Beautiful day for planting...

It was gorgeous outside yesterday and we took full advantage of the weather. The kids got seeds in the form of heart shaped mud cakes and robins eggs for Valentine's Day from Blue Bell Farm and we got to plant them yesterday. It was so much fun and so easy to do....we crumbled them over the flower bed and then lightly covered them and gave them a little drink of water! Now we just have to be patient. They should start coming up in about three weeks. We will be posting pictures as they grow.

Final winter market...look what I stocked up on...

Our final winter market was busy as usual! We are so thankful to all of our customers who have supported us throughout this winter market season! We feel like it was very successful! We are also very thankful for the gals at Market Street Floral and Tea Time Bakery for letting us use their space for our winter market!

I did a little stocking up since it will be a month before the Opening Day of the summer market. It still amazes me that I have four fresh bags of lettuce mix and spinach from Blue Bell Farm in my fridge right now. Fresh salads all winter long has been a real treat for me!  I also brought home two loaves of honey oat bread and beef from Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm, five dozen eggs from Blue Bell Farm, Happy Burger from Country Neighbors Farm, and Mango Tango jelly from Sullivan Farms. There are some delicious meal ideas and recipes coming your way!

Now let's go back to our final winter market. 

You have all seen the vendors tables in my other blogs so this week I thought I would share a few photos of why the market is so great....the people!!!! 

Once the market opens you will hear laughter and talking fill up the building! Yes we are selling our goods, but we are also building relationships with our customers. We enjoy our customers and love getting to know them and their families.  It is also so great that our vendors that are not participating in the winter market are coming out to shop and catch up as well! If you know your farmer, you know your food which is very important when the USDA and FDA are saying that "pink slime" is ok in our hamburger that we serve to our children in school and buy in the grocery stores. If you haven't come out and met you local farmer, May 1st would be the perfect day to start building that relationship so you too can know your food!!!!!

Final winter market...

Our final winter market is tomorrow...it seems a little crazy to call it a winter market when it is 70 degrees outside, but that is why we love Missouri! I am sure not going to complain about these gorgeous days!!!! With our final winter market just a day away I wanted to take a minute and reflect on what a great time it has been the past few months.

 I will start off with a huge "Thank you" to all of the gals at Market Street Floral especially, Stephanie Fuemmeler, the owner!!!!! Without your wonderful space we would not of had a winter market! Thank you to each and every customer that has supported us all winter long....you came whether it was snowing or 70 and we appreciate you so very much!  I also want to take a minute to thank all of our vendors that continued to come through the winter and the new vendors who joined over the winter market.....you are an amazing group and I am so thankful that I get to be your market manager!

I hope you all have your shopping lists ready for tomorrow, I know I am going to stock up on all kinds of goodies so I can keep you in recipes and ideas through April! I will also be starting my farm visits this week so let the adventures begin.

Summer Salad in March....love it!

I was browsing through recipes online and came across this amazing salad recipe this week. I modified it a little to match the ingredients I had on hand. I found the original recipe online at allrecipes.com, but here is my version.

Farmer's Market Spinach Salad

4 slices of bacon
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 bag spinach (mine came from Guy & Abbey Schlapper)
1 can mandarin oranges (I made my own by peeling mandarin oranges and adding a simple syrup over         them...you can can them this way, but I only had enough for one jar so I just stuck them in the fridge for us to enjoy now)
5 strawberries sliced

Cook the bacon and set aside. While the bacon is cooking make up your dressing by combining the vinegar, sugar, and mustard in a bowl (blend in a blender or whisk). Slowly add olive oil while blending or whisking. Stir in poppy seeds and then set aside. Clean your spinach and place it in a large bowl. Add the mandarin oranges and strawberries (you could put in any fruit combo you wanted).

This salad is beautiful and so good! My family enjoyed it so much last night for dinner. The kids said, "This is a real fruit salad!!!" Love that they got to enjoy their favorite fruits will enjoying spinach, too! There was just enough left for me to enjoy a wrap for lunch today! Delicious!!!!

Sunday Brunch

Rainy day outside made for the perfect day for brunch! Brunch for us is still almost all breakfast food because that is how we like to do it! We had biscuits (from scratch...see recipe below) and turkey sausage (from Country Neighbors Farm) gravy, scrambled eggs (from Guy and Abbey Schlapper), bacon (from my parents), turkey sausage, biscuits with jelly (from Sullivan Farms) or honey (from Potterosa), banana salad (a family favorite), and watermelon. It was delicious! 

