Ends and Beginnings

Sorry for no post last week--I had a busy week and a serious case of the lazies.

This Saturday, 9/27, will be our last week at the Bloomington market. Initially way back last November, we decided to finish the market year and grow a large fall crop: hard squash, pumpkins, exotic pumpkins, collards, arugula, sweet potatoes and the like. With a rainy July and a few hurricanes later (11 inches if you're keeping score), our fall "garden" has subcome to the disease that has plagued us all year.

Overall, this has been a good year--how about some numbers?

• Number of transplants--between 20,000 and 23,000
• Acres under production--30
• Number of tomato plants--900
• Number of markets per week at peak season--7
• Number of onion sets planted--9,000
• Varieties of tomatoes--12
• Number of greenhouses burnt to the ground--1

So, while this season comes to a close for us, Bill is planning ahead for next year. This week, he and his dad have been planting strawberries. Hopefully, we won't have the rain and damp conditions we had this year. The transplants look like dead twigs--bare roots and no leaves. Just two days after being introduced to Tazewell County dirt, Bill reports that almost all of the plants have taken off growing and many have several leaves! He took a great picture with his cell phone, but I don't know how to get it to the computer.

But before strawberries, what can you get this week?

• We still have sweet corn! This is the last of it for the year--it will be 9 months before we have any more.
• Sweet potatoes
• Potatoes
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash
• Spaghetti Squash
• Collard greens

It will be a beautiful day--come on out and join us! While this is our last market, there will be tons of fabulous fall produce being brought in by the other great farmers at the market--so don't stop coming to the market. I'll STILL come down on Saturdays, because I just can't stay away! See you saturday!

Looking forward

Ok, enough with the reminiscing--time to move forward and look ahead! We are already planning for next year's growing season and markets--just waiting for the seed catalogs to start arriving! By the time we order, the pages are dog-eared, sticky, torn, missing covers and sometimes pages! We love our seed catalogs and always seem to order more each year.

We usually place our orders in mid to late November. This ensures that we get our seeds in time to start them under the lights; as some seed companies won't send out seeds until closer to the growing season. But......guess what we got yesterday! Go, on--GUESS!



These utilitarian cardboard boxes contain........STRAWBERRIES! We decided to venture out with another large, labor intensive crop. Fruit is something that is not very prevalent at our markets. The Application Committee has discussed ways to attract local fruit growers to our market, but the fact is, there aren't very many around this area. So, we decided rather than lament the fact there aren't any/many strawberries/grapes/berries/etc being brought to the market, we would see if we could fill that gap. Planting should begin next week and if all goes well (cross fingers and toes!) we should have some sort of crop in June 09. I'll keep you posted.

While in the PSA mode of keeping you fine folks up to date on local events, I have a reminder and two, yes, two! local event announcements!

• This Thursday, September 11 from 5 pm to 7 pm, the ISU Hort Center is hosting a Nutraceutical Evening for the public to learn about what they eat and how it affects their health. There will be garden tours, info booths, Farmer's Market (yes, Bill Mitchell and Bill Davison will be there!) and seminars. The Hort Center is located on Raab Road, south of Heartland College campus.

• Looking for something new and exicting to do on Saturday night? Synergy Rhythm and Dance, a local bellydance studio, is presenting a special show featuring the Chicago dance troupe, Blue Lotus Tribe. Bellydancing is gaining popularity, not only as an expressive art form for women, but as a way to maintain fitness and overall health. Synergy's performance is on Saturday, September 13 at the Normal Community Activity Center, 1110 Douglas St in One Normal Plaza, in Normal (formerly the Soldiers & Sailors Home). The doors open at 7 pm. For more information, go to Synergy RAD's website.

• On Monday, September 15 at 7 pm, there will be a FREE screening of the documentary, The Future of Food, along with a panel discussion. The panel discussion topic is creating a viable local foods system in Central Illinois--something ALL OF US should be very interested in.

Whew! Who knew there were so many interesting and fun activities available locally?

The cooler weather is really dictating what we bring to the market (getting back on topic!); for a few weeks now, Bill has told me that "zucchini is coming along, shouldn't be too long". Well, all the cool weather isn't encouraging the plants to produce much fruit. Maybe by Christmas............

