Prairie View

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Things I Learned at Farmer's Market 7/25/2009

1) Levi thinks people might not want to buy his sausage if I tell people he feeds them snakes. I asked him how many farmer's market customers he thought would read my blog. (I can't think of anyone that would.)

I didn't say it, but I suspect that anyone who knows anything about raising hogs knows that Levi is just letting his pigs be happy pigs--eating with gusto almost anything that holds still. He does not confine these intelligent animals in miserable quarters, with nothing more exciting to do than try to bite off each other's tails. He lets them root and grunt and chase and bicker, and yes, occasionally eat a snake.

Just for the record, we have donated the equivalent of several large buckets full of overgrown and tired zucchini and other summer squash for Levi's pigs. That pig menu item should reassure even the most squeamish among Levi's potential customers.

2) Charles Schollenberger recognizes a novel and lovely bouquet item when he sees it. He stops and asks what it is. I told him it's "Frosted Explosion"--a Panicum new to the floral trade this year. I told him too that our native grass, Switchgrass, is also a Panicum, but the native one is a perennial that blooms in the fall. Frosted Explosion is an annual that starts blooming in the spring and blooms all summer long. He seemed to know all about Switchgrass. (He gets Brownie points for this, in my estimation.)

He told me he used to live in Amish country in Ohio, and attended Wooster College. I told him I lived in the same general area for five years in the 70's when I taught school there. "Beautiful country" we agreed.

Then I asked him if he's a farmer's market "regular." He said, "No. I'm actually from the Kansas City area, and I'm here in town for a political campaign." At this point he whipped out his card and gave it to me. (I guess I walked right into that trap, didn't I?) According to the card, he has formed an exploratory committee, floating the possibility of a Democratic candidacy for the U. S. Senate race that Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahart (both current U.S. Representatives from Kansas) have already entered as Republicans. No other Democratic candidate has emerged.

On his website, I learned that he is a former teacher, newspaper editor (of the Topeka Capital Journal), and representative for an animal pharmaceuticals supplier. I learned pretty quickly on his website that he and I would not find as much agreement on other matters as we did no Holmes County being "God's country"--and on Frosted Explosion being a beautiful addition to bouquets.

3) Someone else reported that they have beautiful flowers now on plants they bought from us last spring. "Next spring we'll buy more. You'll have them, won't you?"

I let Hiromi answer that one. "I think so," he said.

4) We sold some lavender peppers--the first ones to reach marketable size. "How did you get them to do that?" someone asked, tongue in cheek, about the surprising color.

One person told us her dog loves bell peppers. She bought a pepper, and Hiromi gave her an extra for good measure.

5) Hannah, who we've known for many years, has battled cancer for 18 years. She's facing another surgery soon. I do not envy her.

6) The lady who bought the $18.00 sunflower bouquet last week told us that the person she gave it to was overwhelmed with its beauty. She told us that the recipient paints, and could appreciate the design of the arrangement. Our efforts to pack it well paid off, and the flowers arrived safely.

On a related note, I told someone today that if I could make money on compliments and smiles in my direction when I sell flowers, I'd be a lot richer than I am this way.

7) Merlin, the melon man, arrived after every single stall in the market pavilion was full, so he set up outside at the south end, under the wide roof overhang. The shelter was welcome when it started raining. I thought he wasn't coming back this year, and was surprised to see him.

8) Sweet corn is still selling for $5.50 a dozen.

9) Roman uses products from Morgan County Seeds for pests on his cucumbers, squash, and melons. That, and Sevin. I couldn't find the stuff he described, and will have to check back for more specifics. I learned that the striped cucumber beetle appears very early in the season, and the plants need protection long before they begin to bear. The spotted cucumber beetles arrive later. Both of them are vectors for bacterial diseases that bring down a plant in a single day when the disease finally reaches critical mass inside the vascular system.

For next year, I think our strategy will include setting out plants instead of direct seeding--just to give the plants a little more beetle-free time. Then we will cover them with a floating row cover or provide protection for individual plants, until they begin to bloom and need pollination from insects--buying a little more beetle-free time.

My pickling cucumbers are history. I got exactly two cucumbers from them. The slicing cucumber plants look better than ever (which is not outstanding, even yet), and they finally have begun to set fruit. The Oriental cucumbers have produced fairly well, and are bitter-free and sweet, but they are not marketable because of their cosmetic defects. Sigh. I have never in my whole life grown lovely cucumbers.

10) People look dubiously at okra that is more than two or three inches long. I think that's because grocery store okra is tough when it's bigger than that. I hope the people who bought our okra (some of which was as much as four inches long) will discover what we know: when it's fresh, and comes easily off the plant at harvest, it's tender, even at larger sizes.

11) Swiss chard is a surprisingly hot market item. At least some people in the world know what's good for them.

12) Cathy, my market friend who just recently moved to a retirement home in Hutchinson, told me that they sit on their patio every evening to watch the sunset. They used to be farmers and love the fact that their patio faces a milo field, with no other apartments in their retirement complex visible from their patio. She misses her flowers, and can't resist deadheading every landscape flower planting she encounters at the retirement home. She's a lovely Christian lady.

13) I like the hot peanuts from New Mexico better than the ones from Virginia. (No offense to Virginians. . . .) I really like them best though after they've cooled off sufficiently to not be soft and chewy anymore--presumably because of the steam generated while they're roasting.

14) I love every pasta sample that Jan brings to market. She sells Pappardelles, a brand I highly recommend.

15) During the years we've hosted exchange students, we worked with Cathy F., who was the local coordinator for the exchange program. She told us yesterday that her son just got married to a girl from China, whose parental family now lives in Chinatown in NYC. He met her at a Christian college. She loves Kansas and "never wants to go back to live in New York City." No doubt his family's openness to people from other cultures has helped prepare him for this cross-cultural marriage.

16) The man Hiromi "credits" most directly with his layoff stopped by our booth. I didn't notice him, and when I asked Hiromi what he said, Hiromi answered, "Just the usual--what people usually say."
(You've probably figured out by now that Hiromi is anything but loquacious.)

17) People are far more likely to buy sunflowers when they are ready to go in slender sleeves--three stems to each. One person who bought five told us we should charge more for them. She might be right, but getting a dollar is better than composting them.

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