Fall Farmers Markets

Farmers markets change throughout the year. As the Mid-South’s seasons change from the often oppressive hot and humid summer to a cool and crisp fall, area farmers converge on parking lots and convert them into tent-covered markets. Farmers markets attract large crowds of citizens browsing fresh fruit, vegetables, baked goods, canned foods, jams, jellies, nuts, mushrooms, fresh meats, cheeses, eggs, locally roasted coffees, potted plants, cut flowers, and handmade items. Peace bee farm sells honey and bee hive products at farmers markets. The markets provide a variety of goods not often found in a single location. For many, the freshness and quality of items produced on local farms makes farmers markets attractive. Fresh fruit and vegetables are usually harvested the afternoon before the market. Farmers often bring to market produce varieties that are not regularly found in grocery stores. Cool season greens are in abundance at the farmers market. At this week’s market, I counted a dozen varieties of greens and eight varieties of lettuce being offered. In today’s photo, Hattie displays the proper way to wear Yukina Savoy, an Asian green, while her mother, Lori, sells beets, turnips, onions, radishes, sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes, peppers, cabbage, bok choy, mustard, Swiss chard, lettuce, and mixed greens from Downing Hollow Farms.

Memphis’ Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market, http://www.cycfarmersmarket.org/, invites area farmers to bring their produce; and they also provide a place for urban farms and non-profit groups to sell produce grown on vacant city lots and goods produced by groups like the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis. The club’s young culinary students prepare local sweet potato pecan cheesecake, pumpkin ginger walnut cheesecake, red velvet cookies, and pumpkin cookies. The market uses grants to help double the spending power for citizens eligible to participate in nutritional assistance programs. We look forward to the interaction between farmers and the public all year long. The public notices the market’s seasonal change from tomatoes and sweet corn to greens and sweet potatoes.

--Richard

Moscow, Idaho Farmers Market

The honey bee is our most important crop pollinator. The honey bee accomplishes about 85 percent of the pollination of our flowering plants. The remaining 15 percent of the work is done by many species of native bees, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats, and various other insects. In the absence of these pollinators, humans can move grains of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of a similar flower on another plant. Bees pollinate about 90 of our food crops, one third of our diet. If pollination is not accomplished, there is no fruit or seed produced. However, this is usually not the case in nature. Even where there is a shortage of bees, some flowers are visited. The result of insufficient numbers of bee visits is often seen in misshapen fruit. Cucumbers, watermelons, and pumpkins only fill out in nice, plump shapes when the flowers are visited by plenty of bees.

Rita and I made a visit to the state of Washington to see Wes. The three of us visited the farmers market at Moscow, Idaho. Like farmers markets across the country, the Moscow market was quite popular on a Saturday morning. People gathered to buy fresh farm produce, meet the farmers, and enjoy a sense of community with friends. We found beautiful, fully developed fruit and vegetables from the rich farmland of Washington and Idaho. There were colorful and fragrant apples, pears, and plums as well as bright pumpkins, tomatoes, squash, gourds, and peppers. At the market, we visited with some Washington beekeepers who have a family farm that transports bees for pollination service from California through Oregon and Washington. After trucking their bees for pollination, they bring them home to strengthen the hives on fields of canola. We purchased some of their light and mild knapweed, or star thistle, honey. We also bought some of their buckwheat honey, black and strong with an aftertaste, a honey enjoyed by only a select few.

--Richard

Summertime Activity

It’s a hot summer, and the honey bees are working tirelessly. The bees collect nectar anytime that it is available. The bees brought large amounts of nectar to the hives, and now they are curing the honey. The honey-producing process began with the nectar being mixed with enzymes produced by the honey bees. The enzymes start the process called inversion, the chemical change of the nectar sugars which become honey. In the hive, worker bees continue the chemical change by continuing to mix in enzymes and evaporating the honey. The workers blow bubbles in the honey and stretch it with their mouth parts. They fan their wings across the honey to evaporate water. Once the sugars in the honey have been inverted and the moisture reduced to 18 percent, the honey is said to be cured. The bees cover the cells storing honey with a capping of freshly secreted beeswax. Elsewhere, the transfer of honey bees from the walls of the building to Langstroth bee hives continues with the hive populations growing. A swarm moved into one of the bait hives that I placed in a honey production bee yard. Bee yards seem to have a considerable amount of pheromones present, and they tend to draw swarming colonies of bees. Since swarming honey bees are physically ready to build honeycomb, they can draw out the frames rapidly. The swarm quickly filled two medium-depth hive bodies with comb and then filled it with brood.

Farmers markets are social gathering places for the public and farmers. In the photo, three warm friends share a hot summer day at the Memphis Farmers Market. From left to right they are Karen Tims of Tims’ Family Farm of Ripley, Tennessee, Rita Underhill of Peace Bee Farm, and Carolyn Dodson King of Dodson Farms in Forrest City, Arkansas. Collectively, they brought to market Tennessee peas, beans, cantaloupes, and famous Ripley tomatoes, Arkansas Delta honey, and Arkansas sweet potatoes, squash, okra, and hand-made jams, jellies, and aprons.

--Richard

Cold Weather Markets

Farmers markets are popular social meeting places. People gather not only for the fresh food, but also for renewing friendships. Most of the regular markets have closed for the year, but there are a number of seasonal markets throughout the month of December. Many of these markets bring in artists with a wide variety of creative products. Peace Bee Farm is participating in a number of these markets, selling our honey and bee hive products. Honey sells exceptionally well on cold days. Folks think of enjoying honey on hot buttered biscuits or pancakes. A cup of hot tea with honey and lemon first warms the hands and then the entire body. People purchase 100 percent beeswax candles and beeswax soaps, hand creams, body balms, and lip glosses either for themselves or as gifts for friends.

