Webb City Sentinel column - 9-13-13

It’s official. The Park Board gave us their blessing this week to hold Winter Market at the market pavilion on Saturday mornings. In October, we’ll be at the pavilion on Fridays and Saturdays. November through early April we’ll go to Saturdays only – 9 am to noon.

About six years ago we started our Winter Market. It was the brain child of Nancy Rasmussen of Sunny Lane Farm. As a rancher, she has product all year round and needed a place to sell her beef, chicken and lamb. 

Those first few years, the market was pretty small, mostly meat vendors and bakers with a little produce at the beginning and end of the winter season. We only met twice a month and Nancy took care of management. By the third year sales had increased to the point that Nancy could no longer run her own stand and the market too, so at her request, I stepped in. Last year volunteer Janet Taylor took on much of the management responsibilities. 

Our third year, the winter of 2010-11, we grew a little more and it was REALLY cold. Only two market days were above 40 degrees. Twice I had to sweep snow out of the pavilion before opening and once we had to cancel due to over a foot of snow.

That sent us to the Clubhouse for the next two years of winter market. Changing locations was confusing for our customers and crowded for our vendors but it was warm, except the poor meat vendors who were stuck with their trailers outside. But don’t feel too badly for them, they had heaters inside those trailers.

Then in spring of 2012, city economic director Chuck Surface contacted me about a grant for the market. I supplied him with documentation and photos of the market, its sales, and vendor and customer numbers. Lo and behold, the US Department of Agriculture gave the city funds to by rubberized canvas sidings for the pavilion and large portable heaters in order to extend the market season.

The sidings couldn’t have come at a better time. We had seriously outgrown the Clubhouse. After our winter production conference last year we knew that we’d have at least twice as many winter growers at the market this year and probably more. And we barely had room for the growers we had last year.

Another critical reason for returning winter market is that the Clubhouse is not available to us on Saturdays. That is the most popular day to rent the Clubhouse for parties and events so it was just not an option to tie it up with the market every week (we went to every Friday last year).

Why the move from Fridays to Saturdays for winter market?  For the last several years many customers have asked us to stay open on Saturdays. Their work schedule just didn’t permit them to shop during the day on Fridays. For example, the school administration, as great as they are, won’t let teachers pop out to stock up on Swiss chard and broccoli. 

The deciding factor was sales. Friday market sales had, since the beginning, been much higher than the other days, two and three times as much. Saturdays have been growing, but even last summer Saturday saw only 70% of the sales that Friday produced. Not so this year. Saturday finally burst past Friday and is now our biggest sales day of the week. It may not feel as busy because our Saturday crowd doesn’t seem compelled to do all their shopping in the first 20 minutes of market but the crowd is much steady. I rejoice when I look down the pavilion at 10 minutes till noon on Saturdays and it’s still full of customers – and produce. That’s one reason Saturdays have grown so much. Our farmers are finally producing enough to have full tables two days in a row. It took a while to build up to that.

Today at the market you can enjoy the music of the Granny Chicks, polkas are guaranteed. Granny Shaffers at the Market is serving homestyle chicken and noodles, chicken salad sandwiches and fruit plates. Extension is demonstrating “Sweet Potatoes Four Ways”. The basic preparation is the same for each recipe, but the spices vary. Try them all and pick your favorite. Patrick Byers and Shon Bishop, with University of Missouri and Lincoln University Extension, will be on hand dispensing gardening and growing advice. Larry Cassatt comes to the market for the first time this season with his melons. Terrell Creek is back with goat cheese. Fair Haven is bringing 80 dozen ears of shucked corn. Just toss them into boiling water. Josh Flager and Courtney Luthi will each have big gorgeous mums for sale today and tomorrow. We’ve been having plenty of farm-fresh eggs on both Friday and Saturday so pick up a dozen. They are great scrambled or fried. 

Tomorrow William Adkins takes the market stage. The Friends of the Webb City Public Library serve breakfast until 11. Market Lady Susan Pittman demonstrates Fresh Tomato and Basil Pasta and Fire-and-Ice Tomatoes. Craig Hansen of Hillside Farm in Carthage returns with his elephant garlic tomorrow. He’ll only be here a couple of times this year so don’t miss him.  (that's a photo of his garlic above.)

