Beaver Farmers' Market Cool & Breezy

Colder weather brings out the root crops like these turnips!
Let's just say that no one had their tents set up Saturday morning at the Beaver Farmers' Market .... it was a bit cool when the sun went in and the wind picked up.  LFLF found our usual cookies, cider, onions, and we also picked up some "personal sized" winter squashes.  Douds-Floyd Farm has a great selection of squashes including smaller versions of the standard acorn, butternut, etc. that are just right for one serving.  We had ours tonight baked & with a little applebutter mixed in .........
Speaking of cold weather, here's a chance to stock up for your squirrel friends ........ 

Ear Corn for the Squirrels!



Fall at the Market

What a beautiful day last Saturday at the Beaver Farmers' Market!  The trick-or-treaters were running all around the streets and parks of Beaver getting goodies from the businesses & merchants.   Meanwhile, LFLF headed to the market for our goodies.  Peanut butter cookies from Pat's Pastries were a good start for the day.  Then we picked up apples, onions, sweet peppers for stuffing, apple cider, and potatoes. 
We even picked up a Rosemary plant for our winter windowsill pot.  Our 3 year old plant just suddenly "up and died" this summer, so we needed a new one. 
We forgot to pick up our fence post mini pumpkins, so it looks like we'll have to get them this week.  After Halloween, interest in pumpkins falls off until just before Thanksgiving.  We definitely need to get our decorative gourds and Indian corn soon! 

Herbs & Hydroponics

LFLF promised this "next day post" 3 days ago, so what happened?  Some PC troubles ..... isn't it always something?  Anyway, during our visit to the market at Yarnick's Farm, we checked out  the small attached greenhouse at the back of the market.   Here they grow fresh herbs in a  vertical "clip your own" type of arrangement.  This is a neat way to provide herbs outside of the traditional growing season.  There are specific varieties & quite a bit of science behind what grows well under these conditions!   A customer just ahead of us was clipping her own bunch of parsley.  Have any of the blog readers seen this type of set up at that big theme park in Orlando, FL?
On the other side of the greenhouse were rows of hydroponic lettuce.  We're not sure of what the cutting or picking rules were for the lettuce, but they looked like they'd be ready soon.   Here's a local grower who's made a season extending high value use of their greenhouses with hydroponic vegetables.



Yarnick's Hydroponic Lettuce

Check out this article from 2007 in the American Vegetable Grower magazine & plan to stop in if you're in the area! 
Check out this Penn State horticulture web-site for info & vegetable crop growing tips & news.

Yarnick's Farm Visit

Monday's mission for LFLF included a drive to Indiana County to pick up B&B Serbian Spruce trees at Musser Forests , a large regional grower.  We have been buying trees & shrubs at Musser for years, but usually they're seedlings purchased in lots of 50 - 100 & shipped in the spring for planting.  After we picked out a couple of trees and had them loaded up, we headed for home.  It was a beautiful warm October day, perfect for leaf peeping, and LFLF had one more stop in mind!  

Yes, Yarnick's Farm still has sweet corn!  We picked up half a dozen ears of corn and a quart of tomatoes.  We also grabbed some other veggies .......... everything looked really great and fresh in the market.  The half bushel specials were nice looking for anyone interested in canning or baking pies!

 Unfortunately,we had to pass on the meats and cheeses since we didin't bring our cooler.  We'll know better next time.   Just as we were leaving the market, a local chef stopped in and began his shopping with a selection of tomatoes ..... that's a testimony to the quality & variety available, wouldn't you say?  Tomorrow we'll show you what was going on in the greenhouse behind the market.  For now, here is a parting shot of the fields near the market in their fall glory!

Ohio Farm Market

LFLF made a trip into Ohio today and took the opportunity to stop at VanPelt's Farm Market on the return trip.  This market is full of goodies!   The vegetable & herb selection was really nice.  They still have sweet corn and tons of watermelons and cantalopes.  The lady in front of us in line bought 4 bushels of canning tomatoes & loaded them into her truck. 
There were at least 10 varieties of apples for sale, but not Winesap today ..... "They're not ripe yet" we heard the owner tell one customer who inquired.
The market carries eggs, cheeses, meats, bacon, milk etc, from local farms and from the Ohio Amish country in the counties to the west of the market.
VanPelts has a line of baked goods and there is a full selection of jams & jellies available.

Our primary objective today was sweet peppers for stuffing and LFLF was not disappointed!  The peppers were just perfect ..... a big bag of them came home with us.

Just lots of veggies and at this time of year, the gourds, pumpkins, mums, and winter squashes were also plentiful!  

Large Hubbard Squashes!