THE ECONOMICS OF BUYING LOCAL

“At its core, the study found that a dollar spent buying directly from a farmer has about twice the impact on the local economy as spending a dollar on food that goes through a middleman—a supermarket, for example. There are all kinds of reasons for that: Farmers who sell directly to consumers tend to buy more supplies locally, which can benefit seed and equipment sellers in the area; and they also tend to hire more local labor, which in turn benefits in the community.”

MARKET CHITCHAT

As you can see from our top section a lot of things have been going on behind the scenes at Market at Dothan. That’s just the “business” side of getting the freshest and healthiest produce in the Wiregrass from the farm to your table. Let me encourage you to read our Grower Notes too as that reveals what happens on our farms during the week. Many weeks are rather routine, but some, like the extraordinary week Mayim had last week, are for the history books. Congrats Greg!

New Products

• Organic Winter Greens from Hawkins Homestead
• Organic Curly Kale from Bain Home Gardens
• Fresh Picked Stinging Nettle from Hortons Farm
• Mary’s 6” Taster Cakes in several flavors
• Spring Onion Tops, both chopped and plain from Bain & Hawkins
• Cucumber Lime Pickles in 2 sizes from Mayim Farms
• Hand Crocheted Cotton Trivet

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hello Marketeers!
    How are you all? We are thrilled to report we finally have peas! These blue shelling peas are a joy just to watch. Eating them is an added benefit! Look for them on the market soon!

This week we had the pleasure of setting out three varieties of okra and two types of sunflowers. It is our hope that the big beautiful flowers will work well together to distract the aphids from our cucumber & squash plants, while we get to admire the beauty of it all!

Many of our friends have been gardening for years and as we listen, all express that spring has been unusually cool! The irony.  Year after year I have had much to say about how quickly we jump from spring to summer. This year, the ONE year we go ALL in … ugh! I will remain silent. We are learning that this type of unpredictability is a large part of growing our own food. We are adjusting & personally we enjoy the cooler nights, even if our peppers and tomatoes do not. Hmm, I smell a bonfire cooking up.

Sending 48 more days of spring – from our family to yours!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: Hello Market Friends! All this hot weather has our arugula going to seed, so it’s the last call on it along with mustard and collard greens. We are now focusing on warmer weather plants like tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, various pea varieties, cucumbers, and melons.

With all the growing we’re doing here, I’d like to talk to you about organization. If you’re interested in gardening, you can’t do it without organization. Keeping records of your successes and failures, charting weather patterns, crop rotation, knowing when the first and last frost dates are, along with knowing what plants to plant in what season, and how long they need to mature…..should I go on? Really gardening is an amazing way to put you in control of what you eat and it allows you to see creation firsthand, but it’s also hard work. It involves science, nature, prayer (for us), and organization!

We don’t have acres and acres of land, but on what we do have we plan, prepare, and try to use every space we can to keep our soil and animals healthy. Having a large space isn’t required for gardening. Only the want and the willingness to do so in an organized manner. You can even start a container garden! Make a plan, grab a couple of pots, some good soil or compost if you can get it, and go!

There are several different gardens going here year round. From raised beds, to an herb shelf, with some bigger gardens in the middle we stay busy!  We would never be able to keep up with it all without being organized. So if you’re looking to grow something this year, do some research, grab a notebook, and be organized.

HORTON’S FARM: Many of you know that we are undergoing renovations that were forced upon us by flood damage in 2017. I’m happy to report that progress is ongoing albeit slow. Much of it does not affect day to day operations (aside from taking up time!) and other things are small happy victories. One recent victory was getting three hives and their stand moved from the front yard. There are three more to do and then we’ll start moving the hives located around the county. Another happy dance event was reclaiming my candle station. For several years I’ve utilized a tall “road kill” cabinet for this operation. It’s got “just right” storage underneath, is sturdy enough that it can’t be knocked over and tall enough that critters and kiddos can’t get into my melting pots or curing candles. What this means for our market customers is that our candle inventory will slowly increase as I process more of the cappings I’ve held in storage.

MAYIM FARM: It was a big week at the farm…as you know it is our highest priority to do no harm to any of the workings of nature. These workings are the key and our focus here at Mayim Farm. By observation, we are learning these systems that are at work in our soil and on our farm and learning how to work within them. We don’t fight nature, we work within her rules and regulations decreed by our Creator!

