A FEW PHOTOS

I think everyone I’ve spoke with this week has had a tough time of it. People are fighting colds and flu, fixing busted water pipes, dealing with vehicles that don’t like the cold. . . and trying to stay WARM! It’s no secret that people in the southern US are not nearly as prepared for the level of cold we’ve experienced this week as our more northern neighbors are, and sometimes we get so caught up in just dealing with cold/ice/snow that we miss something – the quiet beauty of it all.

So now that’s the worst is behind us (we hope) here’s to appreciating the pretty part of the week.

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Hello Marketplace!  I am so excited to be apart of this great group.
Just a brief introduction for those who may not be familiar with me.
My name is Melinda Flynn. I recently moved to Echo, Al.  I had previously lived in Dothan for 24 years with my husband Arthur, who is Santa’s  double along with our seven children. We have six boys and one girl.
I created Simple Life Oils as a way to purchase therapeutic grade, Certified Organic Oils on my budget to fit my life and keep it simple to manage mine and my families health.
I love learning and educating others on the benefits of Essential Oils.
As a former teacher, educating is my passion.
I love being able to help people feel better.
I have been diffusing Fir Needle and Pine Scotch the past few days. It just adds to the wintery feel in the air.

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Meet Mr. Rossi’s music. Bill and Mary Helen pick up their Market orders in Daleville. Wendy (who delivers to Daleville) and I have enjoyed getting to know this sweet couple. Recently in the course of some correspondence, I had a chance to see and hear Mr. Bills websites and OH MY!

It turns out Mr. Bill is a most accomplished pianist and composer. Some of his compositions and arrangements may be found HERE. I love good piano music and fell in love right away. “Summertime” is probably my favorite on this page.

I hope you’ll give yourself a treat and indulge when you have a mellow moment or want some excellent dinner music. You won’t be disappointed.

You may learn more about Bill on his biography page or visit him on Facebook.

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

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

AVALON FARMS: Been chasing my tail this week trying to plan the crops for 2018. My goal is to provide you lovely people with a more constant supply of vegetables all year. Sounds simple, huh? There’s actually a lot of math involved and calendars and lots of paper to scribble notes and sketch gardens. Weird to be considering what won’t set fruit when temperatures get into the 90s when there’s ice on my porch!

The first steps for new plantings have begun. Tilled beds for onions that need to be transplanted this week. Sugar snap peas need to be going in the ground too. And beets…have had dismal results with beets, but I keep trying.

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hey there market friends!
Did you guys happen to get any snow at your homes?

Very little fell our way but we were excited to have more time together as a family being that Mr. Bain Home Gardner was instructed not to go in to work and our kiddos had the days off from school. Aaaah family time!

We used the time to do NOTHING! We watched old movies and ate junk food – our definition of a good time.
Sadly this week brings a close to our Embrace the Winter series. We hope you have room in you beautiful minds for one more benefit of winter on farm life.

Benefit Three: Hibernation time! Just as the bear goes into hibernation so do some of our plants, perennials to be specific. During this dormant phase, these plants store up their fat stores or energy over these extended cold periods enabling them to give bounteous fruitage come spring! Blueberries, asparagus and artichokes – to name a few – NEED sustained cold temperatures or they will generate weaker buds and/or blossoms the next growing season. So while most of us hate the brown gloomy look in the garden during winter months, see past the gloom, see the benefits & EMBRACE THE WINTER!

Sending warm fuzzies from our family to yours!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: If you follow our Facebook page then you know that we have a new addition to our urban farm! Meet Coffeecakes! We call her Coffee for short. She is a chocolate lab mix and we rescued her from Southside Walmart just a few weeks ago. If you missed it, we reached out to people online and off to help us with giving her a name. The name Coffee came up several times as did Cocoa, how we settled on Coffeecakes just happened, but it fits! Needless to say she is a handful, but we are excited about having a new puppy and introducing her to the chickens. Labrador Retrievers are “bird dogs.” Hunters often use them to “retrieve” the birds after they have been shot. We know we have our work cut out for us, but we’re always up for a good challenge!
Speaking of birds, chickens should be ready in 2 weeks!

HORTONS FARM: Last year I started a big beekeeping project to move the bulk of my hives to a new location on our property. Part of the decision was logistical and part for safety reasons as I have several in my front yard. I’ve studied and tried all kinds of hive stands through the years and God even gave me a strong steel one last year! You can imagine my surprise last Friday when an old friend showed up with timbers and concrete blocks and told me he was there to help with that project!

These are what my friend built . It took him about 15 minutes and would have taken me . . . I don’t know! Those ties are massive! Each stand will hold 5 hives and should last about 100 years, so I’m told.

So moving bee hives is one of the things I’ll be doing on warm winter days. It will be a much less daunting task now that I have a good new place for them to call home.

On a different note, we have more elderberries coming! Unless they arrive before 5pm on Tuesday when the Market closes we will NOT be listing Elderberry Syrup Kits to order on the website, and if they arrive before pickup on Friday we’ll announce it on Facebook and have them available for Table Sales on Friday.

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.

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!