Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Webb City Sentinel market column - 5-22-19


I am sitting in the market pavilion writing this column the day before the Sentinel comes out. It is sunny with a light breeze. Blue skies are full of white clouds. Bill Adkins is playing gently in the north end of the pavilion. Customers are perusing the selections, many holding the hand of a child or with a babe in arms. Quiet chattering mixes with the fragrance of hundreds of flowers filling the market. It is a delightful change from the dark skies and deluge of the morning. 

School is out at 11 am tomorrow here in Webb City and the market serves its first Free Summer Kids Meal of the year starting at 11:01. The menu is chicken salad with crackers and tossed green salad featuring lettuce mix, tomatoes, cucumbers and edible pod peas, all fresh from the market. Milk is served at every Kids Meal. Thursdays’ Kids Meals is served from 11 to 1.

This is our fourth year of Kids Meals which are open to all children aged 1 through 18 regardless of residency or income. We look forward to introducing lots of children to healthy local foods here at the market and, surprise!, also at the library. The market will supply lunch from noon to 1 for the library’s summer reading program this year, starting with the kickoff of “The Universe of Stories” this Saturday at the library and on each Wednesday until the “send off” on Saturday, July 27.

Fit Foods is serving chicken fried rice and lemonade for $5 tomorrow. Drew Pommert is on the market stage.

Saturday, the Webb City Choir Boosters serve breakfast at Cooking for a Cause from 9 to 11. The Saturday Kids Meal is from 9 to 11:30 and this week will be a market fruit parfait and a market-made muffin. 

Robert Scott Bruce is on the market stage. Robert, who lives in Indianapolis, stops by the market once a year when he heads to Oklahoma to visit his parents. This year his folks are coming to see him in Webb City so maybe we’ll get to meet them. Robert sings in many genres and many languages and will perform a mixture of world folk, classical and popular music this Saturday.

It’s Taco Tuesday at the market!  The Free Kids Meal will be a taco with a fiesta salad. The Kids Meal is served from 4:30 to 6:30 on Tuesdays. 

E & O farm inspection
Drew Pommert is back on the market stage. Yoga at the market starts at 5:45. This donation-based class is for beginners and intermediate students. You’re welcome to borrow one of the market’s mats if you’d like to give it a try. 

Ghetto Taco will be on hand with street tacos. But if you prefer Egg Roll Tuesday, try Song Bird Kitchen.

Blooms mean Blackberries!
I made the first of our farm visits last Friday. It is definitely one of the perks of volunteering at the market. The highlight of the day was seeing the flowers at E & O Farm. They were beautiful. Owen says Esther is the brains of the flower operation. If so, she is one smart lady. The combinations of colors, shapes, textures of their flowering baskets are breathtaking. They still have a good supply, as does Braker Farm, so stop by and find something beautiful to put in your life this week.

Another treat was visiting Fairhaven Gardens. My, do they ever have loaded blackberry bushes. I think it’s going to be a blackberry summer for the market. They are also raising quail which you can expect to arrive at the market soon (frozen). And of course their gardens are planted with lots of veggies as well.


I also stopped by Sunny Lane Farm. Owner Greg Rasmussen had moved the sheep up to the corral by the barn so I could get a good look, but I asked him to turn them out to the pasture because I was taking photos for our social media pro Rachael and sheep look better on grass, plus that’s where they normally live at the farm. He said “Sure, I’ll lead them to the pasture.”  And sure enough, he did. He walked into the corral, opened the gate to the fields and headed out to the far pasture with some forty sheep and lambs following along. I felt a bit like I was in a parable. I have probably never seen such a pastoral scene. Greg is thoughtful and kind and I guess it should be no surprise that he makes a good shepherd. 

This column started with delight at the market, moved to beauty at E & O and returned to delight at Sunny Lane. Beauty and delight can be found in the ordinary and the extraordinary and frequently in life at the market. May you find beauty and delight in your life this week.