We believe that the key to our and your health is in our soil!

Think about that for a moment…the processes going on in our soil are the same processes that are at work inside our bodies. Did you know you have more non-human DNA in your body than human?
Those microbes that make our veggies grow without any mammal animal manures are the cousins of the microbes that are crucial in your digestion of your food, your probiotics and prebiotics.
So when you eat a leaf, a fruit, a root, a medicinal plant from Mayim Farm you become part of the farm and we become part of you and your family. A great responsibility we do not take lightly.

We received a visit from Dr A. from Auburn to help us with our pest exclusion system on our tunnel house. We will be participating in the Integrated Pest Management Program at Auburn in 2018+.
This is a program that uses no chemicals and physical barriers to exclude unwanted insects in our tunnel house. This will be a tremendous asset to the farm and to your family.
You are important to us!
We strive to be a good steward of the trust every client who has partaken in our bounty here.
Peace, love and Fungi!
Greg and Carole

MARKET CHITCHAT

Thanks everyone for your patience and understanding with this newsletter going out a few hours late! Our family had an unexpected turn of events today that prevented it from going out on time and the one you received earlier was an emergency contingency notification (fancy words for slapping something together to get by!). Market opened on schedule, but all the wonderful info and photos from our growers was not accessible to complete the transcript at 5pm. This market manager feels privileged to see this great info first and I hope you think it is worth the wait as I do.

Congratulations Susan Avello! If you get a chance to pick up The Local magazine, they have done a very nice story about Dothan’s own Lean Bean Chef. We encourage you to follow her on Facebook as she makes some pretty impressive dishes with Market at Dothan products.

Viki Richter sends love and a thank you for all the kind wishes and prayer for her family during this difficult time.

Bee Barf. That’s what kids sometimes call Honey. While technically it might be considered a correct description, it’s actually the precise reason honey is so amazing! This is one of the things we’ll talk about at our next Healthy Lifestyle Class on April 21. The topic is More than Food: Honey and Health. Hope to see you there!

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

AVALON FARMS: I’ve mentioned before how much planning goes into a market garden. This year one of my main goals is to execute the plan more reliably. To that end, the schedule said Saturday, 4/8, was the next planting of squash and green beans. Weather forecast was for rain overnight Friday and into Saturday. With the amount of rain forecast I won’t be able to work the soil for 3 or 4 days and more rain possible in 5 days. (Are you seeing the problem here?) So yesterday after assorted market deliveries and errands I planted 5 rows of squash.

Speaking of scheduling, with those 5 rows of squash I am out of planting space. I need to till up some cover crops in order to make space. I’ve been watching for pea blooms in my cover crops in garden 3 and 5.  Finally they are starting to bloom. This means they have basically fixed all the nitrogen they are going to and I can till them in. By using nitrogen fixing cover crops along with wheat I not only get biomass/green manure I get more nitrogen in the soil than I started with. Which is awesome because nitrogen is the primary element required for plant growth. The scheduling part comes into play because I am basically out of space until I get these gardens tilled and the plant residue has time to break down. Mowing and tilling will commence as soon as it’s dry enough.

Here’s to doing better and providing more sustainable, local, synthetic free, but above all that, TASTY produce. (Cause what’s the point if it doesn’t taste good!?)

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hello Marketeers!
   We have had a busy week! We are sure you have too! This is EXACTLY what we signed up for! We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support! It’s meticulous hard work but you make it all worth the while!
    This week we are featuring a few pictures from the garden of a loyal market member. Her family is experimenting with Hugelkultur and quite successfully we might add.

