Opening Day.....

Bike Parade Entries! 

Opening Day was this past Tuesday and it was amazing! It was so great to see all of the vendors and customers again and some for the first time. There were a lot of new faces and it made me so happy to see so many smiles and hear so much laughter on our beautiful opening day! Thank you to each of you that came out and supported the Farmers Market. We look forward to seeing you each Tuesday you can make it up to the Courthouse lawn!

The kids activities were a huge success and they had so much fun participating in the bike parade, bounce house, petting zoo, face painting and games! They also enjoyed snow cones, popcorn, ice cream and dancing to the live music! So great to hear all of the laughter and see all those happy little faces! We also had many kids that helped their parents shop and found so many delicious goodies to take home with them to enjoy! Perfect!

Our vendors were out in full force this past week.

Blue Bell Farm had eggs, lettuces, radishes, beautiful plants and Mother's Day gifts. Joseph was our fearless face painter for the day and he did a fantastic job!

Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm (Welcome to new owner Angie Allphin) had beef, soap, and plants. They also brought up a couple rabbits for everyone to see!

Elzan McMurry (Welcome to the market) had eggs and crafts.

Cason's Cultivation (Welcome to the market) had eggs and beautiful water gardens.

Sullivan Farms had bread, jelly, spinach, scallions, and pork. They were also grilling brats. They will be featuring something different for dinner each week.

With the Wild Farm had lettuces, kale and Goatsbeard Cheeses. They are now carrying blue cheese dressing.

Annie's Breads (Welcome back to market after a year away) had her delicious bread.

Country Neighbors Farm had a variety of meats available.

Be on the look out for Windy Hill (they were sick and couldn't make it to opening day), Sandy Creek Farm (they didn't have any fruit ready just yet), Sharpsburg Incorporated (is a new vendor this year and she thinks her asparagus will be ready for next week) and we will also have a new rabbit vendor joining us next week!

Now check out what I brought home from the market:
Scallions
Eggs
Two varieties of Bread
Beef Short Ribs
Hamburger
Spinach
Lettuce
Feta Cheese
Tom Sauk Cheese
Blue Cheese Dressing

I couldn't wait to have a Farmer's Market Dinner on Wednesday night and we had a delicious dinner.  I fixed Mini Meatloaf with the hamburger, we had a fresh salad with spinach and lettuce along with some scallions. We also enjoyed fresh bread with our meal. YUM!!!!!! It was all delicious. We enjoyed eggs for breakfast that morning and I have enjoyed salads for lunches all week!

I can't wait to see what next week brings! Make sure you join us at the Fayette Farmers Market on the Courthouse lawn from 3:30 to 6:30!!!!!!

A year in review...

As the year draws to a close I am taking some time to reflect on 2012 and look forward to 2013.

As I look back at 2012, I am so thankful and appreciative of all of our vendors and customers. We started the summer season this year praying for the rain to stop for our opening day activities and then the rest of the summer praying for rain every day. It was such a hot summer, but our vendors and customers came out every Tuesday!

We tried to make the summer a little more enjoyable for the kids of the market by bringing water and squirt guns for them to play with at market! Man they had a good time. It made the heat a little more bearable to hear the laughter of the kids each week. There were a few markets that I was hoping they might "accidentally" hi me with water while playing, but no I don't think I single adult got wet all summer long!

We also tried to beat the heat with fun activities like the pie bake off, ice cream social, tomato festival, demonstrations and samples! A big thank you to all of our judges and contestants for the various contests! It was all delicious! One of the ways we raise money for the market is by selling the pie and ice cream after the judging is over. This year we sold out of almost all of the pie and I believe all of the ice cream. Thank you to those who donated their products for our fundraiser!

We also started selling lemonade, t-shirts and bags this year to help raise money for the market. Then at the end of the year we put together a cookbook of all of the yummy market recipes to sell as a fundraiser, too! Thank you to all of you who purchased any of our merchandise! Our biggest fundraiser of the year is our Farm to Table Dinner in the fall. It was so much fun this year and we have some big ideas for next year to make it even more fun! You are not going to want to miss it!

Now some of you may be wondering why we are doing fundraising....where does the money go? Well the fundraisers we do go to support the market paying for business expenses including marketing, insurance, licenses, etc. We also reserve a large portion of our budget for community projects like the school garden that we will be starting on in 2013. We want to continue to do more community projects and grow our market each year and through fundraising we will be able to reach those goals.

Thank you again to all of you who have supported us in 2012! I spoke with some of the people involved with AgriMissouri at the state level and they said they have heard a lot of good things about our market in Fayette! Talk about busting with pride! It is because of you that we have such a great reputation at that level!

