GROWER & MARKET NOTES

Eat The Rainbow: Today it hit me that eating brightly colored foods isn’t necessarily just for the spring and summer months. We’re used to all the reds and yellows and greens of summer produce, but this week while admiring Avalon’s persimmons and packing Senposai and beets, I realized that some cooler weather seasonal foods have more intense color than summer varieties.

We hope you’ll take advantage of all the local fresh goodness the season has to offer! _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New & Relisted Products Includes items listed less than 1 month GREENS from Avalon Farms Senposai, Bok Choy, & Baby Bok Choy Organic Cabbage (3 left) Organic Beets (1 left) Persimmons from Avalon Farms Creamed Honey in 3 flavors from Horton’s Farm _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END OF YEAR SCHEDULE Order Today – Oct 25 for pickup Oct 28 Order Oct 29 – Nov 1 for pickup Nov 4 Order Nov 5 – Nov 8 for pickup Nov 11 Order Nov 12 – Nov 15 for pickup Nov 18 SATURDAY, DEC 3 – CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE AT DOTHAN NURSERIES! More info to come! Order Dec 3 – Dec 6 for pickup Dec 9 Order Dec 10 – Dec 13 for pickup Dec 16

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CHRISTMAS GIVING NOTE: If you are considering Market items for gifts (and we have SO much to offer!) consider ordering EARLY while those items are available. Many of our vendors participate in craft shows, charity events, etc and if supply of an item runs out it may or may not be replenished in a timely manner. Things like soap take weeks to cure and one of a kind crochet items are gone when they’re gone. We expect to have plenty of goodies available at Open House on Dec. 3 but with all of us being small operations we want you, our loyal Market customers to have first dibs. Ordering early is the way to do that.

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

New & Relisted Products Includes items listed less than 1 month GREENS from Avalon Farms Senposai, Bok Choy, & Baby Bok Choy Organic Cabbage Organic Beets _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Avalon Farms:

Trying out our newest tool for weed prevention. This flame weeder will be used to eliminate tiny weeds in beds before crop seeds sprout. The weeds in this trial area are too big but it allowed us to test/play with it. 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END OF YEAR SCHEDULE

For now we are on our regular weekly schedule and will continue through the week ending with pickup on Nov. 18. Orders will resume on Dec. 3, the day of Christmas Open House at Dothan Nurseries, and end with the last pickup of the year on Dec. 16.

Order Today – Oct 18 for pickup Oct 21 Order Oct 22 – Oct 25 for pickup Oct 28 Order Oct 29 – Nov 1 for pickup Nov 4 Order Nov 5 – Nov 8 for pickup Nov 11 Order Nov 12 – Nov 15 for pickup Nov 18 SATURDAY, DEC 3 – CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE AT DOTHAN NURSERIES! More info to come! Order Dec 3 – Dec 6 for pickup Dec 9 Order Dec 10 – Dec 13 for pickup Dec 16

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“The best laid plans of mice and men” apparently applies to M@D as well! We were SO excited to offer organic cabbage and beets at cost + 10% and carefully calculated to make sure we got it right.

The calculations were great! We did exactly that with the cabbage. The beets . . . eh . . . , not so much. We thought we were getting 45 lb and based the price on that. But we actually got 25 lb causing last week’s beet sales to be less than cost.

All that to say, GREAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE, LOL!!! Thankfully the Market is ran well enough that it’s not going to do any lasting harm and while the egg on the proverbial face is a bit embarrassing, we’ll just clean up our mess and keep going! This won’t deter us from taking advantage of more great deals like this going forward.

But we did want you to know why the beets are priced higher this week.

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

YUMMY ANNOUNCEMENT!

One of the privileges our business license gives us is that we can purchase things for resale. As a direct farm to customer business we’ve never considered it till recently after Viki Richter (Richter Farms) connected us to a resource that sometimes offers bulk fresh organic foods. So we’ve taken the plunge and are listing organic beets and organic cabbage this week. These items will be sold cost plus 10%.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END OF YEAR SCHEDULE

For now we are on our regular weekly schedule and will continue through the week ending with pickup on Nov. 18. Orders will resume on Dec. 3, the day of Christmas Open House at Dothan Nurseries, and end with the last pickup of the year on Dec. 16.

Order Today for pickup on Oct 14. Order Oct 15 – Oct 18 for pickup Oct 21 Order Oct 22 – Oct 25 for pickup Oct 28 Order Oct 29 – Nov 1 for pickup Nov 4 Order Nov 5 – Nov 8 for pickup Nov 11 Order Nov 12 – Nov 15 for pickup Nov 18 SATURDAY, DEC 3 – CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE AT DOTHAN NURSERIES! More info to come! Order Dec 3 – Dec 6 for pickup Dec 9 Order Dec 10 – Dec 13 for pickup Dec 16

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Food is such an integral part of our day to day lives that we take a lot for granted. We stumbled on some fascinating information this week about some of the culture and history of food in our country and how that affects what is on our grocery store shelves today. Rather than condense the podcast and omit valuable information we’re sharing a link to the whole enchalida. We advise that if the opening question and remarks are boring for you to hang in there as it gets far more interesting the longer these guys talk.