Those who farm and garden are likely familiar with Hugelkultur. For those who are not, Hugelkultur is defined by wikipedia as " a composting process employing raised beds constructed from decaying wood debris and other compostable biomass plant materials. The process helps to improve soil fertility, water retention, and soil warming, thus benefiting plants grown on or near such mounds." Mouthful? Let us simplify. Ever hike through the woods and find a random fruit tree loaded down with fruit? It’s due to the leaves & wood which have collected on the ground & down in the soil giving nutrients – LIFE – to the ground which then nurtures the fruit tree. Better? It can be a chore to set up but once you overcome that hurdle things become way easier!
    Keep up the hard work Marketeers!
(I should coin that.) Keep learning and sharing as we work to do the same! From our family to yours!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: Hello Market friends! We have to tell you that we very much needed that break, but we’re so glad to be back on the Market this week. We have spent the last few days out in the garden and with the chickens enjoying the peace that growing food and raising animals brings. We are pleased to tell you that our basil went into its final home! We posted a video on our Facebook page. So lots of basil coming soon!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of visiting some of our local farmers. We took a ride out to Slocomb and visited with Rinske at Working Cows Dairy Farm. We miss seeing her and her products on the Market, but we understand why she had to leave. So since we love her chocolate milk and grassfed beef we had to go get some. Supporting farmers on their farms means they get to keep all the money they make. We know firsthand that it’s very important for the farmer to not have added expenses. Speaking of supporting local farmers, we also visited Gaucho Farms and met Suzanne. She gave us a nice tour and we enjoyed getting the chance to know her better. We even picked up a few of her heirloom plants for our family garden, fresh strawberries, and hubby got himself some steaks. We hope you guys saw Susan Avello’s article on the Market Discussion Page. It was a great read!

This week we have NEW offerings of Spring onion tops that are cleaned, chopped and ready to add to your favorite meal along with rutabagas that just came up, and some tasty mustard greens. Our mustard duo includes mustards grown from organic seed by Bain Home Gardens! In addition we have kale, arugula, sprouts, our custom salad mix, plus our moisturizers, and oils. Oh and I can’t forget about eggs, but now that Spring has hit, there are eggs all over the Market! Hope you guys enjoy.

MARY’S PEEPS I am offering a new product, 6” bundt tasting cakes in three fresh flavors: orange, peach and pineapple for $6 each. They will be lightly glazed and big enough for you to decide if you like it well enough to order a larger size. I am looking forward to learning what everyone likes. Thank you for your support. Mary’s Peeps.

MARKET COBB SALAD

The Cobb salad is a main-dish American garden salad typically made with chopped salad greens (iceberg lettuce, watercress, endives and romaine lettuce), tomato, crisp bacon, boiled, grilled or roasted (but not fried) chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, Roquefort cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette. You just can’t beat if for a light yet satisfying meal and many restaurants have their own version of this classic. Give it a try, and if you think your version is better than the original we bet others would too! We’re all about sharing good recipes here and would love to know about yours!

MARKET CHITCHAT

Goodbye March, Hello April!

Our next HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CLASS is in three weeks! This month’s topic is More than Food: Honey and Health. This class will be taught by and Alabama Master Beekeeper who has been utilizing hive products for health and medicinal us for years. We hope you’ll put it on your spring calendar and learn more reasons why it’s so important to save the bees. Mark your calendar for April 21 at 10 am.

Market at Dothan doesn’t normally advertise for other stores, but we are all about sharing . . . so here goes! One of our market friends found a great deal on bulk Organic Black Beans at Ollies of all places yesterday! A pack of eight 14 oz cans was $4.99.

Lastly, Richter Farms is taking an indefinite leave of absence due to an urgent family need. They covet your prayers and understanding during this difficult time.

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

AVALON FARMS: New in the market: Asparagus is back!!! It is hard to estimate how much I’ll harvest because the new growth is all underground. Can’t wait till the 3 new rows are old enough to harvest.

What I did the last 2 weeks: (Farm Fit. Better than crossfit!)

Planted all the transplants. (Lower body workout) 150 tomato plants consisting of slicers, paste, and assorted cherry tomatoes. 40 pepper plants: jalapeno, mariachi, Italian sweet and sweet lunch box. 18 japanese eggplant (Wanted more but that’s how it goes sometimes when you grow your own transplants. Bummer)

Planted lots of seeds: 2 kinds of crookneck squash, zephyrs, yellow patty pan and a new french patty pan that sounds delicious. 2 rows of green beans. Only 1 row of cucumbers. You get a lot of little picklers off a single 80 ft row.

Installed tposts for trellis on 3 rows of sugar snap peas. (Upper body workout)

Drug driptape out on all these rows of new things and set-up irrigation. (Cardio)

Assorted weeding. A job that never ends. (Meditation)(Actually a lot of meditation and prayer goes on throughout the whole process.)