Bill did pick the first acorn squash last night! yay! I love the hard fall squashes, so versatile! They can be diced and sauteed, grilled or pan fried, boiled & mashed, made into soups: the possibilities are almost endless. Plus, they are good savory, spicy or sweet AND good for you. We may have some this Saturday; gotta do what Mother Nature lets us do!

Lineup for Saturday:

• Sweet corn! Still! We are into the last patch and will have corn for another week.
  
• Watermelon
• Sweet Potatoes
• Potatoes
• Cucumbers
• Summer squash
• Eggplant--try dehydrating them and using in place of chips with hummus! Yummy!
  
• Green Peppers
• Apples !! In a suprise move, a few of our apple trees have produced fruit that is worth picking. They are small and not pretty, but make incredible applesauce!

See everyone on Saturday!

Looking back

Toward the fall, Bill and I look back over the season and take stock: what worked, what didn't work, do we stay with this market or try another one, what to plant and where, equipment purchases, etc. We keep records of how we perform in each market to mark growth or if it isn't worth the time, fuel and labor costs to go there. While we mainly look at the current season, I've been comparing our ups & downs from 2005, when we started keeping actual records (before it was just slips of paper, randomly shoved in a drawer).


2008 is our 8th year in this business and not only have we seen growth in our business, but also growth in other farmer's operations and farmer's markets. When we first started, we came to the Bloomington market late in the season (mid-July) in 2000 with just sweet corn and 100 or so cantaloupe. The market was very small with perhaps 15 vendors. It started at the corner of Washington & Main and went the one block to Jefferson Street, where it turned the corner.......and pretty well died. We were on the south corner and Frank Merrick was across the street to our north and some lady selling eggs next to us. Oh, the vendors faced. the. sidewalk. so there was traffic in the streets [ETA--Elaine has a better memory-the streets WERE blocked--she struggled with the heavy barricades back in the day, so maybe it was THOSE people that thought they were special]......if you were there, you know what I'm talking about. It just didn't hit the right note. What brought us back? The people. We met some really cool and interesting folks that first market and guess what? They came back to see us the next week! They liked our corn! They liked local food! They liked seasonal food!

We got more involved with the development of the Downtown market, as did other farmers, and as a group started making small changes to improve the market and hopefully draw more customers on Saturday mornings. The streets were completely blocked to traffic to allow the vendors to have nicer, more accessible stands and to allow for a more pleasant shopping experience for the customers. Other growers were sought out and encouraged to attend the market, especially if they grew/produced unique items. Artist's Alley was added, making our market unique. Local musical talent stepped up to the plate to entertain all of us and we've also got our own home-grown chef, Nars, who demonstrated how quick and easy it is to shop & cook from your local market. This year, the market hours were adjusted a bit to allow more families time to get to the market without having to set an alarm.

The most drastic change was the change to becoming a producer only market: only growers that plant, maintain and harvest their produce were allowed to be vendors. This change has resulted in some of the highest quality local produce anywhere in the country. Out of town shoppers from large cities will tell us how wonderful all the produce looks and tastes and how vibrant the market is, compared to (as I've been informed over the summer) Chicago, Atlanta, LA and Des Moines.

These changes didn't happen overnight and not without growing pains, but not only have the farmers brought their 'A' games, but so have the customers. You guys are great--rain, shine, you've been there! There has been so much focus on local eating, healthy eating, farmer's markets and "killer" foods in the national media recently and our very supportive B-N customers have made sure that they have access to high quality, local, seasonal food. You've also done the green thing and have been bringing your canvas/nylon/re-purposed bags. Not only does it eliminate the over use of plastic, but it is quite a bit easier to haul produce in these bags. It also has kept our input costs down by not ordering as many bags, which in turn reflects in our prices. Very much a win-win.

This season has been FANTASTIC! There have been more of you coming down to the market; many of you bring friends down and introduce them to your favorite vendors; you've brought your out of town guests to the market to show us off; more & more households are doing their weekly shopping at the market; parents are teaching that food doesn't always come from the store or in a plastic wrapper.

For us, August is the 2nd most productive month, following July. We typically have two or three good weeks before school starts, then the market becomes a ghost town--where did everyone go? So far, not this year--the last two weekends the market has been packed with shoppers! It looks like many of you have taken to heart that eating locally is possible, you can eat (very) well and not spend a fortune! We are truly appreciative of all the customers that make the time to shop the market on Saturdays--thank you all for making 2008 a fantastic year.

But! Don't stop now! Just because we had some wet, rainy, fall, Let's-stay-indoors weather, don't let that stop you. There are lots of Saturdays left and we've got Brand! New! produce from our fall planting is heading your way.

I truly love the fall garden--mostly because I like the hard squashes: butternut, acorn, pumpkin and spaghetti. YUM. These aren't quite ready, but are getting close. The nutritional value in these foods is amazing and I have some good recipes coming for using squashes.

What will we have on the Veggie Wagon tomorrow?

• Sweet corn-almost to the end, probably one more week
• Cantaloupe-this is the last of the summer planting; there is a late patch that is questionable
• Watermelon-we hit the watermelon home run this year--we have lots
• Sweet potatoes-most of these guys are large & in charge--one will feed your whole family
• Yellow squash
• Green beans
• Green Peppers
• Hot peppers
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant

We'll be there 7:30 am to noon! See you there! Bill just left town to go pick sweet corn in the mud (thanks, Gustav!)--I know all of you will be thinking of him (I'm still at work!).

Picking watermelon

One of my favorite holidays is fast approaching....Labor Day. Marking the end of the summer season, Labor Day is laid back and easy. No gifts, no elaborate meals, no pressure. The weather is usually nice (unlike Memorial Day) and no changing around on the calendar; always the first Monday of September. Just blue skies and a BBQ or two.

This upcoming weekend is prime BBQ & picnic time and what makes a BBQ great? Watermelon!

We have had a great crop this year; sweet, juicy and tasty! One question that we answer quite a bit is "How do you know a watermelon is good/sweet/juicy?" The short answer is to get your watermelon from someone that grows them. We can tell in the field if the melon is ready or not. If it's ready, then it goes on the trailer. Not ready? It stays in the field. Simple? Of course it is easy if you've picked 56,938 melons in your life! How about some pictures?

First, you need to get out to the melon patch. Really, there are melons out there--not just weeds! If you look closely, you can see some melons through all the weeds. As you may have noticed, weed control isn't very high on our list right now. We do try to keep the weeds to a minimum early in the season, but it's a losing battle. Notice the lovely stand of lambs quarters in the background, in front of the corn. We have the loveliest weeds!






The two pictures above show what we look for in a ripe watermelon. The top picture is the ground spot. That's where the melon sits on the ground as it grows. In a immature melon, this spot will be very light in color; off-white or cream colored. As the melon matures, this spot will darken in color. Each variety is different and some will be very dark yellow while some are a pale butter color.

The bottom picture is of the infamous tendril. This very small and seemingly insignificant part of the stem system is perhaps the most helpful to a us. When the tendril dries up, we figure that we've got a pretty ripe melon. The ground spot is checked, the melon is thumped (listening for a clear, ringing tone) and if everything checks out, it gets picked and put on the trailer. Notice the black dog supervising in the background. Skipper is keeping everything running smoothly!


It may not look muddy, but Dana managed to rub off quite a bit of dirt on her shirt. Bill and the crew fan out across the field, similar to a fire brigade line. Bill, Karen & Brenda usually do the actual checking and picking and the others are just muscle.



Picture to be posted later, but as the melons are picked, they get tossed down the line into the trailer. It sounds easy, but it's much harder than it looks...many of these melons are in the neighborhood of 20-30 lbs and we can pick over 200 for a weekend market. It is a great upper body workout for abs and arms (coming soon--Mitchell Farms Workout video!)

What does all that work get you? A beautiful, sweet watermelon! This is one of the Vanessas: a small, dark personal sized melon. Very juicy & sweet with a crisp bite and a great size for just one or two.

Besides watermelon, what else will we have for your picnicing needs?

