Hi Friends,
Yesterday marked the opening the Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market. It was a busy and eventful day. I heard many visitors stating it was their first visit to this afternoon market. There was plenty of spring produce out there. I saw mustard & turnip greens, collards, radishes, spring onions, baby garlic, swiss chard, dried peas, mizuna, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, strawberries, lettuce mixes, edible flowers, beet greens, honey, granola, plenty of jams, jellies, breads, pies, and shaved ice. Oh, and the flowers, peonies, bachelors button, iris, poppies, verbascum, blooming sage, and the potted plants/transplants were amazing as well. If you get hungry on Wednesday afternoons, do something nice for your state of mind and general health. The MBG is astonishingly beautiful, the produce is incredibly fresh & nutritious, and with that atmosphere it's sure to be the perfect way to wind down the afternoon. The Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market will be open May - the end of October, every Wednesday 2- 6 pm - rain or shine! Come on out, you'll be hooked.
Today is wet on the farm. We got a nice rain yesterday which certainly pleased the vegetation round here. Just checked on our fennel and kohlrabi and its lookin good. Most of the day we will work on transplanting in the greenhouse. We still have thousands of tomato transplants to work up and herbs, cut flowers, the list goes on. I love to check the babies (that's what I call my seedlings) each morning. Every day they grow at little more, spreading there leaves, putting on tendrils, or a stem rising, whatever the plant, its thrilling to watch them all grow to maturity. Keith and I get very attatched to our plants. I don't know if I've shared this with you guys but Keith will walk out to the tomato field to tell his tomatoes goodnight, every night throughout the growing season. They're always on his mind, even during the winter I can ask Keith, "What are you thinking about?", and he will reply, "Tomatoes." He is always thinking. Very crafty that man.
Tomorrow marks a special day for me. For the last 2 years I have had the pleasure of being a board member for the ASU Regional Farmers Market, which is located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, my hometown. Our board has been working very hard to promote and grow our little market on a shoestring budget, no doubt, and tomorrow marks the day of our ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a facility that will house our market!!! Yippee!!! For the last 4 years, we the vendors, have been lining up under the shade of trees in the middle of a cow pasture. It's really beautiful, don't get me wrong, but we wanted a building that protect all visitors from the weather, serve as a meeting place for various organizations, house a commercial kitchen we could rent out to bakers etc, have public restrooms, stage for live music, and hopefully one day, be home to a year round market!!! On top of all that, the facility itself will be a "green" building built from hay bales! How cool is that!?! We have been blessed with grant dollars and the support from our regional and state politicians. Hopefully we will have a our new home ready by next spring.
Monday, May 4, we have 56 kindergartners from Memphis coming to Whitton Farms for a field trip! We are absolutely thrilled to have these youngsters out to the farm to look at our spring crops, tour the greenhouses, hunt for mushrooms, and check on the chickens. They will even do a transplanting session with yours truly, and then have a nice picnic in the pecan orchard. Hopefully we can spark a "growing" interest in these little minds!
That's all I've got for today. Gotta get back to the endless, yet fulfilling cycle of farming.
Cheerios,
Jill
Yesterday marked the opening the Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market. It was a busy and eventful day. I heard many visitors stating it was their first visit to this afternoon market. There was plenty of spring produce out there. I saw mustard & turnip greens, collards, radishes, spring onions, baby garlic, swiss chard, dried peas, mizuna, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, strawberries, lettuce mixes, edible flowers, beet greens, honey, granola, plenty of jams, jellies, breads, pies, and shaved ice. Oh, and the flowers, peonies, bachelors button, iris, poppies, verbascum, blooming sage, and the potted plants/transplants were amazing as well. If you get hungry on Wednesday afternoons, do something nice for your state of mind and general health. The MBG is astonishingly beautiful, the produce is incredibly fresh & nutritious, and with that atmosphere it's sure to be the perfect way to wind down the afternoon. The Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market will be open May - the end of October, every Wednesday 2- 6 pm - rain or shine! Come on out, you'll be hooked.
Today is wet on the farm. We got a nice rain yesterday which certainly pleased the vegetation round here. Just checked on our fennel and kohlrabi and its lookin good. Most of the day we will work on transplanting in the greenhouse. We still have thousands of tomato transplants to work up and herbs, cut flowers, the list goes on. I love to check the babies (that's what I call my seedlings) each morning. Every day they grow at little more, spreading there leaves, putting on tendrils, or a stem rising, whatever the plant, its thrilling to watch them all grow to maturity. Keith and I get very attatched to our plants. I don't know if I've shared this with you guys but Keith will walk out to the tomato field to tell his tomatoes goodnight, every night throughout the growing season. They're always on his mind, even during the winter I can ask Keith, "What are you thinking about?", and he will reply, "Tomatoes." He is always thinking. Very crafty that man.
Tomorrow marks a special day for me. For the last 2 years I have had the pleasure of being a board member for the ASU Regional Farmers Market, which is located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, my hometown. Our board has been working very hard to promote and grow our little market on a shoestring budget, no doubt, and tomorrow marks the day of our ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a facility that will house our market!!! Yippee!!! For the last 4 years, we the vendors, have been lining up under the shade of trees in the middle of a cow pasture. It's really beautiful, don't get me wrong, but we wanted a building that protect all visitors from the weather, serve as a meeting place for various organizations, house a commercial kitchen we could rent out to bakers etc, have public restrooms, stage for live music, and hopefully one day, be home to a year round market!!! On top of all that, the facility itself will be a "green" building built from hay bales! How cool is that!?! We have been blessed with grant dollars and the support from our regional and state politicians. Hopefully we will have a our new home ready by next spring.
Monday, May 4, we have 56 kindergartners from Memphis coming to Whitton Farms for a field trip! We are absolutely thrilled to have these youngsters out to the farm to look at our spring crops, tour the greenhouses, hunt for mushrooms, and check on the chickens. They will even do a transplanting session with yours truly, and then have a nice picnic in the pecan orchard. Hopefully we can spark a "growing" interest in these little minds!
That's all I've got for today. Gotta get back to the endless, yet fulfilling cycle of farming.
Cheerios,
Jill
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