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hello Market Buddies!
    As we stretch and yawn from our week long stay-cation we have one wish…THAT IT WAS LONGER! That being said we didn’t REALLY rest. No, no – there is too much to do in the garden. Admittedly, we love getting our hands dirty! We come back bearing new things for you to try out! Our salad mix has been adjusted just a bit for more color and flavor! We are also introducing our Kale Trio Bundle. Kale is so awesome, why be limited to just one?
    Over the last year we have learned much in our endeavors to be more self sufficient by growing our own produce. We have tapped into all kinds of resources. The internet is FILLED with helpful information. Some things however, need a more analog approach. Listening. Simply listening. We have been doing more of that lately; listening to sage gardeners & tapping into the wealth of knowledge they have from pure experience! This week I’d like to share some photos from the garden of a dear friend.  He has been gardening for as long as he can remember and each year his garden tends to expand. To feed his family? No. He loves it & he loves to give. That is just who he is. At his invitation, we visited his garden a few weeks ago & were purely amazed at how beautifully everything glistened in the evening sun. Thanks Uncle Reg – we appreciate all you do!

MARKET CHITCHAT

THE WEATHER! It is glorious today even with the wind. This week is somewhat of a transitional period for Market at Dothan as we’re almost out of winter and into actual spring foods. Mayim has announced they’re almost out of winter vegetables. Several of our growers are taking a taking a well deserved break this week this week and soon we’ll see berries and more summer type vegetables listed. Till then, we hope you’re enjoying this time of year to the fullest!

It’s also a sad week for Market At Dothan. Working Cows Dairy will no longer offer their products through the website. This has been a long, hard, and COURAGEOUS decision for them. We hope all of you will continue to support them whenever/wherever you get the opportunity as you just can’t get better dairy products anywhere. And if you have the opportunity, visit them at the farm in Slocomb where they have products available to the public 24/7. If you’re lucky you might just run into Rinske and be able to see part of the farm operation.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for our next Healthy Lifestyle Class at 10 am on April 21st. Our topic will be More than Food: Honey and Health. We’ll explore the chemical composition of honey which gets into why is is so good for the human body both internally and externally. Hope to see you then!

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

AVALON FARMS: This time last year we were happily picking and listing lots of asparagus, however the cooler temperatures have discouraged it from coming up as early this year. It is too unpredictable to list with confidence so we are keeping a close watch on our beds in hopes to have some available for tables sales this week.

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hello Market Buddies,
    These beautiful spring days have been improving my whole mood! Bye-bye seasonal affective disorder!
    Speaking of good a mood … our potato raised bed is coming along very nicely. At least we think so. With potatoes being one of the cheapest produce items you can pick up from the grocery store, one may ask, ‘Why bother growing them?’ In a word: PESTICIDES! Root vegetables – potatoes – absorb pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that have been sprayed on top of the soil. The really scary thing is that these chemicals cannot simply be washed off. Vinegar, salt, baking soda – nothing rids it! Pesticides often sink into the most beneficial part of the root! There were 35 pesticide residues found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program! Thirty-five! Among these there were 6 known or probable carcinogens & 7 neurotoxins! Appalling? Yes. THIS IS WHY we do what we do at Bain Home Gardens! Who knows how our potato adventure will end, at least we gave it a try and will keep doing so till we get it right! Follow our adventure on our Facebook page.

The Bain Family is taking a spring break staycation. We are off market this week, but will be back the 31st! From our family to yours – now go grow some taters!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: If you’re looking for us on the Market this week, I’m sorry, but you won’t find us. We are taking the week off to enjoy and celebrate our wedding anniversary. Brandon and I both work full time jobs in addition to running our small urban farm. So with raising a family and everything else that life throws at us, we’re extremely (understatement) busy! Still we feel it’s important to just take a minute or maybe two and relax. So that’s what we plan to do! Not to worry though, we will be back next week. We hope to have lots of salad greens, eggs, peas, and maybe a few radishes too. Enjoy your week and remember to take a break for yourselves!

MAYIM FARMS: Last call for cut/clean Collards and Mustard this week, making way for more planting. ByeBye winter hello Spring… (editor’s note) If you’ve been following Mayim on Facebook, stay tuned as they have been busy creating a new space on the farm especially for botanical medicinals.)