Looking forward to 2013, I am very excited to get started putting together our annual meeting and then it will be full steam ahead into opening day! I hope you all have had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you all the best in 2013! Can't wait to see you all on the Courthouse Lawn in the spring!

Holiday Market

Last week we had our first of two Holiday Markets! I have to start off saying how much I love and appreciate each of our farmers/vendors! We had an awesome turnout with tables full of unique goodies! Our next and final Holiday Market is Tuesday, December 18th from 4-6 pm. You don't want to miss it. For a little more incentive to come out to the next one here is a little peak at the first Holiday Market! 

Shelly Appel

Shelly Appel was at the market with a wide variety of gifts. She had signs, bath salts, breads, gift baskets, and many more gift ideas!

 Windy Hill Produce

 Windy Hill Produce had delicious breads, jellies, pickled beets and much more! They also had beautiful ribbon wreaths and crafts. 

The Olde Farmhouse at Collyott Farm

 Collyott Farm had an assortment of dips, beer bread mixes, crafts and a variety of other items that would be great Christmas gifts or to just enjoy at a holiday party! 

Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm

 This one is a little sad for me to write about because our next market will be the last time that Cathy is with us as she is moving to Minnesota in the spring. She has become a very good friend over the last year and I am going to miss her so much! She is making sure that you will all be able to get her delicious bread and meat next season though! We will keep you posted. Now she had her breads, beef, clutches, soaps and scarves. Make sure you stock up on the 18th! 

Sullivan Farms

 Sullivan Farms had fresh leeks and collard greens, jellies, gift baskets and the very popular cake pops. If you haven't had a cake pop from Sullivan Farms make sure you come by and get one next week!!!! These boys to the right really enjoyed their cake pops! 

With the Wild Farm featuring Goatsbeard Farm Cheeses

 With the Wild Farm had a table full of fresh goodness including carrots and greens along with the delicious cheeses of Goatsbeard Farm! 

Blue Bell Farm 

 Blue Bell Farm had a wide variety of seed packets that would make great stocking stuffers! They also had lots of cactus plants that would make a great gift just tie on a bow! 

Fretwoods

Fretwoods is a new vendor to the market and I was so impressed. These are beautiful hand crafted ornaments that would make a nice addition to any tree along with other hand crafted gifts. Make sure you stop by and get your loved ones a special ornament or gift this year!

Country Neighbors was a little late getting to market and I failed to get a picture of her table. I apologize. She was out with lamb, chickens, hamburger and sausage!!! Stock up a the next market for the winter! 

Well that is a quick look at all of the amazing vendors that came out for the Holiday Market! It was a great market and we look forward to seeing you all there on the 18th! Come out and shop local for the holidays! 

Apples....

Apples and fall go hand in hand so let me take you on my apple adventure. Two weeks ago I made arrangements with Mike from Hamptons Hilltop Orchard to get two bushels of apples to put up for the winter. I was very excited to get the apples and made arrangements with my in laws to borrow their dehydrator to make apple chips during my apple weekend! My father-in-law delivered the dehydrator when I was away from my office so he just put it in the back of my vehicle along with some of the apples he had picked (I thought he was just bringing some, but it turns out he brought a lot!). So when I went to load the two bushels of apples into my car from Mike I found that I already had a car full of apples (two 5 gallon buckets full and a small box full). So on Tuesday I took home about 3 bushels of apples instead of two! In my book the more apples the better so let the cooking begin!

First I have to say that any recipe is better when you start with amazing produce and if you want amazing apples go visit Mike this week at market! We spent the weekend making applesauce, apple cider, apple pies, and apple chips! YUM!!!!!!

Preparing the apples: 
I remove the core and skins when I am preparing the apples unless I am going to make cider then I core them, but leave the skins on. I will be doing cider with all of my applesauce batches from now on because it is easy and a little less time consuming! See all the yummy recipes below!


Apple Cider and Applesauce
After many batches of just applesauce I discovered you could do cider and applesauce all in one process!

Fill your stock pot with cored halved apples and two mason jars of water. Heat to boiling and then let it simmer until the apples are soft. Have another stock pot waiting with a fine strainer in it. When the apples are soft, mash the apples with a potato masher just to break them down a little. You do not want to mash them completely down at this point. Then pour the apples and juice into the strainer. Let the juice run out and put the apples back into their original pot. Now add your seasonings to your cider. I added about 1/4 cup sugar and tsp cinnamon. Bring to a boil and let it boil for about 8 minutes. Viola...Apple Cider! At this point you could can it or I just put mine in a mason jar with a lid. Let it cool to room temperature and then stuck it in the fridge. I may attempt to can some this coming weekend, but we will see.