Just two more “Easy Tuesdays” left this year. Marshall Mitchell performs western and cowboy music. Granny Shaffers at the Market serves freshly grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, chicken salad sandwiches and fruit plates.

The market is open on Friday and Tuesday from 11 to 2 and on Saturday from 9 to noon.

See you there!

Christkindlmarket is Coming!

In November and December the market is hosting a Christkindlmarket - that's a German tradition - open air markets for the holidays.  We're a little behind the times - they've been doing them in Europe since the middle ages. 

Our Christkindlmarket will be in the south part of the pavilion (remember it's enclosed & heated!) during Winter Market on Saturdays from 9 to noon.  We are looking for excellent artisans and artists to set up regularly or on a few Saturdays.  This year, plan to give local as well as eat local! 

To download the Christkindlmarket vendor application, click here.

Webb City Sentinel column - 9-6-13

Tuesday, about 15 minutes before the market closed, I noticed some new customers. I knew they were new for two reasons. Our experienced customers wouldn’t arrive that late to buy produce. Honey and meats, yes, because those vendors always have a good supply till close and always stay till the end. But our regular customers know that produce selection can get sparse by the last half hour of market because popular items can be sold out and many farmers are in the process of packing up and heading back to the farm (though they are always willing to unpack and find what a customer is looking for). So I knew it was probably this attractive young couple’s first visit to the market. But the dead give-away was their delight. They were Asian and they were thrilled with the selection of Asian specialty crops they found at the Lee stand. They were loading up on long beans, Thai peppers, water spinach, loofa, and Thai eggplant. They were laughing and calling to each other, as they discovered yet another favorite vegetable from their childhood. It was fun to watch them.

You’ll have some new discoveries yourself this week. The sweet potatoes and winter squash are in season and the mums are as well. Courtney Luthi, the young woman who helps at the Braker stand, grows mums every year for the market. The Brakers will have to get along without her for a while because you will see her at her own stand with mums pretty much every market day starting today. Josh Flager, a young man who has grown mums for the market the last few years, opens his stand up tomorrow. So we should have lots of mums for sale. 

Of course, the summer crops are still going full force but we’ll see more of the cool weather crops soon – let’s hope we see some cool weather, too. The loose leaf lettuce is back in season. Turnips are just around the corner. We’re beginning to see some broccoli and edible-pod peas. Pumpkins are coming in.

Many home gardens are winding down, but our market farmers are still planting for fall and winter. In fact, brace yourself for a slew of green beans this fall. I’ve seen huge fall plantings of green beans on many of our farms. I am so ready for fall. Aren’t you?

Today long-time market favorites Jack and Lee Ann Sours play traditional music. Granny Shaffers at the Market serves homestyle chicken and noodles, chicken sandwiches and fruit plates. Our Extension ladies demonstrate and sample Crusty Okra Circles. 

Tomorrow the Tri-State Cerebral Palsy Center benefits from Cooking for a Cause. The breakfast is served from 9 to 11 and includes biscuits and gravy, sausage, farm-fresh eggs cooked to order and orange juice or coffee. The CP Center which is here in Webb City is a developmental preschool that serves children with delays and disabilities, ages six months through six year. It provides such services as physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and special instruction and is an important asset for our area.

No Apparent Reason, the house band for the Woodshed in Carthage, takes the market stage tomorrow. Normally we couldn’t afford this accomplished group but they’re big fans of the CP Center so they cut their fee in half so we can afford them and then donate what we pay them to the CP Center!  Fill their tip jar up. Between their talent and their generosity, they more than deserve it.

Tomorrow Market Lady Trish Reed will demonstrate and give samples of an eggplant dish.

Tuesday we're open from 11 to 2.  Granny Shaffers at the Market will serve lunch and William Adkins is playing.  It's our easy shopping day. 

I had a fun visit just this moment as I was writing the column. A lady from Tulsa was in the office and noticed the market sign by my door. She popped in to say she loved the market. She has business that brings her to Webb City and she said every time she comes down, she goes to the market. “I don’t know anyone here, but I go to the market and everyone is so friendly and the entertainment is wonderful. I go back to Tulsa and tell everyone what a great market Webb City has.”

Sometimes it takes a visitor to remind us of what we’ve got. See you at the market!