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CLASS UPDATE

A hearty THANK YOU to everyone who came out to our 3rd Healthy Lifestyle Class this morning at Dothan Nurseries. We know there are a lot of other things people could spend their Saturday mornings doing so it is both humbling and encouraging to have you come out and join us. It truly is our goal to help our community live healthier happier lives!

Today’s class was a treat! Lots of good info was presented, we laughed a lot, and a spinnoff class by the Hawkins is in the works. Plans will be announced when finalized. In the meantime check out our Market Discussion Page for a video of the demonstration and the Hawkin’s website for the recipes that were discussed.

Next month’s class will be taught by Ros Horton and the topic is Honey and Health. We’ll discuss us the composition of raw honey and why it’s best for you; honey with diets and diabetes; correctly cooking with honey, etc. Health benefits of other hive products will be presented as well. Roslyn is an Alabama Master Beekeeper who has managed her own hives in Dale County for 15 plus years and has taught Master Beekeeper Candidates since 2014. The date is Saturday, April 21.

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

AVALON FARMS: Let’s talk dirt. Or rather washing dirt (and other stuff) off of produce. Everything I harvest goes through at least one dunking in water. This removes the dirt and random bits of stuff (cover crop debris, mulch, etc). Squash, cukes, tomatoes, etc really only take a rinse and a check to make sure it all came off. Leafy greens, however, can take several dunkings in 2 or more sinks of water to get them well rinsed. Even so, it is always wise to inspect your produce. Look for foreign bodies (weeds, insects) and of course dirt.

This time of year with the pollen count so high the rinse water has had a definite yellow tinge to it. As you can see in this picture the moisture from dew/rain causes the pollen to stick tightly to the spinach leaves.

Bottom line – you should ALWAYS inspect fresh produce before eating it, especially leafy greens. I once found weeds in a bag of ready to eat spinach from the grocery store. So you never know.

This spring temperatures have been on a rollercoaster. The weather forecast for next week is still showing some cool nights. But these transplants need more space to stretch out. I’ll be putting out 6 kinds of tomatoes, 4 kinds of pepper and 1 eggplant  variety. Over 300 babies going to their “summer homes”.

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hello Market Buddies!
We have been experimenting with different radish varieties  for a while now. Finally we are excited to bring you our “Domino Mix”. Available this week! Check it out!

This week concludes our fight the pollen series. Our final recommendation? Use essential oils to combat allergy symptoms. See allergens, like pollen, tend to make our bodies overreact to invaders by causing inflammation in our nose, throat, and/or lungs. Essential oils prepare us for battle by helping to fight the inflammation! Some studies even show that essential oils have detoxification properties!  Melinda Flynn of Simple Life, has been studying the benefits of essential oils for a while. We tapped into her expertise & have picked up an “Allergy Bomb” mix from her.

I have used it for just one morning so far, since mornings are when my symptoms are the worse, and what a difference! The results were not immediate but within ten minutes improvement was noted! So thrilled I didn’t have to muddle through the morning as usual! I look forward to using more non-pharmaceutical methods such as the ones we have been discussing over the last few weeks this allergy season. Even more so, tapping into food as a source of healing. We hope you can too. Hippocrates said it best, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.”
Till next week, sending well wishes from our family to yours!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: Hey everyone! What a blast we had today teaching our very first class. We learned all about how to stretch your meals off of just one whole chicken. Remember to check out our website for those recipes. They will be up later today. You can find them here: http://hawkinshomesteadfarm.com/category/life/recipies/

Thank you everyone who came out and joined us. We loved all the questions and a special shout out to our volunteer! We appreciate you all.

This week we are offering fresh peas! They have been growing like crazy and we’ve been patiently (there’s that word again) waiting on them to fatten up. Now that they have, we hope you take advantage of them while they’re available. In addition we have a nice salad blend that we created ourselves. It’s full of different romaine varieties, spinach, arugula, and even kale. Who doesn’t like salad? Whatever you choose this week, we’re happy that you’ve chosen The Market at Dothan and Hawkins Homestead Farm to supply your family with healthy and sustainable food. So thank you!

WELCOME 3LC!