Biscuits: 

Southern Biscuits (Yes I made them from scratch)

*Taken from my betty crocker cookbook*

2 cups flour

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk on hand use regular milk and add a splash of vinegar)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Cut in shortening until it is combined completely. Stir in buttermilk. Round up dough on lightly floured countertop. Knead lightly 20-25 times. Roll out to a little less than 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured biscuit cutter (I use a jelly jar). Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 

Banana Salad 

This dish has been a family favorite that my Granny used to make for us at every family gathering and now it is a tradition no one wants to break! Take your bananas (4-5 for a small group or 4-5 bunches for our extended family) and slice them into bite size pieces. Chop up some peanuts (again adjust for your taste and size of group). The dressing is mayo, cool whip, and sugar or if you don't have cool whip do mayo, sugar, and a splash of vinegar....we always eyeball it. I don't think you can mess it up. It just takes a little dressing so for a small group start with a tablespoon of mayo, a tablespoon of cool whip and 1/4 cup sugar.  This is a great way to use up soft bananas and it is delicious! 

Beautiful Day....wonderful market!

What a beautiful windy day for market! It was 78 degrees yesterday afternoon as I walked around the square in Fayette getting ready for the market! I don't know about you but I am ready for spring. 

I started off my day today with a couple slices of bread (one from Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm and one from Annie's breads) topped with a little wine jelly from Sullivan Farms! Simple and delicious! And now I am all fueled up and ready to tell you all about the market last night and the yummy foods I brought home!

 

Pictured above is my overflowing shopping bag! I can't wait to start cooking!!!!!!

• 2 bags of arugula and 1 dozen "Easter Eggs" from Blue Bell Farm 
• 1 loaf of honey oat bread from Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm
• 2 whole chickens, turkey sausage links, and lamb burger from Country Neighbors Farm
• 1 jar white wine jelly from Sullivan Farm
• 1 loaf of multiseed bread from Annie's Breads
• Taum Sauk cheese, 1 dozen eggs, and 1 bag of Spinach from Guy and Abbey Schlapper

Even with my overflowing shopping bag I still didn't get one of everything! Let's go around the market!

Country Neighbors Farm had lamb, whole chickens, turkey sausage and burger. Laura sold out of her lamb, but she will have more this summer! She also had a great recipe for chicken and dumplings available for all of her customers. I am going to have to add it to my list of recipes to try soon.





Blue Bell Farm had both arugula and kale mixes, "Easter Eggs", photo cards and seed bombs! With the warmers weather outside a fresh salad sure hits the spot!





Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm just butchered so they had all cuts of beef, homemade soaps, fresh eggs, honey oat and three seed bread. Cathy also keeps our email list so if you are not on it please stop by and see her the next market to get signed up!



Sullivan Farms had a table full of delicious jelly and GMO free eggs. Some of their jellies this week included; blueberry nector, jalapeno, red wine, white wine, blueberry pomegranate, and cranberry.

Guy and Abbey Schlapper had fresh eggs, spinach, and Taum Sauk cheese. Sounds like breakfast to me!

Annie's Breads brought two varieties of bread this week. Jessica had honey oat and multiseed bread.

We had a new vendor come to see what the market is all about and to get signed up for the summer season! Jennifer Hill is starting to make essential oil soaps and her business is PureTouch Essentials Soap. We are excited to have her join us this summer and look forward to seeing her on May 1st! 

We had a very special birthday to celebrate after the market yesterday, Kaleigh turned 6 so we all had dinner and cake together to celebrate! One of the greatest things about our market is that we are a family, too! She wanted to have a party with her "Farmers Market Family" and we couldn't of been more excited to get to celebrate with her too! Happy Birthday Kaleigh!!!!! 

Eggs at the market

We have a lot of vendors that sell eggs at the market and they almost always sell out! Fresh eggs are amazing no matter what dish you use them in, but here is my latest egg recipe! This is great for a large crowd (make a couple pans) or just for two!

Easy Egg Casserole
4-5 eggs from any vendor
1/2 cup ham, bacon, or sausage chopped if you want to add meat
1 can crescent rolls
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste


Spread crescent rolls flat into baking dish sealing up the seams and forming an edge around the pan. In a bowl combine eggs, cheese, splash of milk and salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture into the pan. Top with meat of your choice and if you want it to be extra cheesy you can always add a little Velveeta chopped. Bake at 350 for about 10 min....you will be able to smell when it is done!