We ran into many of our friends at the Memphis Farmers Market’s one-day December market day. Large numbers of people passed among the booths of farmers and artisans. They were eagerly purchasing the cool-weather produce, which included a number of varieties of greens, turnips, and potatoes. Jams, jellies, and preserves were popular items as were many baked goods: pies, cakes, and breads of every description. I photographed Rita and Jill Forrester of Whitton Flowers and Produce on the frosty morning at the outdoor farmers market. That’s Jill wearing the blue and green knit hat. Peace Bee Farm maintains a bee yard at Whitton, Arkansas at Jill and Keith Forrester’s Whitton Farms. Our bees pollinate the Forrester’s crops and produce cotton, soybean, and wildflower honey from surrounding fields. You can visit their web site at http://whittonfarms.com/. Meanwhile, bee yard activity is reduced to a walk around inspection of the bee hives in cold weather, mainly checking that hive covers, weighted down by bricks, are in place. Hive entrances are reduced to a very small opening. It’s best to not open the hive and chill the bees when the temperature is below 50 degrees.
--Richard

October Festivals

October is the time of the year that people celebrate the harvest, and fall festivals are being conducted in many communities. Farmers markets are winding down for the season as summer time crops stop producing. The favorite summer vegetables are becoming harder to find. The fruits of the gourd family are plentiful now. Local growers are bringing decorative gourds, yellow squash, butternut squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins to the farmers markets. The gourds are dependent upon insects for pollination. Without pollination no fruit or seed is produced. With honey bees and native pollinators declining in numbers, growers in some areas have experienced diminished yields and misshapen fruit.

There has been plenty of activity at Peace Bee Farm. Saturday found Tod and Wes selling honey and bee hive products at the Memphis Farmers Market. Christina and Rita were selling our products at the Crawfordsville, Arkansas Fall Festival. The festival brings quite a number of people to this town with a population of 606. Grandson, Ethan, was helping me extract Delta cotton honey in the honey house when we got a call from Rita saying they needed more honey and warm clothes on this chilly fall day. In the photo, Ethan carries a duffel bag full of sweat shirts to our family and our friends manning adjacent booths at Crawfordsville. The cool weather with plenty of rain is producing a good stand of purple top turnips here at Peace Farm. We will enjoy the greens and turnips throughout the fall and winter, and then we will let the plants bloom and produce seed in the spring while feeding our bees. Turnips are in the important bee plant family, the mustards. I think these cool days call for some cotton honey over some hot, buttered sourdough pancakes. I still have some McCarter’s coffee with chicory to go with this tasty meal. The ground chicory root comes from another important bee plant family, the composites. Thank you, honey bees.
--Richard

Hometown Crawfordsville Farmers Market

Crawfordsville, Arkansas, population 606, now has a farmers market on Main Street. The community organization, Hometown Crawfordsville, planned the market as part of their revitalization program. Crawfordsville, like many town across the Arkansas Delta, has been in economic decline for several decades as a result of changes in agricultural practices. The towns have seen both a loss of local commerce as well as a loss of population. The farmers market is designed to be an outlet for local farmers to sell their goods. It also provides the citizens with wholesome foods, social interactions, and educational opportunities. This farmers market, the first such market in the Crittenden County, follows two successful fall festivals held by Hometown Crawfordsville.

The farmers market offers fruits and vegetables which are often fresher than those available in grocery stores. The growers also like to bring in a great variety of produce. Pictured are Karen Tims and her daughter, Nicole, from Tims Family Farm of Ripley, Tennessee. They are holding purple cauliflower that Robert and Karen Tims grew and brought to market. Other vendors at the market bring in prepared foods like jams and jellies, baked goods like cakes, pies, and breads. Peace Bee Farm takes honey and products made from the bee hive to the market. Artisans produce products from wood, pottery, and metal for the market. The farmers market is being well received. Everyone is waiting for those famous Ripley tomatoes to come in. It’s great to see a town attract a crowd larger than its population for a farmers market.
--Richard

Hometown Crawfordsville

Crawfordsville, Arkansas, population 606, is starting a farmers market. Farmers markets are being created in great numbers across the country. The renewed interest in these markets is fueled by a number of factors. For many there is a new awareness in the origin and safety of our food. Many want to try to find foods that are produced locally. They feel like they can find locally grown food that is fresher and more flavorful. Food safety is a concern for others. Many like to follow the Forresters’ Whitton Farms motto, “If you know your farmer, you know your food.” The farmers markets are providing an outlet for local farmers to sell their product. This helps the farmers as well as the local area’s economy. Perhaps the thing that most attracts folks to farmers markets is the social atmosphere that they provide. For many, a visit to the local farmers market is an opportunity to visit with friends on a regular basis.

This farmers market is being organized by a group called Hometown Crawfordsville. They are devoted to bringing about economic revitalization to their town. Crawfordsville, like so many agriculturally-based communities in the Arkansas delta, has slowly declined over recent years. Peace Bee Farm sells much of its honey and bee hive products at farmers markets. Here, Rita and Tod Underhill survey the site of the Hometown Crawfordsville farmers market on Main Street.
--Richard