This week we’re tickled to welcome 3LC Apiaries to Market at Dothan. 3LC Honey (and I’ve got to ask what that stands for!) is produced by my good friend and “boss” in Wiregrass Beekeepers Association. Steve Loveland has been a fabulous president and and since your Market Manager became treasurer last election he sometimes assigns jobs aimed to improve how our organization serves the community.

So I’m vouching for my competitor! Seriously, Steve has become a great beekeeper in a short time and his honey is truly LOCAL to those who live in the city limits. Bees forage within a 2 mile radius of their hive which means that Dothan bees will feed on more landscaped floral sources than those placed in a field for pollination or feeding on whatever grows wild.

So you get a choice! And we couldn’t be happier. Welcome!

ARE WE ORGANIC OR NOT?

With all the beautiful new produce being listed recently we’ve been questioned about why some is listed as “organic” and others, from equally reputable farmers, is not. The quick answer is simple, and the complete answer is more complex.

So – simple answer first! It has to do with finances. USDA allows small farms that make less than $5000 a year to use the word ‘organic’. The upside of this is that small farms have an advantage. The downside is that there’s no regulation and any small farm can claim ‘organic’ whether they actually are or not. This is why we encourage our consumers to educate themselves to ask the right questions! (See last week’s Weblog Newsletter about Greenwashing.).

IN SEASON

EGGS! We’re so thankful that everyone’s chickens are responding to the longer days and warmer temperatures. Rather than share a bunch of recipes with you this week we thought you may enjoy this excellent article on the health benefits of eating eggs. Just click the link below the photo.

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

AVALON FARMS: After a quick trip to the Huntsville area for a Produce Safety Certification class (more on that later) and of course a shopping trip to Unclaimed Baggage (If you like thrift stores you will love this place! www.unclaimedbaggage.com) we returned home to discover Spring has well and truly sprung.

In the above photos you will notice several spring happenings on the farm. The lovely white blossoms, across the top, are my favorite old sand pear tree blooming its fool head off.

Not so lovely is the fall planted cabbage that these warm temps have coerced into blooming. When things in the cabbage family bloom, it’s a bad thing for eating quality. This is what people are referring to when they say the cabbage “ran up” or “went to seed”. Pretty much it will flower, make seed and die. No bueno for dinner.

Lastly, but cutest, we have new twin baby goats. They were a surprise arrival early Friday morning. It is fun to go out to the pasture and discover new babies!! That puts us up to 15 goats total, 7 babies.

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Since we last blogged there have been many developments. For one, we planted potatoes! This is a first for Bain Home Gardens. We talked with Wendy of Avalon Farms, Vicki of Richter Farms, Kathy of Kathy’s Churpers, & Roslyn of Horton farms. We feel like their sage advice, along with loads of other research, will help us get the bumper crop everyone hopes for!

So are you ready for our next tip to manage allergy symptoms? It is simple but boy is it hard to do. DO NOT RIDE WITH YOUR WINDOWS DOWN! (Gasp!) I know it sounds ridiculously silly, however when you get into your vehicles, you SEE it hanging out on the windshield beckoning to be let in. If yours is like our van, the pollen has already infiltrated & decorated your dash! Yes, the weather may be a perfect 72° & it may be gorgeous out but fight the urge to roll the window down or open the sunroof. The high speeds & wind create a dangerous cocktail! This will mean high exposure for some, especially if you spend much time in your vehicle. Smiling one minute, sneezing the next!  It is a good practice to wipe down dashes and seats regularly with some car wipes. This will further limit prolonged exposure. We hope this tip helps you to stay well this allergy season.
From our family to yours – take care!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: Hello Market Friends! Hoping you guys have enjoyed the weather as much as we have! With that being said though, temperatures are set to drop and we are in store for some cold nights. Do you have plants outside already? Well, there are a few things you can do to protect them. If you have seedling trays, simply bring them in. If something has already been planted in your garden, cover it up by using an old sheet or even a few empty pots you may have laying around the house. By covering it, you are providing the plant and the soil the extra bit of heat that it may need. Just remember to use a large enough pot to cover the plant without damaging it and to remove the pot and the covering in the morning as temperatures rise. March 15th is our official last frost date! That means that all danger of frost has passed and you can begin to set your plants outside. Just remember to “harden” them off first. We shared a great article about this on the Market Discussion Page. See you next week!