• Yellow watermelon--we will have a few--we've almost picked all of the yellow watermelon (note to Bill: grow more!) and some of y'all are addicted to them! Come and check early in the market if you want one.
• Sweet Corn-nature's original fast food: minutes from pot or grill to table! If you are having out of town visitors, you must introduce them to our corn. They'll be amazed that simple corn can taste so good!
• Cantaloupe--this will be coming to a close soon, but right now they are at their peak!
• Crensahw melons- new for us! This is a cross between a casaba melon & a persian melon yielding an oblong, bright yellow melon with a sweet, spicy scent. Ours are a pale orange color on the inside, with a firm, fine grained texture. It's the new thing to try this week!
• Green beans--we love this new variety that we are growing for fall. Very straight, skinny and tender--good enough to nibble on raw.
• Cucumbers-starting to make a comeback with the new fall planting
• Summer squash--ditto to cucumbers!
  
• Eggplant--all shapes, colors and sizes. It isn't too late to give one a try!
• Sweet onions
• Hot peppers--jalapeno, habanero, peppercorncini
  
• Green peppers

.......and that's about it. You'll notice that tomatoes are absent from the list. We've struggled with them all season and now the plants have just given up. They were good while we had them!

I am looking forward to seeing lots and lots of folks at the market this weekend! Have company in for the weekend? Bring them down and show off one of the best farmer's markets in the state! Remember those canvas bags, grab a cup of coffee and the dog and get downtown! We look forward to seeing you!

Back to School

Sorry for the lack of posting, but this week was just jam packed with markets, football & soccer practice, first days of school, more school supply shopping and work! I work for one of the school districts and August is when my department get busier than normal putting the final touches on the classrooms and schools before teachers and students come back. I can always tell that summer is over when I start hearing from teachers! It's good to hear from them--they are always excited to start another year.

This is the time of the year that we see about a 50% drop in market attendance. The markets don't stop when school starts--in fact, this is when some of the best items are being brought to the markets. With the change in time for the Saturday market this year (7:30 am to noon) should give people a chance to stop by and stock up for the week. Don't think you have to be at the market at the crack of dawn--there is still plenty of high quality produce and large selections at the market--why do you think we got that massive trailer? All the better to bring more stuff for you folks!

For those of you that know us, we have 4 children. If you come to the Uptown Normal market, likely you've seen all three of them (and one or two extras!) helping out, bagging sweet corn and waiting on customers. The fourth one is rarely seen--Kyle is currently serving our country with the Marine Corps. He is stationed in Cherry Point NC (beautiful area--you should visit!) and has been shuttling back and forth between there and Iraq. Unfortunately, the USMC doesn't think picking sweet corn is a priority or I'd have him here every summer! He and his family will be back in town for their annual visit starting this week. Kyle is larger than life and will get you wrapped up in whatever scheme he is focused on at the time. He is a whirlwind of energy, always up for a good time and when he was home, good help on the farm. The picture to the left is a day when he didn't really want to be there: it was cold and wet. I unfortunately didn't have my camera when they came back from picking sweet corn, with Kyle riding on top of the truck roof, singing a little ditty about picking corn, trying to keep everyone's spirits up. I'm trying to get him to stop by one of the Saturday markets--maybe you'll be lucky enough to meet him and his beautiful wife & daughter.

So, with KKA in town and my dad(of pineapple growing fame) & step-mom coming in early September, it's a 3 ring circus ALL. THE. TIME. Did I mention that Kyle has lab mix that stays with us when they are in town? 4 dogs. 1 house. Circus=Mitchell House!

In between all this familial bliss are the crops that need to be harvested! This is the time to start putting away for the non-growing months, with freezing, canning or drying. Bill & I are experimenting with dehydrating peppers for chili powder & paprika, our sweet onions for onion powder and garlic for garlic powder. I bought a dehydrator last year and dried tomatoes for use in soups and stews. I didn't make enough! It is quite amazing at how much water is in food--and how much of it goes away when the product is dried. It's no wonder that dried fruits are expensive!

Following some advice I found on the internet (forget exactly where), I washed and dried whole jalepeno, habanero and Hungarian peppers and put them in the dehydrator. It has taken most of a week, but they are all almost completely dried and ready to be pulverized in a coffee grinder. I also thinly sliced onions and garlic and dried them as well. Since they are thinner, they dry faster. I'll grind them up as well.

