GROWER & MARKET NOTES

This & That: It was good to get away but it’s good to be back! It was a treat seeing Market regulars and some new faces yesterday and we were especially pleased to hear that the Fall Festival at Dothan Nurseries went so well in our absence. A hearty Thank You to our own
Dianne Herring who saw to organization and to all the vendors who participated and helped each other out.

On that note now would be a good time to announce some upcoming things:

1. First of all:

Our Thanksgiving week order cycle will run from Saturday Nov. 20 to Monday, Nov. 22. Pickup will be Wednesday, Nov 24, the day before Thanksgiving. This schedule was set so that those who have ordered fresh turkeys from Grows in Rows can pick them up, fresh and unfrozen, within 24 hours of butchering. You just can’t get fresher than that!

That being said, if you placed a deposit on one of Kathy’s turkeys, that’s the day to claim it!

2. (Drum Roll Please . . . .)

Ordering Tip: Our vendors typically update their market inventory quantities every Saturday before 5 pm when the Market opens. Ordering right after opening helps you get those items with limited quantity. Once in a while however something will be listed during subsequent days. Some growers announce these additions on our Facebook Discussion Page. We encourage you to take a second look at the Market Page before closing on Tuesday at 5 pm just in case something’s been added that you would use.

Along the same topic, every once in a while a vendor will delete an item from your order after Market closes. Most of the time it’s weather related crop damage but other times it may be something that requires communication between grower and customer. We encourage this type of interaction and love it when issues can be worked out in advance of pickup.

Thank you Debt Free Stress Free Life for these great Fall Picnic Ideas:
Apples and apple cider (more on that in the article link).
Hearty easy to package sandwiches.
Freshly baked bread with your favorite sharp cheddar cheese, grapes, local apples (see how important they are), pears, and applesauce
A thermos with warm things to eat and drink – think soup, cider, cinnamon sticks, and hot chocolate!
Cozy blankets
Floor pillows
A beautiful and sturdy American-made picnic basket.
An “unplugged” activity – bring an instrument, checkers, sketchbook, favorite book, football, etc.
Your favorite people.
The perfect spot.

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

We are pleased to announce the addition of JBW Farms and TranQuil Pastures Farm to our Market family. Please check them out on our Grower Page.

Speaking of Growers – if you check the Market Page and the Grower Page you’re sure to notice that not all our growers have products listed. This is because some only offer seasonal items or have suspended sales because of inventory, vacation or any number of reasons. In the case of
Restoration Gardens they are in the process of moving. We will miss them! Their fairy tale eggplant was the BEST! Eagle Grove Services will start listing in a few weeks as their satsumas ripen.

Whatever the case we encourage our customers and vendors to get to know each other and interact! Next Saturday’s Fall Festival is a great opportunity to do that as several of our vendors will be on site next to the Butterfly House. They are hoping you’ll stop to visit.

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GROWER & MARKET NOTES

In case you missed it in our 9/11 /21 newsletter, Grows in Rows is now offering Pasture Raised Chicken along with livers and stock. They also have also ordered more Turkeys to be ready for holiday use.

Also, AVALON FARMS has relisted their zephyr squash and other regular veggies that are starting to come in. Be sure to scan the vegetable section of the Market Page to see what’s available this week.

Several customer credits were issued this week for items that were deleted from orders picked up on September 17. THANK YOU for your kind patience concerning this.

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GROWER & MARKET NOTES

WELCOME to our new customers and IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU to our regulars. Even with few vegetables available for a while longer it was a great morning to be in the fresh air and we hope each of you are taking advantage of the cooler temps every chance you get.

By way of ANNOUNCEMENT – Wendy of Avalon Farms will be managing Dothan Pickup next Friday as your regular manager will be at the state beekeepers Fall Conference that day.

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

AVALON FARMS

Hello All!  Here’s the latest Avalon Farms news.
Growing now:
- We have one last round of summer squash coming; yellow, zucchini and zephyr will be available in a few weeks. (And cucumbers!)
- Green beans and sugar snap peas are on the horizon but farther out.
- Cabbage and broccoli transplants will be going out this week. (Well, that’s the plan anyway.)

Trying to grow:
- Rooting cuttings off tomatoes. Planning to grow in greenhouse.
- Started some radishes and salad turnips in aquaponics.

Big changes:
We are no longer chicken farmers. In an effort to streamline and simplify our operation, the decision was made to get out of the chicken business. There are still plenty of eggs available from our other lovely growers!

HORTONS FARM: We took advantage of the extra time last month to get some much needed projects out of the way. Several rooms have been emptied, overhauled or otherwise tackled and one area reorganized for additional pantry space. It’s a blessing not to have any more boxes of canned pecans under the bed in the guest room! I was also able to develop a plan and start transforming a large area of our yard into an herb and medicinal garden. The big idea is to utilize and repurpose as much from the farm as we can. Several wild medicinals have already been successfully transplanted and we’re collecting more as time, space and resources allow.

Left: First year Echinacea about to bloom
Center: Gratuitous photo of Spot wooing Mopsi. A 30 second video of this encounter is available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUINsLYj90k
Right: “Stump Garden” in the center utilizing recycled horse protein tubs and makeshift hugleculture of wood pieces, pecan shells and rich soil. The plan is to put invasive plants (like the peppermint in front tub) in pots.

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

D’S JELLIES: Congratulations to Dianne for another great food spread in Dothan Living magazine! This issue includes a Charcuterie using products from local businesses and Dianne has graciously mentioned Market at Dothan and our vendors in the accompanying article. THANK YOU!

AVALON FARMS What do you consider an insect pest? Around here I usually consider anything eating or otherwise afflicting my plants a pest and it needs to go. 

It’s sort of like the old saying “anything growing in the wrong place is a weed.” You eat my plants, you die.

I discovered these very pretty caterpillars this week. They’ve been eating their way through my few celery plants, making them a pest. I started to pull them off for chicken treats but they reminded me of monarch caterpillars, so I did a little research. These bad boys (because they ate the celery) are black swallowtail caterpillars. I guess the chickens don’t need any treats today, LOL. We enjoy watching them flitting around the flowers near our porch.

Editor’s Note: Wendy isn’t the only one checking these caterpillars this week! If you find something interesting like this and want to know more Google Lens is a great smart phone app for identifying plant and animal life. Point the camera at what you wish to identify, click the button and Google will search it’s database and tell you what you’re looking at.