FOOD TRENDS

A few months ago I shared a trendy breakfast dish that my trendy daughter made for me. I’m happy to tell you that I am still eating Avocado Toast every week. My jacked up version starts with a seedy piece of toast spread with a bit of coconut oil and topped with a little smoked salmon, an over easy egg that’s a bit runny and avocado slices on top. I eat it thankfully and slowly thinking how they’ll surely serve it in Heaven.

And last week my dear husband brought home more smoked salmon because he knew I’d stretched the last pack as far as it would go. That’s true love folks!

Well . . . there’s a hot new avocado trend. Rather than tell you I’m showing you. This is real. Faces and details have been deleted to protect the couple and all the women who swooned over this. . . and this isn’t the only piece of jewelry stuck in an avocado out there!

MARKET CHITCHAT

Do you ever wish you could go back and find something from a previous newsletter? Actually you can, though you might have do a bit of scrolling. All our newsletters are stored in the weblog section of marketatdothan.com. In a way our weblog is both a resource and a history of Market at Dothan. That being said, if you do find yourself perusing there and find a golden oldie you’d like to see published again, send the publication date to us and we’ll see what we can do.

DON’T FORGET to mark your calendar for March 17 for our next Healthy Lifestyle Class. This time Rachel Hawkins (much nicer than Rachel Ray) is demonstrating an actual kitchen and homesteading skill! EVERYBODY needs to know how to cut up a chicken and nobody is better qualified than Rachel to teach this. You will love this class and you will love Rachel. If you’ve got a young chef who is eager to learn more this is a great opportunity to kick their skills up a notch . . . and you can’t beat the price as all our classes are FREE.

GLORIOUS KALE

It’s still officially winter, and while we’re chomping at the bits waiting for spring vegetables, there’s still plenty to enjoy with the abundance of greens available. We thought we’d explore some nice fresh ways to serve them.

This Spicy Roasted Sweet Potato & Kale Salad features a maple tahini dressing topped with pecans and dried cranberries.



Detox Kale Salad is a great way to reset and re-charge when your body needs it most.  It is packed full of winter vegetables and hearty nutrients and tastes amazing too.


Items from five food groups are in this Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette.


Autumn Kale, Apple & Quinoa Salad also contains all the food groups.

MARKET CHITCHAT

Days like YESTERDAY! Wasn’t it glorious? We were wanting to take down our wind break curtain almost as fast as it went up. With more cold weather ahead that’s not going to happen just yet, but you have to admit the weather was a welcome change.

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to our 2nd Healthy Lifestyle Class this morning. If you missed the announcement last week our next one will be held March 17. Rachel Hawkins will be sharing on how to cut up a chicken. Rachel KNOWS chicken and will be available to answer questions about sustainable and healthy chicken and who knows, we may talk her into sharing some recipes too!

NEW PRODUCT INFO

Every once in a while you bump into something cool and unique and AFFORDABLE. This was the case visiting the workshop of Creative Trivets in Ozark a few weeks ago. I needed a gift for my sister and they had a stack of the oddest little gadgets . . . .

I went home with one for me, one for my sister, and a couple for friends. My husband took over using the one at our house. My sister called raving. My friends were very excited.

I’m not telling what they are but there are four on the website this week. The company has assured me they can make as many as we need. If they’re gone when you order and you want one send us a message and we’ll try to have more available in the near future.

MARKET CHITCHAT

ARE YOU EXCITED! We’ve been a little overwhelmed with the response for Viki Richter’s Seasoning class next week. If you missed the announcement in last week’s newsletter you may find more information on the Market Weblog page. Viki will be sharing about making your own seasoning blends from her years of experience on Saturday, Feb. 17, 10 am in the Nursery Greenhouse. We hope to see you there!

AND . . . you heard it here first, our next Healthy Lifestyle Class will be held March 17, 2018 same time, same place and our presenter will be Rachel Hawkins. Rachel has forgot more about healthy sustainable poultry than most of us will ever know. She will be sharing one of those basic and almost forgotten homesteading skills – how to cut up a chicken. Of course she’ll be available to answer YOUR questions about sustainable and healthy chicken and who knows, we may talk her into sharing some recipes too!

We hope you’ll put it on your calendar and plan to attend. Market at Dothan considers ourselves so blessed to work with the Hawkins family and know you’ll think the same after meeting Rachel.