Patriotic screen created by “Those sisters”

It was a pleasant night for the Toledo Farmers’ Market. There were 15 vendors at this market and a very nice crowd. Kristi had plenty of delicious bakeries, bars, cookies, breads, rolls, kolaches, rolicky, breads, pies and red and black raspberries. Vernon and Wilma brought eggs. Darold brought broccoli, potatoes, kohlrabi, kale, green beans, and cabbage. Cindy had kohlrabi and baskets full of peas, which by the way was delicious. Tom and Nancy had cherries and an assortment of frozen buffalo meat. Which include brats, summer sausage, bologna, breakfast patties, stixs, and hot dogs.

Chuck and Ginger had a table full of pies, breads, cookies, kolaches, popcorn, black walnut meats, summer squash, potatoes, broccoli, peas, zucchini, black raspberries, hot pepper powder, beets, cabbage, eggs, and a small bag of green beans. Sheryl was set up with ceramics, scrubbies, dishcloths, adult clothing protectors, cold or hot bowl holders. Janice was under a tent this week protected from the sun with cookies, kolaches, breads, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, summer squash, and instant oatmeal. Those sisters were back with cute gourd planters, a mason bee house made out of a gourd, geodes, plants, sun catchers made out of recycled glass, and a beautiful American flag painted on a screen.

Jim was under the pine tree with his hand made leather items. Joe and Barb had kohlrabi, jams, cabbage, onions, broccoli, granola, breads, and beets, crisp and dried Chile peppers. Kathy had plenty of delicious bakery, rolls, cookies, Danish, cantaloupe bread, caramel apple Danish and kolaches, snack mix, and regular kolaches. Karen had her soy candles there. June was back with turnips, onions, peas, beets, lettuce, kale, broccoli, and zucchini. And on the north end was Red Earth Gardens with peas, spinach, kale, romaine, garlic chives, and scapes, lemon balm, and kohlrabi. Be sure to get out the Toledo Farmers’ Market before the season is over.

With a lack of honey bees, it is good to have some mason bees around your gardens. A great way to get them to stay is to put up a mason bee house. Mason bees are a type of native bee that’s quite common throughout most of the U.S. They are usually a little smaller than a honey bee, and typically metallic blue or blue-black in color. hey get their name from their habit of nest-building, which is to seal off the cells where they lay their eggs with mortar-like applications of mud.

The female mason bee emerges in early spring and immediately begins to forage for pollen and nectar. They pack this food into the far end of their nesting cavity until they decide there’s enough there to feed a young bee. Then she will lay an egg and seal up the cell. This process continues until the bee has filled the entire chamber with a series of pollen/nectar/egg cells. Interestingly, the eggs that are destined to be female are always deposited at the back of the nesting chamber. he male bees will emerge first.

Mason bees are very effective pollinators. Just two or three females can pollinate a mature apple tree. Mason bees will also work in cool or rainy weather when honey bees are more likely to take the day off.

If you’re having trouble with pollination in your orchard or garden get some mason bees. But be sure to have a place for them to lay their eggs and stick around. The buzz is “Those Sisters” have mason bee houses available.

See you at market.