I was curious as to how the garlic and onions would taste. The garlic flavor is more concentrated, but not unpleasant when eaten as a "chip", but requires a good tooth brushing! These will make excellent garlic powder! The sweet onions were a surprise! I expected all "hot" onion flavor and no sweet, but the sweet, mild onion taste really came through! Bill thought it tasted like onion candy and would be great sprinkled over salads or squashes. I sliced some more onions last night to dry and put into a trail mix. I'm also going to experiment with drying some potatoes for my own instant mashed!

This weekend in Downtown Bloomington is the Hot August Nights, so plan ahead for parking. There is always FREE, CONVENIENT parking in the Monroe St (I think) parking garage, just south of Fox & Hounds. It's free, its shady for those hot day and there is lots of room! Some streets may be cordoned off, so parking will be a little different than in past weeks.

But don't let that stop you! How can you go another week without:

• Watermelon--red & seedless--very juicy and sweet! They come in a range of sizes from small to very large!
  
• Cantaloupe--season is short, enjoy them now when they are at their best
• Sweet Corn--if you are "corned" out, think about putting some in the freezer for a blast of summer in the middle of winter--Easy as falling off a log: boil water, blanch for 1 minute, put in ice water, cut off cob and freeze! You can do this with just one ear or with 100!
• Tomatoes-perfect for salsa, fresh or canned
• Eggplant--we have been bringing record numbers of eggplant--try a white one or a skinny Asian one!
  
• Green peppers
• Hot peppers
• Sweet onions
• Potatoes
• cucumbers--finally, our late crop is starting to produce
• Summer squash--ditto!
• Green Beans--fall crop--these are beautiful, long and crisp. Pair up with some small, fresh potatoes.

Remember, rain or shine! Bring your bags! Bring your cameras--we love it when folks take pictures of our veggies! Bring a friend!

The Eagle has landed...

Y'all are familiar with my griping about how busy we are and dashing here & there with farm stuff and kid stuff...right? Well, our salvation has just arrived (Wednesday at 4:40 pm) in the shape of Bill's mom, Margaret. She is a saint in human form and a dervish of cleaning (Bill used to call her the Fairbury tornado due to her mad cleaning skillz). Why is this SO exciting? 'Cause it means that my house will not be condemned by the health department!! Within in minutes of pulling up to the house, she was asking what she could do to help....she and Emily started with dishes.

Now, we don't have the typical OMG it's my Mother in Law relationship--in fact, I'll let anyone clean my kitchen! Margaret is a great person and now that she is living in Florida we only get to see her about 3 or 4 times a year. The kids love having her around (except when she makes them clean their rooms!) because she is fun! And she spoils them with lots of hugs, kisses and love--and Disney passes! She works a few days a the Mouse House so when her grandkids come down, we have day passes for Disney. See, I told you she spoils them!

This time, Margaret came with a friend. She recently got a puppy that is part Yorkie and part Chihauhau--so cute! Cubby is so much smaller than our dogs (!) but settled right in and felt comfortable taking Chase's bone away from him this morning! Yes, Margaret is a Cubs fan, to the dismay of Bill. For those of you that know about Bill's love for all things St. Louis & Cardinal, this is very sad. Ball games are quite fun to watch, however with both of them razzing each other, often via long distance!

Now that both of us have our new right hand, some of the craziness that permeates the late summer markets will abate somewhat. We will be at our Country Insurance stand and at the State Farm market until the end of August. I will continue Tuesday afternoons in Uptown Normal as long as we have product and plenty of customers. Of course, we will be in Downtown Bloomington through the end of October (not so far away) with plenty of fall goodies.

What will we bring on our new fancy trailer?

• Sweet corn-still picking, although in a new patch, with 2 or 3 patches starting to pollinate. We'll have plenty of corn for Labor Day picnics!
• Watermelon-man, do we have a lot of watermelon! All sizes from small to feed-an-army size. Again, we will have plenty in time for Labor Day.
• Cantaloupe-juicy, sweet, lovely orange color--it's a fantastic way to get vitamin C
• Tomatoes--even with some major crop failure, the tomatoes that we are picking are just fantastic! They are loving this moderate weather--it seems to be giving the plants a chance to recuperate.
• Sweet onions--we hit a home run with the sweet onions this year--planted plenty of them and they got lots & lots of water, which is what onions need. These are fabulous cooked or raw.
• Potatoes--The white potatoes aren't quite ready, but the red-skinned ones are. Fresh potatoes that haven't been chilled are crisp and actually have taste!
• Eggplant--another home run crop. Disease issues haven't seemed to bother the eggplant and we've been picking enough for everyone in B-N to have one! Our white ones and the longer, striped Antiguas are just now starting to mature, so you'll be seeing more of them at the markets.
  