Webb City Sentinel market column - 8-30-13

It’s been a funny year for produce. Of course, it seems like every year has been a bit odd for some time. Two years ago heat and drought caused major gaps in supply and then last year was even hotter and drier, which I didn’t think was even possible. We had virtually no tomatoes or sweet corn in August last year. This year, the challenge has been the opposite – a spring so wet the fields couldn’t be planted and then freezing temperatures in May set what had been planted back for weeks, or killed it. Heavy rains a few weeks ago caused tomatoes and melons to split in the fields. But of course summer rains are way better problems to have then drought. Already the top soil is dusty dry but at least the subsoil has been replenished. And it sure shows at the market. 

I was putting together a list of abundant produce at the market for tomorrow’s Market Lady, Theresa Dohm, so she could select a recipe. I came up with 20 different crops right off the top of my head and that didn’t include a lot of things just now coming in, like butternut squash, edible pod peas and broccoli. And I’d forgotten the okra (which I tend to do) until a friend sent a text inquiring about it. Yes, we have lots of okra. It just loves this hot weather. Seems like okra and peppers thrive in heat.

There is just a lot at the market right now and it looks really good. The supply of sweet corn has been erratic but we should have plenty today and hopefully tomorrow. Pate’s Orchard is bringing the one-ton truck today so we should have peaches for everyone.

Doesn’t that sound good – enough for everyone. That’s pretty much the theme of Cooking for a Cause tomorrow when it benefits the Ozark Area CROP Hunger Walk. Volunteers from Central United Methodist and Peace Lutheran churches are partnering to prepare and serve the breakfast and that, too, is a theme of CROP. Cooperation among many people of faith is one of my favorite things about the walk where you’ll find Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholics, United Methodists and Missionary Baptists, all walking together. It’s an interfaith walk and we’d love to extend it to all faiths in the community. We’re also young and old, kids in strollers, teenagers, all the way to octogenarians. Those who can’t walk sit in the shade and cheer the others on.

CROP does two things. It raises money to fight hunger and related problems and it educates people about hunger, its causes and solutions. One-quarter of the money raised stays right here, feeding our neighbors in need through Crosslines, the Salvation Army, Lafayette House and Childrens Haven. The rest goes around the world through Church World Service, caring for refugees, enabling long-term solutions in areas of chronic poverty, establishing clean waters sources and equipping the communities to maintain the sources.

The walk takes place on Sunday, September 29, at 2:30 and leaves from First Presbyterian in Joplin at 6th and Pearl. Want to join us?  Just catch me at the market and I’ll tell you more.

And CROP is not the only good cause at the market tomorrow. The Webb City Athletic Booster Club will be selling their new t-shirts, along with lots of other Cardinal clothing, stadium seats and blankets.  (That's some of the Webb City Band playing at the market last Saturday when the Band Boosters served breakfast.  They sounded great and made us all eager for cool fall Friday nights at the stadium.) 

The Joplin Business Women will have their Rada utensils for sale. They have expanded their selection four fold since last year. There are lots of different kinds of knives and other kitchen utensils that are very reasonably priced. They make excellent and useful gifts for folks that you’d like to give a little something to without breaking the bank. Stock up for Christmas.

A new band, On the Run, graces the market stage tomorrow. Something else new on Saturday:  cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls from the Butcher Block. We had three bakers submit samples for the Saturday opening, and they were all good, so that should tell you how good the Butcher Block’s are. Taking a phrase from our Athletic Boosters – they are outstanding!

Today The Loose Notes return to the market stage and Granny Shaffer’s at the Market serves homestyle chicken and noodles, chicken salad sandwiches and a fruit plate. University of Missouri Extension staff will demonstrate and give samples of Roasted Green Beans. Terrell Creek is back with their prizing winning goat cheese. We’re going to have lots of good things today, tomorrow, and, for that matter, next Tuesday. 

We start our last month of Tuesday markets next week. William Adkins performs and Granny Shaffer’s at the Market grills up hot dogs and hamburgers. They’ll also have their chicken salad sandwiches and fruit plates. We have just as many growers at the Tuesday market as at each of the weekend markets, but only about half the customers. It’s a great day to load up and there are only four Tuesday markets left this year!  See you at the market.

