MARKET CHITCHAT

We’re keeping things brief this week due to this thing called “life”. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to send out a newsletter at 5pm every Saturday and whether the “send” command comes from a laptop or an android, an office or in the middle of nowhere, the information you receive has to be compiled, formatted and coded so it can happen.

So “life” . . . . many of you know about an emergency surgery that took place late last week. Things like that do throw you off! We appreciate your kind understanding, the sweet prayers and look forward to getting back to our crazy cool kind of Market normal.

BEAR WITH US! We still have lots of great vegetables listed despite being in that dreaded summer slump between plantings. Late summer is hard on a lot of crops because the heat and humidity foster all sorts of plant problems, whether “blight” like an uncle calls it, or a host of flies and bugs that want to chomp on tasty plants before the nights start cooling off.

GROWER NOTES

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

GRIER ACRES: Greetings everyone from Grier Acres!  

We are so busy here with our full time jobs and working on the farm.   Our pear tree pictured below has a wonderful harvest for us this year.  Jeannie did an excellent salad with the pears last Sunday.  She shared a photo on the website to you all.  We are going to try doing a spicy relish with the misfits that we can’t sell. 

We have several squirrels tearing up our pears.  We wouldn’t mind sharing but they just take one bite and move to another.  SO RUDE.  These squirrels may need to be encouraged to move on if you get my drift.  Our Cammie cat used to control these things but these days she likes to stay inside with the AC  get loopy on her catnip and watch Tiger King.  She says that she’s taking this Covid quarantine thing to heart.  Seriously, she got spooked by our Livestock Guard Dog and doesn’t want to go outside.  We are in the process of acclimating her to the outdoors again.  

Our okra has taken off and we have both varieties: clemson and emerald.   We have 800 feet of okra planted and we’re picking 12 – 15 pounds every other day.  Man that’s a lot of okra.  Clemson is excellent for cooking but Emerald is great for pickling.  We have the garlic organically grown and may have the peppers to add for pickling.  :)  Will try and attach recipe on newsletter as well as on the discussion page.   Peppers and tomatoes as well as eggplant is doing great.  Once again we have a bountiful harvest of yellow pear and salad tomatoes.  My frugal Jeannie takes the misfits and just tosses in with canned or frozen tomatoes and makes okra and tomatoes.  She even freezes this for late nights…the okra stews down and is very filling or you can add to another soup to get more vitamins and fiber.  

We have also planted a gourd garden this year with all kinds of watermelons, cantaloupes, and pumpkins.  We have one plant that comes back that grew in our personal bean crop.  Will be sure to let you know when those mature.  They seem to be a beneficial with the beans as they growing prolifically and the watermelon seems to choke out weeds as well.  Jeannie is just afraid of snakes being in there.  

Our garden area is located across the road from our house site and therefore we do not have well water over there.  It would cost a fortune to dig a well and run power out there (we were quoted $7,500 on the well and $1,200 for power) .  So a few years back I built a ram pump to get water up to the garden area from the creek.  The water is stored in 3 275 gallon totes and we manually watered the garden with buckets.  This year we added a drip irrigation system that is powered by a solar panel.  Once I have the videos edited, I’ll post them to our Youtube Channel.  

DANNY’S GREENS:

We’re sharing this photo from yesterday just because it’s so beautiful. In the left back you can see the shade covers that makes it possible for Danny to grow high quality lettuce in this heat, and in the right back his work and storage building. Everything else is eye candy. There are places where the zinnias are taller than people! The white blooms in the left foreground are buckwheat. The marigolds in the right foreground repel many bad bugs. All of the flowers attract pollinators and when their job is finished they contribute to the compost that makes Danny’s soil rich and fertile with no need of anything artifical.

FOOTNOTES

We would love to hear from you! If you have a favorite recipe, want to write a product review, have an idea or request for an article or information, let us know! You can reply to this newsletter or write marketatdothan@gmail.com.

Our COVID protocol is still in place for everyone who wants curbside service.

I. Order Payment:
1. Voluntarily prepay by 6 pm Thursday if possible using this PAYPAL link. This eliminates passing paper currency back and forth or handling debit/credit cards on site. Your invoice will be marked PAID and pickup is fast and easy. In the event of undelivered items you will be issued a Market credit that will apply to your next order.
2. Debit/Credit – One of us will briefly step within 6 feet for you to put your card in the chip reader. We do our best to avoid touching your card or you touching the equipment which means we sign an “x” for your signature.
3. Cash and Checks – You may hand them to us. Exact change is preferred if using cash to prevent a lot of passing back and forth. If you choose curbside pickup you are welcome to put payment in your trunk/tailgate as that would eliminate the need to come near your window.

II. Order Delivery:
1. Curb Service: Please pull up next to the Market Shed. We will direct traffic a little bit if needed. Have your trunk/ hatchback open and we’ll load you up!
2. Walk Up Pickup: Please do not come inside. When we see you coming we’ll put your order near the entrance and step back for you to claim it. This system works really well for those of you wishing to get extra veggies that may be available.
3. Regardless of how you choose to accept your Market order please know that we make every effort to practice safe distancing and ask that you do the same.

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!