What’s happening at the Farmers Market?

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Have you ever “played the game” of deciding what 10 or 12 foods (the concept is flexible, but it needs to be a relatively limited number) you would take with you if you were only able to take an unlimited amount of these foods to some solitary, abandoned island?

Unlimited is key, because you don’t know how long you will be there. You can speculate that you might be able to find or capture some sort of food on this island (Fish? Salt from the sea? Coconuts?), but this is not a given.

So, what foods would you take?

Do spices count? Yes, each spice counts as one choice. Some will choose favorite foods (think potato chips or ice cream, watermelon or bread). Practically, one might choose items that pack the most caloric punch, be it peanut butter, dried beans, meat or other protein.

What I always find is that the alliums (onions and garlic) top my list. What am I going to need to make foods interesting and palatable over the long term? I probably can learn to live without salt, but not onions and garlic. They are the base for most of my soups, salsas and dressings, and flavoring for meats, beans and poultry.

Fortunately, I am not stranded anywhere. The garden (and farmers market) provides such an abundance and variety of produce, all of which benefit from the beloved garlic, onion and shallot harvest!

If you too are an allium lover, try to find “ONIONS Etcetera: The Essential Allium Cookbook.”

With beautiful illustrations, it features storage, red, sweet and pearl onions, scallions and chives, shallots and leeks, garlic and ramps/spring onions/green garlic/garlic scapes. There are recipes where the allium is the primary ingredient (pickled, chili paste, fried, dressing for salad), or is one of many ingredients (chicken meatballs with couscous, grilled delicata squash with shallot agrodolce). The alliums delight us in flavor, variety and nutritional value.

From 9-11 a.m., Randy and David of WCHC-TV will be at the Fayette County Farmers Market for the August Facebook Live broadcasts coined, “What’s happening at the Market today?” This live stream event can be viewed on the WCHC TV Facebook page starting shortly after 9 a.m. and is brought to you by the Fayette County Travel and Tourism Bureau.

The market is open Saturday morning from 8:30 to noon and is located in the municipal parking lot on the corner of South Main and East East streets in Washington C.H. 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. Five-dollar 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): Red raspberries, sweet potatoes, melons, white baking potatoes, slicing and cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, potted perennial asters, sunflowers and mums.

Cheryl’s Country Crafts (Cheryl Braun, 740-505-0068): Handmade crafts.

Cozy Baby Blessings (Nancy Cutter): Hand poured wax melts, handmade earrings, crochet dish cloths and pot scrubbers. Handmade baby essentials including crocheted baby blankets and hats, flannel burp cloths, crinkle toys, infant bows and teethers.

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

Gerhardt’s (Kevin Gerhardt—look for the old yellow truck): supersweet white corn, cantaloupe, crenshaw melon, honeydew melon, cucumbers, sweet peppers, jalapeños and field ripened tomatoes.

Greens & Greenery (Katrina Bush): Sustainably grown seasonal produce, including red and walla walla onions, garlic, shallots, eggplant, heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, zucchini. Broom corn stalks. Sourdough crackers (rosemary, garlic/turmeric, “everything”). Buckeye candy. Local honey.

Julie G’s Cookies (Julie Greenslade): Homemade cookies: pumpkin, chocolate chip, ginger, snickerdoodle, oatmeal raisin, Cracker Jack, sugar, peanut butter, double chocolate brownies, lemon bars, salted caramel bars, peanut butter jumbos, oatmeal toffee bars, funfetti, peanut butter fudge, and peanut butter no bakes. Garden produce.

Little Farmstead Flowers (Eicher family): Fresh cut flower arrangements, including sunflowers, zinnias, cockscomb, eucalyptus and more! Dried floral. Fresh cut herbs.

Persinger Produce and Cottage Foods (David Persinger and Julie Mosny): The Pie Lady: assorted fruit pies, apple dumplings, cinnamon rolls, banana cake, cinni mini’s and Buns bars. Also local raw honey, coney comb and bees wax. McIntosh apples and white peaches. The Jam Man: Assorted jams/jellies. New batches of peach flamingo, pineapple, and blackberry jams. Ginger pear, peach habanero, and pineapple habanero still in stock. No added sugar varieties include cherry, peach, blackberry with or without seeds, and triple berry. Assorted Texas sheet cakes.

Rural Beans Roastery LLC (Kameron Rinehart, Tino Poma): Featuring more than ten varieties of coffee beans for purchase in 1 lb bags, whole beans or ground. Some of the origins include Costa Rica, Sumatra, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Columbia, to name a few. Samples will be available to taste.

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

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

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

Alliums top the list.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2021/08/web1_thumbnail_alliums.jpgAlliums top the list. Courtesy photo

By Katrina Bush

For the Record-Herald

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