Webb City Sentinel Column - 8/23/13

I’m holding my breath – can you tell?  We’ve survived the beginning of school without the precipitous drop in sales that we have always experienced in the past. The next hurdle is Labor Day weekend, another date that has signaled a steep drop in customer attendance. 

Those drops are always hard on our vendors’ bottom line, but this year they could be even more critical than usual. Produce at the market doesn’t really dwindle dramatically until freezing weather arrives, though the type of produce changes. Typically in September we still see summer produce like tomatoes coming in and add the cool weather crops like spinach, peas and lettuce. The green beans flood in along with the winter squash – we’re expecting a lot of butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash this year. But because the summer harvest is running two to three weeks late, we’ll see a big supply of peaches, peppers and other crops that normally start to fade out next month. That means we need to hold onto our summertime crowds. Let’s consider it a bonus time for our customers who had to wait weeks longer than usual for their favorite crops to mature.

And now that I think of it, why not just stay in the market habit all year long. Our winter market is well-established and growing. Our farmers are already planting their high tunnels with tomatoes, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, carrots and other tasty treats to sell during the winter. We now have more than ten high tunnels scheduled for winter production. And we have farmers who are also planting for winter production in the fields, using row cover and crops that weather the cold well like turnips and beets.

For those of you who have shopped at the Clubhouse during the Winter Market, you may wonder where we’re going to put all these farmers and their produce. Well, the answer is, right at the pavilion. One of Chuck Surface’s last projects was to write a grant to buy sidings for the pavilion and portable heaters. Chuck was a real friend of the market, as well as the city’s director of economic development.  Tom Reeder took over the project after Chuck’s death and designed and ordered the roll-down sidings. They will allow us to use as much of the pavilion as we need and we expect to use at least half of it. In other words, we expect to more than double our Winter Market this year. I’d like to add a Christmas market season this year too, a place where folks can buy locally crafted gifts. It would be held during the Winter Markets, I’m thinking from mid-October through mid-December. Wouldn’t it be fun to have some church choirs singing carols after Thanksgiving?  If you have ideas or suggestions, let me know – 417 483-8139. 

Tom Lewis, of Broken Wire Ranch, is planning to bring loads of Big Jim peppers to the market today and tomorrow. They are a mild hot pepper, perfect for stuffing. I see a lot of folks having them roasted in the Broken Wire roaster. Tom will also have his other specialty peppers, as well as his pretty bell peppers.

We welcome a new musician to the market today – Marshall Mitchell. He was recommended by one of our regulars, William Adkins. They’re both from Bella Vista, though Marshall does mostly cowboy music. Should be fun.

Granny Shaffer’s at the Market will serve homestyle chicken and noodles, chicken salad sandwiches, and a fruit plate.

Extension is back and will demonstrate a super easy Butternut Squash recipe. 

Tomorrow, the Webb City High School Band Boosters will serve breakfast from 9 to 11. It features biscuits and gravy, sausage and farm-fresh eggs cooked to order. I’m really pleased to be offering those farm-fresh eggs. We’d had such a short supply earlier in the year that our customers were buying them all, but now we have a good supply, especially on Saturdays – enough for our customers and the market, too.

The Red Bridge Trio will perform and Market Lady Trish Reed will demonstrate and give samples of Watermelon Refresco.

Tuesday Gospel Strings plays and Granny Shaffer’s at the Market serves lunch.

I want to say thank you to the Webb City Parks Department for quick action. I noticed on Tuesday that there were car tracks coming off the alley on the east of the pavilion and a new post on the pavilion. Monday morning the park workers found a post had been knocked out, apparently by a driver who had neglected to leave a note. They jacked up the side a bit, set in a new post, cemented it in and had it all ready for us in one day. Impressive.

And kudos to our volunteer golf cart driver. De Hunt drives on Fridays and Saturdays for the first hour or so of market when cars are still parking a considerable distance from the pavilion. I try to drive on Tuesdays if the parking lot is full so I know how important the task is. I always have several passengers who tell me that they just couldn’t come to the market if the cart was not there. They are physically unable to walk a distance and certainly unable to carry a watermelon and all their other purchases. This week, De told me that in his last nine days of driving he had 355 passengers, an average of about 40 per day with 62 being the biggest day. So thank you, De, for making this service possible. And thank you Perry family for buying us new cart batteries this year. The market blooms and prospers because of the people and organizations that play a part.

