Ready, Set, Go!

Are you ready for the first market of 2008? We are! So much is starting and we just can't wait to get going.

If you got hail in the storm Tuesday night--raise your hand! We did, several times! Allie and I just got in from soccer practice, got the rental car put away (long story there!) and the hail started coming down! Now, I've lived in Illinois all my life and have only occasionally seen hail and then it has only been pea-sized. We got quite a bit that was nickel sized! Fortunately, we didn't even get rain at the farm and I hope that any of our farmer friends here locally didn't get any damage. The kids thought it was pretty cool and Carson actually ran out in it. He came right in after he realized how much hail hurts! Good thing it wasn't golf ball sized!

Bill has been working hard getting plants into the ground and doing the spring clean up that we always seem to be doing. This has been a long and difficult spring, farm-wise and we just got through a week of work/personal stress when Bill got a call from his dad: our 100 year old greenhouse/former chicken house burned to the ground. Our farm is one of the oldest farmsteads in Tazewell County and while cleaning the greenhouse out this spring, I found dates etched into the concrete foundation: 1908. We are the 3rd family to occupy this farm and the first family, the Weyrich's erected the chicken house 100 years ago. The house is a few years older.
So, after moving everything out of the greenhouse and sweeping the accumulated leaves and dirt out AND moving everything back in (by myself) and organizing it (the men in my family are NOT organized), we had a great space to start out the year. The greenhouse is where most of the plants live until they go into the field. It gets toasty warm and the plants really take off! This time of year, we do have propane heaters running-----you can see what happened. So, we have a mess and less space to put plants. Fortunately, we do have two other buildings that we use, they just are small. On the bright side, the house didn't burn and we will be installing a much needed storage shed on the site and a new green house in a better location.












Greenhouse after 5 hours of cleaning--see the boxes? Yeah, they burn for a long time when they are full of plastic bags. Bring your canvas bags!













What a mess! Old wood burns fast!

But, enough about us, what about the market? What in the world will be ready?

PLENTY!

This Saturday, we will have:

• Bok choi
• Napa cabbage
• Simpson elite loose head lettuce
• Red Sails loose head lettuce
• Green Oak Leaf loose head lettuce
• Leaf lettuce mix
• Buttercrunch loose head lettuce
• Red & white radishes
• Green onions
• Spinach

Everything else is still growing and really wants some sun and heat. In the following weeks, we'll have beets, French Breakfast radishes, kohlrabi, turnips and more lettuce.

Some items of note for this year:

The market is starting LATER and staying open LATER. The starting bell will ring at 7:30 am and the market will be open until 12:00 noon. The time change should allow more people to get down to the market and to allow everyone to get a few more minutes of sleep!

BYOB! I'll copy-cat Mercy of Blue Schoolhouse and encourage everyone to bring their own bags, boxes or wagons to the market to carry their loot home! It is truly amazing how many cases of bags we plow through in a season and we appreciate everyone that brings a canvas bag for their produce. The canvas is much gentler on produce and easier to carry. As an incentive, the Bloomington Market is going to give away bags at the first market, so get down early and get one! We have Mitchell Farms Produce canvas totes for our CSA members--see below how to get one.

We have a few openings for our CSA--if you are interested or know someone that is looking for a CSA, go to our website, www.mitchellproduce.com, for all the information! There will be items for CSA that won't make it to the market. CSA is a fantastic way to eat better, guarantee a steady supply of fresh, LOCAL produce and get a super durable canvas tote to show off to everyone at the market. Concerned that you might have too many veggies? We do have a few half shares available as well.

I can't wait to see all our farmer's market friends this weekend. We will be doing a give away for a Mitchell Farms tote bag and a Mitchell Farms t-shirt. Stop by, get some salad fixin's and put your name in the drawing!

See you Saturday!