You may use THIS LINK to go directly to the youtube version of this podcast as shown. It is also available on Spotify. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did and come away with a new appreciation for small farms and small farmers trying to make a difference.

And by way of shameless promotion, the Chasing Leviathan podcast covers a wide range of topics doing nothing more than asking questions, listening and learning. Take a look. You may have even read a M@D newsletter produced in that studio.

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

BACK TO NORMAL!

Today opened our last quarter with beautiful sunshine, good company and lots of fun at Dothan Nursery’s Fall Festival. It really was the best one yet and if you missed it the plan is to do it again, albeit Christmas themed on Dec. 3. Please mark your calendars. Christmas Open House at Dothan Nurseries is always splendid.

And YES, we will be open weekly until November 19 when we break for Thanksgiving. We’ll share more of the end of year schedule with you in next week’s newsletter.

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A WORD ABOUT ORDERING THIS WEEK: Many of our vendors are getting home LATE so some listsings may not be updated. That being said, if you see something with limited quantity you want, the safe thing to do is place your order. You can always come back a day or two later to check for updates and place another if you need to.

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!

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!

We will open at 5pm next Saturday for online ordering as usual.

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

This is our last bi-weekly order cycle before resuming a weekly schedule when Market opens on October 1. And since we’re speaking of October 1, please mark your calender that day for:

Dothan Nurseries Fall Festival

Featuring Your M@D Farmers in Person and on Site! Live Music Craft Vendors Food Vendors Face Painting A TON of Pumpkins! Great stuff we don’t even know about yet! _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New & Relisted Products We are SO Excited that our very own Dianne Herring has listed her new cookbook!

Other New Products are two luscious fall collections from Bella Eden Farms _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August & September Market Schedule Open for Orders Saturday, September 17 with Pickup on September 23 Open for Orders Saturday, October 1 with Pickup on October 7 We resume weekly schedule October 8 till mid November for Thanksgiving Break Don’t forget to come visit us at Dothan Nurseries on October 1! _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AVALON FARMS:

Well, we have achieved the elusive COVID antibodies. Yay, us. We took all recommended supplements and were fever free after 5 days. Really not that bad….but the residual weakness, terrible tastes, etc are the worst! 

Thankfully all the fall transplants were in the ground before we got sick (mostly). We wondered why it was SO exhausting. Then the next day Wendy had 101 fever. They did get planted. Watered by way too much rain and ignored by the farmers. We’ll see what we get in a month. 

Transplants consisted of: sprouting broccoli/broccolini, green cabbage, napa cabbage, kohlrabi, bok choi, semposi and other greens.

Direct seeded were: zucchini, yellow squash, zephyrs, cucumbers and green beans. Had intended to plant carrots, beets and radishes, but that hasn’t happened yet. 

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And now we know . . .

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

Greetings from central Florida where your Market manager is in day 12 of “Operation Evacuate Frankie”. I arrived on Ms. Frankie’s due date and as of this writing she has resisted every natural effort to encourage her arrival. She’s going to be one interesting Irish lassie!

Baby watch aside, the change of scenery and catching up with family has been refreshing and I’m eager to incorporate new ideas, new recipes and new flavors into our routine at home. Plus it’s been fun seeing how these city kids are honoring their farm roots. Every week they get a box of organic bounty from a regional farm and cook pretty much everything from scratch. Last night we compared notes on cream of squash soup recipes and today’s yummy lunch was chickpea curry.

This year’s black eye pea harvest, so far, from one of three raised beds in the backyard.

Speaking of baby watch, be sure to catch up with Mount Moriah further down in this newsletter. _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New & Relisted Products Includes items listed less than 1 month Amish Friendship Bread STARTER from Robinson Homestead Whole Dried Sage Leaves from Scrappy Chic Ripe Habanero Pepper from ScrappyChic Motherland Okra Leaves from ScrappyChic _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August & September Market Schedule Open TODAY, September 3 with Pickup on September 9 Open for Orders Saturday, September 17 with Pickup on September 23 Open for Orders Saturday, October 1 with Pickup on October 7 We resume weekly schedule October 8 till mid November for Thanksgiving Break

VIP, Please save the date for Saturday Oct. 1 as we are in the planning stages of a Saturday Tent Market to get the fall season off to a good start.

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MOUNT MORIAH FARMS: Life here on the farm has changed for sure since the arrival of our precious baby! We have finally settled into a nice routine and are starting to get a little extra time to catch up on things. Thank you to everyone who has continued to purchase from us! We have added a few more goats to the herd and as of last week all of the does have hopefully been bred. Lord willing come early 2023 we will have lots of tiny ones jumping around the pasture.