Sentinel column - 8-16-13

I’m calling it a weekend of peaches and peppers at the market. Peaches because we’re loaded with them. Ripe, run-down-your-chin juicy peaches. So many that a few boxes of peaches have actually gone back to the orchard a couple of market days. Now, folks, we can’t have that!  Avoid the peach line and buy a half hour after opening or if this last week holds true, buy two hours after opening. There are unprecedented quantities of peaches at the market so be sure to stock up for winter. Pre-order 1/2 bushels from Pate’s Orchard by calling 417 276-3297.

But it’s not just peaches you’ll want because Broken Wire will be at the market Friday and, for the first time this season, on Saturday with their specialty peppers and pepper roaster. We want you to know how good those smoky roasted peppers are, so our Market Lady Carolyn Smith will be demonstrating and sampling a dish tomorrow featuring them, Spicy White Bean and Roasted Pepper Dip.

As the ad on late night TV says “but wait, there’s more!”  The sweet corn is back. After a lull of more than a week, at least two of our farmers, Fair Haven and Brakers, are harvesting corn and Harmony Hills shouldn’t be too far behind. And there’s melon, both seedless and seeded watermelon and several varieties of cantaloupe, including French melons. And we seem to be getting a better supply of tomatoes which, if the rain holds off for a while, should increase next week as well.

Other tidbits of information –

Harmony Hill has added soft serve ice cream to their offerings, but the price is $1.75, not $1.50 as I previously noted. Paul Jackson, who is one of the most careful shoppers I know, declared it worth the price both for flavor and the generous quantity. Give it a try.

The Webb City Police Department came through for the market – again. Someone left their smart phone at the market Saturday. The owner called the WCPD hoping it had been turned in. Tiffany Landes who took the call at the department had seen our facebook posting about a lost smart phone and directed the owner to us. The smart phone was back in the right hands just 24 hours after it was lost.

Winners of the Tomato Contest:  A hybrid tomato with the lyrical name of "BHN964" grown by Fredrickson Farms was judged the Best Red Tomato; an heirloom called Brandywine Pink grown by Fair Haven Gardens won Best Other Color Tomato; the Heaviest tomato - weighing 1.4 pounds – was an heirloom called Ponderosa Pink grown by Fair Haven; and the Weirdest was a tomato with "dred locks" grown by Barb Pate of Pate's Orchard.

Our thanks to Mike Wiggins of Granny Shaffers, Sean Flanagan of Wilder’s Steakhouse, Jason Miller of Instant Karma Restaurant and the Eagle Drive-In and Frank Reiter of Joplin, local foodie and blogger of “Frank About Food” for judging the tomatoes.

Another contest was going on last weekend at the State Fair. Our goat cheese makers, Leslie and Doug Million of Terrell Creek, missed last Friday’s market so they could enter their cheeses in the state fair contests. Pretty good call on their part. Every cheese they entered won a blue ribbon and their Feta won “Best in Show”. That means it was judged the best of the entire dairy category, better than any cheese, butter, milk or ice cream entered. Even Leslie was surprised that they beat ice cream!  Leslie will be at the market today with their prize-winning cheese. Don’t miss it.  (photo - some of the kids - taken during a farm inspection at Terrell Creek this week)

School started this week and typically that dramatically reduces the number of customers at the market.

At the market today, Granny Shaffers at the Market serves lunch including home-style chicken and noodles, chicken salad sandwiches and a fruit plate. The Granny Chicks perform.

Tomorrow The Green Earth Band performs. Breakfast benefits The Make a Wish Foundation. The Webb Chapter #204 Order of the Eastern Star provides volunteers to prepare and serve the breakfast of biscuits and gravy, sausage and farm fresh eggs.

Tuesday will be the true test of our customers. Will they come out in force even though school is back in session or will be have bins of left-over produce. Our farmers are always willing to share with those in need, and in fact, donate left-over produce every Tuesday afternoon to Crosslines, our regional food pantry, but let’s make sure they sell enough to stay in the farming business. Bring a friend, tell your neighbors, announce it at church. The market is still open!  See you there. Tuesday and Friday from 11 to 2 and Saturday from 9 to noon.