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. 

A little rain goes a long way....

I remember opening day of the market this year we were worried that we were going to get rained out and I remember praying that it would stop raining by 3 so we could have market and all of our fun activities! If we had known then that we wouldn't get another good rain until September our prayers would have been a little different. This summer season has been hot and it seemed like Tuesday, our market day was consistently the hottest day of the week. The heat was relentless, but despite the weather our amazing farmers have had a bountiful crop of veggies and fruits this year along with filling their table with homemade goodies, meats and cheeses! The heat and dryness made the grasses brown and flowers have died, but thanks to good irrigation systems the farmers have maintained their crops. As I was driving into work today I was looking around and everywhere you look it is green. Three months of no rain is washed away with a good weekend of rain. Plants are amazing to sustain in the dry and then thrive in times of rain. Thank you to each vendor at the market that has worked so hard this year to keep their plants alive and have come out each week in the heat to make our market a great place to be on Tuesdays! As the summer season moves into fall I hope you all come out these last few weeks to support our local farmers because they work really hard to bring you the very best of their farms each week!

Sullivan Farms....

I got to visit the farm of Bill and Brittany Sullivan recently and I loved it. They hosted a farm tour for a Young Farmers group that is one of the nicest groups of people you will meet. Bill and Brittany along with their daughter Kaleigh live outside of Fayette on 20 acres. Every aspect of their farm is environmentally friendly and organic from their straw bale home to the way their produce is planted and cared for daily. And the animals at Sullivan Farms live a great life especially one of the newest additions; the pigs!

I have to give a little side story here about my experience with pigs because my dad raised pigs the entire time I lived at home and they drove him crazy. Granted we had a lot of pigs with their own sheds and large open areas to roam, but they go out, made my Dad mad regularly and were a source of a lot of work for all of us. So when Bill started talking about how excited he was to get pigs I thought he had lost his mind. Excited for pigs...that was crazy talk. Then once he got the pigs Bill talked about how good they are and how much he loved having them. This I had to see to believe...surely the pigs would start to get out and drive him crazy, too! As of the farm tour he still loves his pigs and they adore him. Well except for the bad pig that gets out occasionally....

The Sullivan's farm is home to 8 pigs now, chickens, and a goat. There are seven female pigs and one male who is the newest addition to the farm. He arrived about a week I believe after the tour. It has been a rough go for Herbert, but I think he has finally won over the girls! I see baby pigs in the future! The chickens are kept on grass or what is left of the grass in all this heat and they seemed very happy and content! Ivory, the goat loves the Sullivan's and we heard lots of stories of how she thinks she is part human and just wants to be with them whenever they are outside so she gets out and follows them. She was entertained all night long by all the kids playing near her pen during the tour so I don't think she felt the need to come visit with the adults!

Sullivan Farm is irrigated with pond water so they have been able to maintain their vegetables throughout the summer. They are delicious. As you can see in the beautiful picture below of their rows of vegetables and their house in the background it is a large operation that is all done by hand. The Sullivan's work very hard and try new things along the way to help make their harvest as bountiful as possible. One of the new things they tried this year was to plant sunflowers in the beds with the squash to give more shade to the plants to help them produce. They said it helped and it sure made for a pretty picture! I love sunflowers and these were beautiful standing tall in the afternoon sun.

Come out to the market and pick up some of the delicious vegetables and homemade goodies from Sullivan Farms! They have homemade jellies, tortilla chips, salsa and sometimes banana bread. During this time of year they have potatoes, tomatoes, swiss chard, scallions, beets, squash, and a limited supply of green beans! YUM!!!



Also if you want to learn how to build a straw bale structure check you can attend a workshop on their farm and learn first hand how to build it! See the details in the flyer below.

Spaghetti Squash...

Have you tried it? I hadn't ever tried spaghetti squash until a couple weeks ago. Boy have I been missing out! It is delicious and can be prepared so many ways. Check out a few of the recipes that I have used with spaghetti squash. 

Spaghetti Squash

1 squash

olive oil

Cut your squash lengthwise in half. Place face down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cook in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes (time may vary depending on your oven). Allow squash to cool. Shread squash using a fork, place the spaghetti in a bowl and use immediately or refrigerate for later use. 