Young Mr. Scott, in stroller in foreground, is learning first hand the rhythms, routines and tasks of farm life.

I’m proud to say the day I went into labor I was out there still milking my girls. I would say chores are a lot easier now since I don’t have to worry about weight restrictions or my bump getting in the way. I do have my little one with me during chore time (most days) and have learned how to take care of him and the farm at the same time! I love this new chapter and am so thankful for y’all’s continued support! 

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

Good Morning and SURPRISE! We’re sure you weren’t expecting Market to open this time of the day but due to obligations and knowing there will be no cell signal where your manager will be at 5 pm today we’re doing things a bit different this week.

That being said, you may want to wait till later in the day to place your order as our growers update their inventory on Saturdays.

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New & Relisted Products Includes items listed less than 1 month Ginger Peach Jam from Avalon Farms Sourdough Pizza Dough from Robinson Homestead Sourdough Tortillias from Robinson Homestead Sourdough Starter from Robinson Homestead Ripe Habanero Pepper from ScrappyChic Motherland Okra Leaves from ScrappyChic Kale Chips and Kale Salt from ScrappyChic Malibar Spinach Leaves from ScrappyChic Dried Mugwort from ScrappyChic Not So Hot Habaneros from ScrappyChic Dried Tarragon from ScrappyChic Curley Kale Leaves from ScrappyChic _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August & September Market Schedule Open TODAY, August 20 with Pickup on August 26 Open for Orders Saturday, September 3 with Pickup on September 9 Open for Orders Saturday, September 17 with Pickup on September 23 Open for Orders Saturday, October 1 with Pickup on October 7 We resume weekly schedule October 8 till mid November for Thanksgiving Break

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

New & Relisted Products Includes items listed less than 1 month

Ginger Peach Jam from Avalon Farms

Sourdough Pizza Dough from Robinson Homestead Sourdough Tortillias from Robinson Homestead Sourdough Starter from Robinson Homestead

Lavender Hibiscus Flowers from Alabama Homestead 100% Beeswax candles from Alabama Homestead Lavender Stems from Alabama Homestead Hand Poured Garden Stepping Stone from Alabama Homestead

Curley Kale Leaves from ScrappyChic Motherland Okra Leaves from ScrappyChic Kale Chips and Kale Salt from ScrappyChic Malibar Spinach Leaves from ScrappyChic Dried Mugwort from ScrappyChic Not So Hot Habaneros from ScrappyChic Dried Tarragon from ScrappyChic

Fire Ant First Aid – Hortons Farm _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ August & September Market Schedule

Open Mouth, Insert Foot! In our last newsletter we announced our bi-weekly schedule for these two months due to lack of produce . . . so it was a bit of a surprise to see all the wonderful greens that Scrappy Chic has listed! No complaints and we hope you’ll give some of her unusual items consideration.

Open TODAY, August 6 for Pickup on August 12 Open for Orders Saturday, August 20 with Pickup on August 26 Open for Orders Saturday, September 3 with Pickup on September 9 Open for Orders Saturday, September 17 with Pickup on September 23 Open for Orders Saturday, October 1 with Pickup on October 7 We resume weekly schedule October 8 till mid November for Thanksgiving Break _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn’t this beautiful? When Alabama Homestead listed Hibuscus Flowers this week we had to check it out and found multiple uses for them, this beautiful tea being the most intriguing. You may find the recipe for Hibiscus Tea by clicking on THIS LINK.

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!

GROWER & MARKET NOTES

August & September Market Schedule

For several years now M@D has taken a breather at the end of summer. The biggest reason for this remains the inavailability of fresh local produce. Okra is about the only thing that loves August and September weather! The break has provided a great time for our vendors to vacation, regroup and plan. Not everyone farms plants however and we will continue to offer meats, eggs, honey, baked goods, etc. every other week, at least that’s the plan! I suspect Grier Acres will continue to offer okra too!

Open for Orders Saturday, August 6 with Pickup on August 12 Open for Orders Saturday, August 20 with Pickup on August 26 Open for Orders Saturday, September 3 with Pickup on September 9 Open for Orders Saturday, September 17 with Pickup on September 23 Open for Orders Saturday, October 1 with Pickup on October 7 We resume weekly schedule October 8 till mid November for Thanksgiving Break _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New & Relisted Products Includes both First ttime & Items from Last Week Organic Paleo Pumpkin Cookies from Robinson Homestead FIGS from Avalon Farms Sourdough Pizza Dough from Robinson Homestead 100% Beeswax candles from Alabama Homestead Fire Ant First Aid – Hortons Farm Sourdough Tortillias from Robinson Homestead Sourdough Starter from Robinson Homestead YELLOW WATERMELON from Avalon Farms _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These 22 ideas from The Spruce Eats offer some great ways to enjoy figs, including a recipe pairing bacon with figs.

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!