• Green Peppers--some are green, some are turning red, some are confused and are a little of both!
• Sweet Banana peppers--slice for salads, pickle for winter, stuff with cream cheese and bake!
• Hot peppers--just in time for fresh salsa! Hot pepper jelly is great over cream cheese (ok, low-fat!) or goat cheese.
  
• Cucumbers-still struggling, but we may have a few!
• Zucchini & squash-the plants are blooming so you may start to see some fruits here & there.

Will it rain Saturday AM? I hope not--although we had a great crowd last week! Friday night, set out your canvas bags, rain boots & umbrella, set your alarm and make your shopping list! We'll be ready for you at 7:30!

Can't think of a good title

I'm a little late in posting this week, but we've been running crazy! We have had record crowds at all our markets this week: that's fantastic! I hope we can keep this "I-need-fresh-local-food" train going even after the start of school. Usually market attendance starts to wane the week before school with more week day activities, but there is so much really great produce yet to come that you need to dedicate 20 minutes on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday to stock up for the week. After a summer of eating fresh, local foods, can you really go back to eating lousy supermarket food? I didn't think so!

In addition to the crazy that surrounds us, it's been an expensive week for us. Our large 12' trailer that we haul most of our produce blew out the bearings on one side, making it VERY unsafe for use. Luckily, one of our workers noticed that the tire was not at the proper angle while Bill was hauling about 300 lbs of watermelon back to the main farm!

We've discussed getting a new trailer, but what we were using worked. At least, until this season. We have brought to market more produce than we ever have before. Both trailers are packed full, as well as my truck which doubles as the tomato conveyance (we have around 320 lbs of tomatoes last week--that's a lot!). Since we've always skirted the weight limit on the big trailer, we decided to upgrade to a newer, sturdier and safer trailer. This baby is 16' (!) long and is rated for 5000 lbs--that's a lot of melons! So now we can easily (and safely) bring more cantaloupe and watermelon to market--all good for you!

The watermelon are really starting to produce and we've (ha!-like I've done much) done a great job in keeping them alive this wet spring & summer. Bill read in Farm Week that since they've been keeping meterologic records in 1895(!) that January-July 2008 has been the wettest on record. All I know is that it's August and my grass is still green!

I get asked what else you can do with watermelon, other than just eat and enjoy it. Weeeeell, I think it's pretty good just the way it is! I haven't tried grilling it (yet--although grilled peaches are fab!) and it doesn't lend itself well to canning (watermelon rind pickles do come to mind) or freezing. However, one of my very savvy CSA members freezes her extra watermelon (is there such a thing as leftover watermelon?) for : watermelon margaritas! How awesome is that! Can you picture the middle of February, cold, snow and ice, dark by 3:30---instant summer! If you aren't into margaritas, you could easily make a slushy with other fruit.

What will we be bringing on our fancy, new trailer?

• Sweet corn
• Watermelon-all seedless, red or yellow, small, medium, large and largest!
• Cantaloupe-haven't been many this week--we are hoping the next crop is ready on Friday
• Tomatoes-we'll have more 'maters this week--you all are a tomato deprived bunch!
• Eggplant-all kinds! The white eggplants are starting to produce and are very good for grilling as they seem to be a little more firm
• Green peppers
• Banana peppers
• Hot peppers--several kinds, Hot Hungarian, Cherry Bomb, anaheim, jalepeno-perfect for salasa
• Sweet onions
• Potoatoes
• Cucumbers-a definite maybe
• Pickling cucumbers
• Armenian cucumbers-this is new for us and according to the internet and Monica from AZ--these are the best slicing & eating cukes ever! Also known as "snake melons", they don't look like your standard cuke--I think Saturday should be a day to try something new!

I know I'm forgetting something, so stop by and check out the table! Tonight, put your canvas bags in the car (you know who you are!) so you'll be ready for the best market of the season!