Now back to your applesauce. You apples are already soft so just add back in about one mason jar of water to the apples along with 3/4 cup sugar (I use white sugar, but you can use brown sugar or a combination of the two), about a 1/8 cup cinnamon and a couple pinches of nutmeg. Bring it back up to a boil and let the sugar and spices absorb into the apples about 5 minutes. Then mash the apples with a potato masher and I always run my emersion blender through the apples to get a good texture to the sauce! A few chunks of apples in applesauce makes it yummy! Remember these apples still have the peels on them so you have to strain the sauce to take out the peels. I just used my strainer and spoon to push the sauce through and then just discard the peels. Let the applesauce cool and then bag in quart ziplock bags and freeze.

Apple Chips

Peel and core your apples. Then slice thinly and place in the dehydrator. Follow the directions on your dehydrator to see temperature and length of time. Some recipes call for dipping the apples first or added sugar and cinnamon, but as I said earlier...when you start with great apples there is no need to add anything to these.

Apple Pie

There are a ton of apple pie recipes out there. I used the one in my Betty Crocker cookbook and it was delicious. The best part about making these apple pies is that I got to let the kids make their own mini pies to deliver to MiMi and PaPa so we could share the apple mania! I found the little foil tart pans at C&R in Fayette and I let them put their dough in the bottom, we filled them with apples and then they got to do their patterns on top on half and then we added the crumble topping to the other half. What a great way to enjoy apples with your family! Oh and you get to enjoy eating them when they are done!!!!!! YUM!!!!





So that was my weekend adventure with apples and it is far from over because I still have lots of apples to use in the next week, but my house smells delicious and we are going to enjoy all of this apple adventure clear through winter!

Let the fall cooking begin.....

Fall is my favorite time of year for the beautiful weather and all of the gorgeous leaves, but mainly because of all the yummy cooking that fall brings. It has been a week/weekend of cooking around my house! Great cooking starts with great ingredients and I always stock up at the market each week! I will note in the recipe where I got the market ingredients so you can stock up this week at our final market of the season! Here are just a couple recipes for dinner. Check back later for my blog about apples!

Roasted Lamb with potatoes and applesauce (for two)
1 package lamb ribs (Country Neighbors Farm)
1 carton of potatoes (Sullivan Farms)
1 onion (Sullivan Farms)
Applesauce (see next blog)
1 loaf of Honey Oat Bread (Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm)

This was my first time make lamb ribs so I kept it very simple. I place the ribs in the crock pot in the morning before I left for work with about 3 cups of water, 1/4  cup worcestershire sauce, 3 tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste. They were tender and delicious at dinner time!

Fresh potatoes are delicious any way you cook them, but for this meal I sautéed them with a little olive oil, onion, and creole seasoning. If you have an iron skillet pull it out and put a little olive oil in the skillet and get it hot. Chop up your onion and potatoes then throw them into the skillet. Add seasoning to taste. Cook until potatoes are done.

Homemade bread and butter along with homemade applesauce finished off this delicious dinner!

Hungarian Noodles & Beef

2 soup bones (Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm)
1 package egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. chopped onion (Sullivan Farm)
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp hot sauce
2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh cheese (Goatsbeard Farm~found at With the Wild Farm)
1/4 cup shredded goat cheese (Goatsbeard Farm~found at With the Wild Farm)
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

Again pull out your crockpot. Put in the soup bones and enough water to cover them in the crock pot in the morning. When you are ready to start dinner, pull out the soup bones and put them on a plate. Pour the water full of soup bone goodness into a pan and bring it to a boil. While it is coming up to a boil take all of the meat off of the soup bones and set aside. (You will be amazed at how much meat is on a soup bone). When  your water comes to a boil pour in your noodles and cook them as directed. Do not discard the excess water after they are done. Just turn off your burner and just let the noodles hang out for a bit. In a large skillet cook your onion in a lithe olive oil. Add the soup, worcestershire sauce, poppy seeds, hot sauce, cottage cheese, sour cream, fresh cheese, goat cheese, and seasonings. Once all of that is combined and creamy add in your meat. Then pour it into your noodles. Combine and serve! It is a delicious fall meal and of course you can add homemade bread on the side!

Our amazing vendors...

