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February 4 Market Newsletter
Valentine’s Day Market Edition
Flowers, candy, red hearts and romance. That’s what Valentine’s day is all about, right? Well, maybe not.
The most popular legend is that St. Valentine was a priest who served during third century Rome. During that time, there was an Emperor who ruled Rome named Claudius II. Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those that were married and outlawed marriage for all young men serving in his army. Supposedly, Valentine, decided this decree just wasn’t fair and chose to marry young couples secretly. When Emperor Claudius II found out about Valentine’s actions he had him impisoned, and later put to death. Some stories say that the young couples, who Valentine had married, gave flowers and letters to Valentine when they visited him in the prison.
In a slightly different version of the legend, Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in love with his jailor’s daughter. Before he was put to death he sent the first ‘valentine’ to his love when he wrote her a letter and signed it ‘Your Valentine’. These words are still used on cards today.
Another famous person from Valentine’s Day that you may be wondering about is Cupid (Latin cupido, “desire”). In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Eros, god of love. Cupid is often said to be a mischievous boy who goes around wounding both gods and humans with his arrows, causing them to fall in love.
Perhaps we’ll never know the true identity and story behind the man named St. Valentine, but this much is for sure…February has been the month to celebrate love for a long time, dating way back to the Middle Ages. In fact, Valentine’s Day ranks second only to Christmas in number of greeting cards sent.
Sweet Happenings at Market at Dothan.
Just when you thought things were starting to settle down a bit here we come with another change . . . we’re MOVING! Not too much anyway. JD at the Nursery tells me that our (Dothan) pickup will be moved to a different part of the Nursery property by March 1. That’s all you get for now because even he’s not exactly sure it will be, but we know it will be good. Stay tuned!
CASABLANCA RANCH. Our hearts are heavy with the passing of Mrs. Anderson of Casablanca Ranch. Please show your support of this fine family farm providing Locally Grown Hormone Free Santa Gertrudis Beef.
D’S JELLIES – D’s Mayhaw Jelly, Hot Pepper Jelly, and BlackBerry Jelly are good year round.
GINTHER FARMS Fresh UNFERTILIZED eggs from young chickens. Perfect for Deviled Eggs.
HORTON’S FARM Selected products available this week. Viki Richter will be managing Market Orders this week while Ros teaches at the Alabama Master Beekeeper Symposium.
KATHY’S CHURPERS Always the finest in fresh local eggs.
MARY’S PEEPS HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE! Here at Mary Peeps we are going to be hard at work making some special goodies for you!
I am going to be offering some specialty Valentine treats, cake in jars, muffins in jars, cake rolls chocolate, and vanilla and a peanut-butter cake roll. There will be several 2 person layer cakes for that special day. individual cup cakes wrapped with fancy wrappings, all for Valentines day. I will use rasberries, strawberries, and cherries, and a few chocolates, hand made. I will also offer Brownies with frosting layers, yumm, already getting hungry. Will offer still the divinity, maybe some pink would be nice. Anyway check out my new specialties for our Valentine surprise. I appreciate everyone bringing and recycling, that is such a blessing and thank you for ordering. Mary Peeps, Mary Dale Peeples
RICHTER FARMS: Red Wattle Pork Products raised in rural Henry County. Red Wattle is an old heritage breed producing high quality, highly sought after pork products.
SANDSPUR FARMS “We’re breaking out the melting pot! We will have chocolate covered pretzels and candy coated apples. All decorated for Valentine’s Day. And for a special dinner for you and/or your sweetheart, we will have our country style ribs on sale too. A country style rib is usually a boneless cut of meat. Some may have a small bone due to being from the juicy boston butt. Another treat in case you have not yet tried is our pimento cheese. It can be a spread on sandwich or grilled cheese or if you want, I can shape it into a cheese ball. I’ll have a sample to leave at Dothan during pick up. Thank you for your orders!"
SANDY VALLEY We are still recovering from January’s freezing temperatures and will have a greater variety of vegetables in a few weeks. Please enjoy the high quality Kale we currently have available.
SMITH FARMS – Ground Lamb and Dexter Beef
AVALON FARMS My chickens say it’s Spring and are ramping up egg production. I’ll be offering some for sell this week. These chickens are pasture raised. They don’t even know what a cage is.
Sugar Snap Peas are up! Beets are just cracking the ground. We’ll have Detroit Golden, Chioggia and Kestrel Beets in 50 days. (God willing.) My homemade grow table for transplants is working! Excited to have 8 different fancy little tomatoes, ground cherries, 3 kinds of eggplant, kohlrabi, kale and cabbage transplants growing well. These will go in the ground starting in a few weeks.
Holiday Inspiration Series
Most holidays we dedicate a Market Newsletter to healthy holiday foods. If you have anything special your family enjoys we’d love to know about it! While we realize that many of the fruits pictured below are anything but SEASONAL, they are much better for you than most traditional Valentines desserts.
Footnotes
Our Website: marketatdothan.locallygrown.net
Our Email: marketatdothan@gmail.com
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/MarketatDothan
For Friday Pickup: Dothan Nurseries, 1300 Montgomery Highway, Dothan, AL 36303
We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible!