Market Update - For August 23, 2008

The market season is still in full swing but you can tell that Fall is approaching. A few leaves are even changing color as its been very dry lately. Very cool and pleasant for August with the night time temps in the lower 50's. A daily temperature swing of 30-35 degrees has been the norm. These cool temps essentially tell the tomatoes to finish up for the year. The slant of the sunlight is changing also. We'll have lots of everything including red raspberries. We also have a new batch of chickens that were processed this past week. Those with advance orders should let us know if you want us to bring them to the market for you. The Short Mountain String Band will be playing at the farmers market. Dakota Hobbie, a phenomenal local fiddler, is in the group. She has been playing publicly for about 10 years, since she was about 6 years old. Local peaches and summer apples are in and can be easily found locally. A fresh peach pie with ice cream is a must for mid August. People call from 4-5 hours distant looking for fresh fruit from Hampshire County. Our new sidewalk sign for the market was a big hit last Sat. This is County Fair week in Hampshire County as it is in lots of towns across the country. The Review has a good video summary Here. They call it their weekend update. Its a bit of small town Americana and shows you some of the fair activities that people are enjoying this week. We had a display in the horticulture building at the fair along with an observation bee hive. We also helped out preparing for the Ruritan dinner in the dining hall. Saturday night is the big night for the 4-H livestock sales. Kids that have been raising and caring for their animals all year have to walk them though the show ring. Then their families and local businesses bid on the animals which becomes the child's pay so to speak for raising and training the animal. Its a traditional 4-H activity. (4-H means head, heart, health, hands, and provides great practical life skills training for kids) Hope to see you at the farmers market or maybe somewhere else this weekend!