I know I have talked about how amazing our vendors are before, but they are one of the greatest groups of people. We have started donating every other week to the Fayette Food Pantry! The vendors put together quite a donation each time for the food pantry that is serving 300+ families in the area. I have to admit that I had no idea there was that much need in the area and I am blown away that these farmers are willing to donate so much to those in need. We will have one more donation on the last market of the season on October 9th and then we will continue our donations again when we open in the spring. 

Pictured above are Derek Bryant from Blue Bell Farm, Donnice Dowell and her grandson from Windy Hill Produce, Laura Korte from Country Neighbors Farm, and Brittany and Kaleigh Sullivan from Sullivan Farms! We have also received donations from Mike of Hamptons Hilltop Orchard, but we couldn't convince him to join us in the picture! 

Check out all that delicious produce and meat! The farmers donated apples, hamburger, squash, tomatoes, swiss chard, melons, peppers and green beans. 

2nd Annual Farm to Table Dinner

This past Saturday we had our 2nd Annual Farm to Table Dinner Fundraiser for the market. It was a beautiful way to kick off fall and we couldn't have asked for better weather. After all of the heat of the summer it was refreshing to have a crisp sunny fall day to have our dinner. You may be wondering where all of the pictures are from the night.....well I am going to have to gather some from other members of the market because I did not stop to take a single picture. So I will have to rely on my words to describe this beautiful night.

As you drove up the long drive to Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm you first saw beautiful aprons blowing in the breeze along the fence of the party area. Then as you got a little closer the tables were gorgeous with white linens and antlers, hedge apples, and mason jars full of flowers or with candles in them as center pieces. Each plate had a menu for the dinner and a colorful wrapped bar of soap as their favor to take home. It smelled wonderful! There were fires set up in case you got a little cool. You could help yourself to drinks of all varieties and some yummy appetizers to start!

The appetizers included:

• Honey Muffins
• Sesame Crackers
• Variety of Goatcheese
• Tortilla chips and salsa
• Arugula Pesto with Toasted French Bread
• Sliced Vegetables

Is your mouth watering, yet! YUM! These were fantastic and as I was greeting people as they came in I couldn't ever actually see the appetizer table because it was always surrounded with people. I think they all enjoyed these tasty starters! 

I have to take a minute to talk about the kids at the dinner. JA and Cathy had a zipline up for the kids to play on and talk about fun! Our kids started playing on it at about 3 and it was in constant use until the dinner was over around 8:30. So the background music for our dinner was the zip of the zipline and the laughter of the kids. It just doesn't get any better than that in my book! 

We had a fabulous solo musician/singer for our dinner. Noah Earle played delightful music and everyone enjoyed the easy listening songs all night long. He had quite a few songs that he whistled in and that was amazing. Noah's wife and two boys joined us for the dinner! We are so grateful that they took time to join us for the dinner. 

After everyone had some time to enjoy the appetizers and drinks we asked everyone to take their seats and the dinner began. We started dinner with a roasted butternut squash soup served by all of our wonderful vendors to the guests! 

Then it was time for the main course and it went a little like this: 

• Smoked Beef Roast
• Grilled Lamb Kabobs
• Grilled Vegetables
• Green Beans
• Corn Casserole
• Scalloped Potatoes
• Baked Potatoes
• Three Seed and Honey Oat Bread with homemade butter and jelly 

Amazing! That is the only way to describe the main course! After all of that goodness you have to finish it off with dessert. Nothing says fall like apple crumb pie and that is what was for dessert along with cheesecake drizzled with honey! YUM! 

It was a beautiful night and I am so glad that we got to share it with all of you that came to the dinner! I promise to add some pictures on here of the event when I get them. For now check out our facebook page to see a few. 

I have few special thank yous to send out. 

• Thank you to all of the vendors....you all work so hard all year long to make our market amazing and then donate, cook, bake, and so much more for the dinner annually. There would not be an event without each of you!
• Thank you to JA and Cathy Johnmeyer for hosting this year! It was a beautiful setting!  
• Joseph did all of the decorations and worked for weeks putting it all together and it looked spectacular. He isn't much for crowds so he didn't stick around long enough for me to thank him in one of my speeches. 
• We also had some volunteer cooks that worked their magic on the meats. Jim smoked all of the roast and it was delicious! James was the grill master for the night and the kabobs and vegetables were perfect! 
• Thank you to Noah Earle for coming out and providing the music for this years event. 
• Thank you to John for letting us borrow your hotbox and serving sets! We couldn't do it without all of those pieces. 
• A special thanks to Les Bourgeois Winery and Bushwhacker Bend Winery for donating wine to our event and for Anheuser Busch for donating the beer for the event.