every Tuesday market. And they are not alone, our customers are dropping by items and our bakers also make donations.

So Tuesday, if you’d like to give something to Crosslines, just drop it off at the information desk and we’ll pass it on when the truck arrives at 1.

We also have good-for-you recipes demonstrated on Tuesdays. Last week, Bob Foos demonstrated pesto and then market intern Lindsey Rollins used the pesto to make Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Stacks. Both recipes are easy, tasty and printed below.

Rob Pommert plays for the last time this Tuesday. He’s headed back to teach guitar at OCC. (But never fear, we have other musicians lined up to finish out the Tuesday season which will probably be September 25th.) Granny Shaffer’s at the market will have their chicken salad sandwiches, freshly grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and chef salads. And on every market day we’ll have lots of produce, baked goods, honey and other goodies.

Many of the ingredients of the recipes below are available at the market. These and other good-for-you recipes can be found at the market and at webbcityfarmersmarket.com.

Bob Foo’s Pesto recipe –

Darryl Alton introduced us to Pesto Genovese during the Webb City Farmers Market Pesto Festo! in 2005, I've been growing my own basil and making it every year since. You can make it in a food processor, but I prefer a mortar and pestle. Make several batches, freeze them in an ice cube tray for use throughout the year. I love it just melted in bow tie pasta.

4-6 cloves garlic
16 large leaves of basil
2 sprigs of parsley
6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts, walnuts or pecans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 or 2 allspice berries
1/2 cup olive oil

Pound garlic and salt together until thoroughly mashed. Add nuts and allspice berries and pound until smooth. Add basil, parsley and cheese, pounding until smooth. Put in a bowl and slowly add olive oil while stirring constantly. Stir until smooth. Use immediately or store in a jar topped by a thin layer of olive oil placed in the refrigerator.

Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Stacks

You can grill the eggplant rounds up to a day in advance, then assemble the eggplant, tomato and mozzarella “stacks” at the last minute. To make the eggplant and tomato stacks look symmetrical, use eggplant and tomatoes with approximately the same diameter.

Makes 6 servings

2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 medium eggplant (3/4-1 pound), cut into 6 rounds about 1/2 inch thick
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, divided
6 teaspoons prepared pesto
2 large beefsteak tomatoes, each cut into 3 slices about 3/4 inch thick
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 6 thin slices
6 fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat grill to medium-high or place a grill pan over medium-high heat until hot.

Use 2 teaspoons oil to brush both sides of eggplant slices; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Grill the eggplant slices for 5 minutes. Turn; continue grilling until tender and marked with grill lines, 3 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a large platter.

Spread each eggplant slice with 1 teaspoon pesto. Top with a slice of tomato, a slice of mozzarella and a basil leaf.

Drizzle vinegar and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over the towers; sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Webb City Sentinel Column 8-3-12

As we’ve watched our home gardens wither and blow away, I expect many in our area think there is no local produce at the farmers market. But actually we’re still overflowing with a wide variety of produce.

The Kids Community Garden, sponsored by the market on school grounds just east of the middle school, tells us why.

Our honey vendor tilled a large unplanted section of the garden Tuesday after market (in 100+ degree weather) and mentors Tim Green and Dale Mermoud worked with the young gardeners raking out the weeds. There were lots of tilled-up weeds because we’d been using sprinklers which “rain” on the planted and the unplanted ground. Those weed seeds were just laying in the fallow ground waiting for some moisture. We’ve since switched to soaker hoses that only water the crop rows.

It seemed like the kids were ankle-deep in dust as they raked. The soil is so dry. But upon closer inspection of the rest of the garden, we found the crops growing well. The kids picked five quart boxes of tomatoes. The okra and sweet potato plants look great even though they haven’t been watered in a couple of weeks. With a weekly watering the green bean, bell pepper and squash plants look good too. (The rows are mulched with straw to keep the weeds down and to retain moisture.)

We have found the same situation on our farms that have irrigation. Despite the heat and drought the crops continue to produce. Most of our farmers have to pick and choose what to water. Their fields are too big and their water supply too limited to water everything even though they use drip-irrigation which is the most efficient method.

The heat-loving, or should I say, the heat-tolerating plants like okra, peppers, melons and egg plant continue to thrive in this hot weather. Many of the other summer crops continue to produce but not at the quantity that we’d see with normal temperatures and some rain.

While cherry tomatoes do not seem to be affected by the heat, regular tomatoes need the night time temperature to drop to the 70 degrees or below for their fruit to set on well. So far, we continue to have a good supply of tomatoes. They are a bit smaller and not as pretty but they sure taste good. In fact, I think the ones we got at the market last week were the best-tasting we’ve ever had at the Nichols-Richardson table.

The market continues to connect our farmers with the expertise to cope with these conditions. Tim Green, of Green’s Greenhouse, is an expert tomato grower. As the market’s board president, he often goes with me to inspect our farms and I always love to have him along because he readily shares his tricks of the trade – like pinning row cover to the west side of tomato rows to reduce sun scald. Tim is one reason our farmers have so much to bring to market despite the weather.

Tim knows, as do most of our growers, that better farmers make for a better market and a better market is good for everyone who sells and shops there.

So what’s happening at the market besides loads of produce? Today we have homemade chicken and noodles for lunch and the Plainsfolk play traditional music.

Tomorrow, nutritionist Theresa Dohm demonstrates Farmers Market Potato Salad. Pick up the recipe and try a sample at her table by the central entrance. The Chert Glades Master Naturalists serve breakfast from 9 to 11. They are a group of volunteers who promote awareness and preservation of natural resources in our area.
Hawthorne plays traditional music and music from the Civil War era.

On Tuesday, our market intern continues our good-for-you recipe program with demonstrations on making Pesto and Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Stacks. Those are both treats you won’t want to miss! But if you do, all our recipes are posted on webbcityfarmersmarket.com.

Also on Tuesday Rob Pommert will play and Granny Shaffers serves hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken salad sandwiches and chef salads. And don’t forget the Crosslines truck which comes every Tuesday between 1 and 2 pm. Over the last two Tuesdays our farmers have donated over 400 pounds of fresh produce to feed their neighbors in need and several customers have brought by canned goods. Let’s keep it up!

See you at the market where you can eat well and do good, too.