Buttery Spaghetti Squash

Take your squash and toss with olive oil or melted butter. Add salt and pepper to taste and then top with parmesan cheese! Quick, easy and delicious! 

Spaghetti Squash Hashbrowns

Heat your skillet and a little oil. Then put in the spaghetti squash. Allow to brown on the first side then turn and brown on the other side. YUM! I haven't tried it but I bet you could add a little egg to the squash in the bowl and then form into hash brown pattys for that variety. 

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

Top squash with your favorite red sauce for a low carb substitute for pasta! 

Spaghetti Squash Side Dish

2 cups shredded spaghetti squash 

1 egg

1/2 cup crushed crackers

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup shredded cheese (your favorite variety)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Heat skillet with a little oil and butter in it. Pour in mixture and allow to brown on each side. 

Soap at the Market...

PureTouch Essentials Soap

You can find more than delicious produce, meats, fruits, and cheeses at the market. My family also enjoys staying clean with homemade soaps from PureTouch Essentials Soap. Jennifer Hill and her husband Jason bring amazing soaps to the market that they make in their home. Their soap is made using a Natural Cold Process. They also feature essential oils that benefit your skin. I am going to let you stop by and visit with Jennifer to get all of the details on the process and the specific oils she uses and I am going to skip right to telling you how much we love her soap.

I have three types of her soap in my bathtub that I rotate using just because I couldn't pick just one! My son and daughter have been using PureTouch Essentials Soap since they started coming to market and have their different scents all lined up for use. PureTouch Essentials Soap leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. It has a great lather for your whole body! Yes it is great to clean your hands, but don't forget to take it over to the bath or shower to use there too! Or better yet just come up and get a second bar for the bath or shower!

Come up to the market tomorrow and pick up your favorite scent!

Basic
Lemongrass & Tea Tree
Milk & Honey
Patchouli
Tea Tree
Cherry Blossom
Oatmeal & Tea Tree
Karma
Black Amber & Lavender


The basic is $3.00 and all the others with Essential Oils are $4.00

Turkey in July....I think so!

Yes it is over 100 degrees outside and far from the cool weather of November, but Laura from Country Neighbors Farm had an extra turkey taking up room in her freezer and asked if I wanted one. I thought that sounded great so last week I brought home a 14 pound turkey from the market! 

Now that I had the turkey I had two problems: 

1. I have never cooked a turkey before...

2. It is over 100 degrees outside and I don't want to turn on the oven...

I started thawing the turkey when I came home from market Tuesday night and it was thawed and ready to cook Thursday. I solved both of my problems by treating the turkey like a chicken. I brined the turkey overnight with water, kosher salt, lemon juice and a little brown sugar. The next morning I rinsed the turkey and then rubbed it with olive oil and a little salt. coated the inside with about a 1/4 cup of honey. Then I fired up my grill (one side only) and put on the turkey breast down. Let it be for about one hour and then turned the turkey and glazed it with honey. After another hour I turned it again and glazed with honey. It took about 2.5 hours until it was completely done. Make sure you let it rest and cool off before you cut it up to enjoy. 

So when it is 100 degrees you can cook a turkey without heating up your house and it is delicious! So order an extra one from Laura...one for Thanksgiving and one for the summer! I believe she is taking orders for those holiday birds now!!!! 

Sides to go with Grilled Turkey in the summer: 

Fried Corn off the Cob 

Caleb came home from work the other day and said one of his co-workers was talking about fried corn and so we tried it. I would say it is a success and a great way to use up any extra ears of corn that are already cooked. 

3 slices of bacon

5-6 ears of corn with the corn cut off ( I used corn from the Kircher Farm...they will be back a market in a couple weeks)

Fry the bacon and leave the grease

Add the corn and cook until it has a crunch but is not crispy 

I added a some diced up patty pan squash from the market and cooked it right with the corn. I also crumbled the bacon and put it back in at the end. 

This was a wonderful side dish! 

Deviled Eggs

Hard boil eggs from Blue Bell Farm and cool 

Remove shells, slice in half and remove yolks

Mix the yolks with salt, pepper, mayo and a little mustard

Put the yolk mixture back into whites and serve