This spring has been good for early crops

0

This spring has been an especially good one for the early spring crops of radish, lettuce, spinach and other greens – not too wet to get seed in the ground early, and some early very warm spring days for good germination, followed by the cooler temperatures preferred by these early greens.

All too often, our thriving greens turn bitter or bolt and set seed as the temperatures jump into the 80s as early as mid-May. The pea seed is a large seed, not as prone to rot in heavy wet soils, and a cool weather crop, ideally planted in March if the soil can be worked.

In her poem, “An Insider’s View of the Garden,” Maxine Kumin praises the “unquenchable dill,” the “quarter mile of beans,” and the “dilatory parsnips” – some of the bounty of summer and fall. Of our spring pea, she writes: “I praise the springy mane/of untamed tendrils asprawl on chicken wire/that promise to bring forth/peas to overflow a pillowcase.”

The “springy mane of untamed tendrils” – what a visually astute description of this lovely plant, whose precious pods are never enough to satisfy my spring cravings and my winter storage needs. A pillow case of peas is never enough, it seems. Mine are just now tall enough to start climbing the cattle panels set between rows, and the early blooms were not bothered a bit by the frosts of last week.

The Market is open Saturday morning from 8:30 to 12 noon and is located in the Municipal parking lot on the corner of South Main and E. East Street. SNAP EBT food benefit cards and credit/debit cards are accepted.

Those using the SNAP EBT card for food purchases receive matching dollar “Produce Perks” tokens ($1 for $1) good only for fruits, vegetables, and food producing plants. So,”buy one, get one” for up to $25 every market day. $5 coupons will be available again for Fayette County Farm Bureau members at each Saturday market; these can be spent at both the Wednesday and Saturday markets.

The following list contains the names and products of the vendors that expect to set up this Saturday. Other vendors may participate as well.

Bridge View Garden (Hunter and Lorelle Rohrer — 740-505-5125): Fresh produce (lettuce, spring onions, radishes). Perennial and annual plants including vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Breiner’s Lawn and Landscape LLC (Breiners): Custom planters featuring showstopper annuals. Pottery and container themes are farm, vegetable, contemporary and succulents.

Cheryl’s Country Crafts (Cheryl Braun, 740-505-0068 ): Handmade wreaths and country wood products.

Cloud9D (Nicole Dougherty): Tumblers, slate photos and jewelry with lots of customizable gifts.

Cozy Baby Blessings (Nancy Cutter): Handmade baby essentials including crochet baby blankets and hats, flannel burp cloths and crinkle toys, knit bows and teethers. Kitchen essentials including crochet dish cloths, pot scrubbers, and jar grippers. Handmade clay and resin earrings, face masks for adults and children, and intensely scented wax melts in over 50 scents.

DSC Produce Farm (Darren Cox): Private label salsas (a best-selling bacon salsa, habanero bacon cherry salsa, peach salsa and Carolina Reaper) and salad dressings (tomato and bacon, bacon ranch, blueberry, raspberry) plus apple butter, apple pie jam, elderberry jelly, and jalapeno ketchup.

Engeti (Alana Walters): Baked goods including dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, cakes, pies, cookies.

Greens & Greenery (Katrina Bush): Rhubarb and other seasonal produce. Potted plants including herbs, flowers, vegetables. Perennial native plants/trees/shrubs, including elder(berry), amsonia, swamp white oak, grey dogwood, Marguerite Kelways, yellow and purple coneflower (echinacea), coral bells, anise hyssop and hyssop, clary sage, sage, daisy, ferns, monarda and more. Luffa sponges, beeswax hand creams, and glycerin and honey soaps.

Julie G’s Cookies (Julie Greenslade): Homemade chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies and sugar free peanut butter cookies.

Persinger Produce and Cottage Foods (David Persinger and Julie Mosny): The Pie Lady –Local honey, blueberry, blackberry, apple, strawberry rhubarb and rhubarb small pies, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal raisin cookies, Buns bars and mini cini’s. The Jam Man will have peach, cherry, blueberry blackberry, red raspberry black raspberry, and red raspberry jalapeno jams, hot pepper jelly, and no-sugar added plum, blueberry, and peach jams. Assorted Texas sheet cakes.

Wood by DW (Debbie Welch): Wood crafts and sewn kitchen crafts.

Your Other Mother’s Kitchen (Don and Sara Creamer — 740-572-0134): Artisan breads, muffins, brownies.

AG Cutie Farms (A.J. and Grace Armintrout): Farm fresh eggs from right here in Fayette County.

Pea tendrils
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2021/05/web1_fm.jpgPea tendrils Courtesy photo

By Katrina Bush

For the Record-Herald

No posts to display