Dawn Troutner Toledo Market Master

Market Report for September 30, 2016

This market report for the last day in September is brought to you by the Toledo Farmers’ Market. It was a marvelous night in downtown Toledo, Iowa for the Toledo Farmers’ Market. Market began with the blow of the whistle at 5 pm.

Kristi was there with lots of delicious bakery including kolaches, rolicky, rolls, bars, pies, cookies, breads, and tomatoes. Mason was there to tell the market manager all about his birthday. Vernon and Wilma pulled up with a cooler full of eggs. Busy Bee Acres arrived with plenty of honey in assorted sizes, lip balm, solid lotion tubs and some chunk honey in jars. That would be honey with comb floating in the jar. Caryn was there with delicious pears, jams, snack mixes, and caramel corn. Shirley and Michael pulled in with kolaches, rokicky, buchty and bars.

Chuck and Ginger had a table full of angel food cakes, cookies, breads, eggs, gourds, Indian corn, honey, pumpkins, garlic, popcorn, tomatoes, onions, assortment of winter squash, leeks, okra, potatoes, hot and sweet peppers, and egg plant. Dawn was back selling with jams, dired beans, dried herbs, soup mixes, houseplants, gourds, winter squash, potatoes, onions, green beans, green peppers, red cabbage, tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, and Indian corn. Sheryl had ceramics, hand made towel sets, potholders, scrubbies, bowl holders, potato pouches, and did I say plenty of cute fall ceramics. Lois, Brenda, and Marie had acorn squash, zucchini, butternut, egg plant, green peppers, and cucumbers.

Ethan had his delicious Cub Scout popcorn. Jim was under the pine tree with his hand made leather items. Karen had a table full of soy candles. The aroma at her table is amazing. And on the north end was Red Earth Gardens with plenty of sweet pepper, sugar baby watermelons, sage, green beans, micro greens, parsley, hot peppers, lettuce, bagged greens, squash, turnips, beets, and kohlrabi. Their TSA’s are done so they will be bringing more produce till the end of market.

There are four weeks left of market. Be sure to make a point to get to the Toledo Farmers’ Market and make your purchases before ole man winter it knocking on your door. See you at market.

Only four weeks left of market.

That statement has a lot of mixed emotions. Happiness: it’s almost over, we get to put the garden to sleep for the winter. Tiredness: look at all the work ahead of us. Laziness; maybe I can put my feet up and read a couple of books this winter. Loneliness: I am going to miss all the vendors, customers and all the strangers we meet along the way. But I can tell you I am not going to miss fighting the weeds, bugs, and Mother Nature. I am going to miss the sights, sounds, and smells of the garden. The beauty one can find in everything that grows, from the smallest seed to the largest plant it can produce. Watching every plant grow to maturity and being able to harvest the crop of that plant.

How about the sight of a bee buzzing around and pollinating the crops that we plant? The sound of the buzz of that bee. The sound of the wind blowing thru the dry corn stalks of the popcorn, Indian corn, or broom corn. Sometimes if you listen close enough it’s as if the wind is telling you something. I love working in the garden until dusk and listening to the birds calling their mates back to the nest. The strongest sense that I will miss about the garden is the smell. There is nothing like the scent of the freshly turned earth ready to plant, the smell of the rain that is approaching to quench the thirst of that soil. The smell I love the most, is when the van is fully loaded for market and I hop in to take off and the aroma of the freshly cut sage, rosemary, thyme, cilantro, dill, and basil starts to drift around. The smell of dill lingers for a few months in the van.

Then the smell of the onions, garlic, washed cucumbers starts to mix in with the other odors. And if your really lucky and grow fruit, you get the lovely aroma of fresh grapes, peaches, cantaloupes, raspberries, mulberries, and even watermelons fill the air. Smelling that and heading to market gives me a sense of pride, accomplishment, and joy.

Wow, I am going to miss getting ready for market, when does the next season start? That would be May 5, 2017, 5-7 p.m. on the courthouse square in downtown Toledo Iowa.

See you at market.