Keep it coming!

It was another great Saturday on June 21. The word has gotten out about the Cleveland Farmers Market! The Cleveland News Leader's June 22 edition had a front page article and a business section article and an editorial promoting the market. With such tremendous support from the community and the media, we can expect more and more success. One caveat: Do what ever rain dance you can. It's dry, and our farmers need the rain.

Here are the stats for June 21:

• Justina (twice in a row! that's a Friend!) and Eric were the volunteers at the Friends Tent
• Farmers present/represented: Strassburg, Friends of the Environment, Floyd, Sellers, Chandler, Smitty, Toole, Scarbrough, The Apple Farm, and Blue Lake Honey Farm
• Customers counted: 154 (-2 from June 14)
• Approximate revenue total: $750
• Products sold: Yellow squash, patty pan squash, cucumbers, green tomatoes, red tomatoes, tomato plants, potted day lilies, basil, okra, sweet potatoes, honey, beets, hot peppers, eggplants, eggs, jams, jellies, preserves, hot sauces, corn, peaches, and apples

Friends Tent Update:
June 28 -- Asia Bonacci and Jesse Strassburg
July 5 -- Sarah Leonard and Jerry Kandies
July 12 -- Emily and Jay Weaver (tentative)
July 19 -- OPEN
July 26 -- OPEN
August 2 -- OPEN
August 9 -- Eleanor and John Green (tentative)
August 16 -- OPEN
August 23 -- OPEN
August 30 -- OPEN
Email or call me if you're interested in volunteering for the Friends Tent. Look at Eric and Justina's happy faces. That could be you!

Recipes from June 14 and June 21

Peach Cobbler

Courtesy of Nancy Sellers

1 stick of butter or margarine

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

2-3 cups fresh peach slices

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt one stick of butter in an 8 inch by 8 inch pan. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, and milk. Pour into pan with butter. Pour peaches on top. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Pound Cake with Lemon-Basil Glaze

Found by Michelle Johansen in Cooking Light Magazine 

Lemon-Basil Glaze:

1/4 cup half-and-half

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Dash of salt

Combine half-and-half and basil in a small microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH for 45 seconds. Let stand 5 minutes. Strain mixture through a sieve over a bowl; discard basil. Combine half-and-half, powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons juice, and dash of salt; stir with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle half of glaze over cake; let stand 5 minutes or until set. Repeat with remaining glaze.

What's Fresh for Saturday, June 21

What's fresh?

- Farm-fresh eggs and plum jelly from Patrice Chandler of Ruleville*

- Local clover and soybean honey from Blue Lake Honey in Drew

- Gorgeous, blooming potted day lilies from Laura Floyd of Cleveland*

- Just-picked yellow squash, beans, cucumbers, beets, sweet corn, and banana peppers from Mack and Ollie Hoop of Cleveland

- Ready-to-plant tomato plants and ready-to-eat-right-now yellow squash and cucumbers from Owen and Dorothy Scarbrough of Shelby

- Juicy peaches and plums and yellow squash from The Apple Farm of Cleveland

- An encore of dewberry jelly (went fast last week!) and assorted jams, jellies, preserves, and hot sauces from Mickey and Nancy Sellers of Cleveland

- Cool, crisp cucumbers and yellow squash from Mr. Smitty of Mound Bayou

- Fragrant basil transplants and fresh-cut basil from Jesse Strassburg of Cleveland

- The first purple hull peas from Mr. Cornelius Toole of Mound Bayou

- Sweet yellow onions from Mechelle Wallace and the youth of Friends of the Environment from Alligator*

* First time vendor at the Cleveland Farmers Market!

This list is accurate as of Friday, June 20 but is subject to change without notice.

Quantities of all items may be limited. Come early at 8 a.m. for the best selection.

Success!!!!

Before I get to the nitty-gritty details, many thanks need to go out. First, the market would have been little more than a dream without the hard work of the past four years of people who are too numerous to mention without me embarrassingly leaving out somebody crucial. They planted the seeds of this year's early success. Second, thank you to the farmers and friends who came to the planning meetings and brought to the first market their delicious goods, good will, enthusiasm, and a desire to make the market THE place to be on Saturday morning. Third, Jesse, Ryan, and Nancy and Mickey Sellers are the backbone of the market. There aren't enough pina coladas in the world to express my appreciation for their persistence and commitment to the market.

We got a tremendous boost from our current media campaign. Strings Design created a superb logo and ad for us. You may have seen the posters around the Delta, thanks to our friends and farmers. Candrese Jones of the Bolivar Commercial put us on the front page of Thursday's paper, which was a key factor in drawing in the crowds. Also, the Cleveland News Leader ran four weeks of our ads, including a free color one today, and Sarah Coleman wrote an article for this week as well.

So, here's the summary of what happened:

• Sarah and Justina were our volunteers at the Friends Tent, dishing out Nancy's peach cobbler and chatting with the customers.
• Farmers present/represented: The Hoops, the Sellers Gang, Jesse "Basil Boy" Strassburg, Blue Lake Honey Farm, Mr. Smitty, Mr. Toole, The Apple Farm, and Mr. Scarbrough.
• Customers counted: 156, not including kids in strollers
• Approximate total revenue generated: $675
• Customers arrived before 8 a.m.!
  
• The band, Nature Boy Adventure, played acoustic guitar from 9-10 a.m.
• Two new farmers signed up, and a new friend was recruited.
• Products sold: Japanese eggplant, hot peppers, green tomatoes, tomatoes, peaches, yellow squash, collard greens, tomato plants, basil plants, rosemary, sage, spicy lettuce, bell peppers, okra, butter beans, green beans, jams, jellies, preserves, hot sauce, cucumbers, and honey.
  

We need a volunteer for the Friends Tent for this Saturday, June 21. Eric Atchison, a seasoned pro at the market, has volunteered but he needs a buddy. He won't bite, I promise. We have Asia and Jesse scheduled for June 28. The market will be open on July 5, and we need another friend on that day to pair up with Jerry Kandies. Contact me if you can help out.

It's a long season, but we all have a reason to proud of this tremendous start to the Cleveland Farmers Market. Let's keep the momentum going by talking up the market and encouraging more community involvement.

What's Fresh for Saturday, June 14

What's Fresh?

- Summer peaches from The Apple Farm of Cleveland

- Fresh collard greens and squash from Mr. Curtis "Smitty" Smith of Mound Bayou

- Just-off-the-vine beans, hot peppers, squash, and green tomatoes from Ollie and Mack Hoop of Cleveland

- For your sweet taste buds, plum, dewberry, and peach jellies, strawberry-fig, raspberry-fig, fig, and pear preserves, and, for the savory taste buds, tomato and pear relishes, hot sauce, dill pickles, and muscadine glaze from Nancy and Mickey Sellers of Cleveland

- Baby basil seedlings, spicy lettuce, and rosemary from Mr. Jesse Strassburg of Cleveland

- Greenhouse tomatoes, bell peppers, and squash from Mr. Cornelius Toole of Mound Bayou

This list is accurate as of Friday, June 13 but is subject to change without notice.