Early morning start to today’s trip, we needed to be on the road by 6:00 a.m. As with most of my really long trips I had company today. Justin Cottrell, one of the owners of KC Commercial Realty Group, the company that manages the City Market and Deb Churchill Property Manager for the Market will be riding along. By the time we all got back today we had driven in four states, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Farm vendors who sell at the City Market are required to farm with-in a 500 mile radius of the City Market. Our first farm was a short 237 mile drive so we were only able to visit three farms today.

Brainard, Nebraska is the home of Jisa’s Farmstead Cheese. The farm is owned and operated by Dave Jisa the only farmer we have coming to the Market from Nebraska. We all were exited to tour the farm and cheese processing plant. We were greeted by Julie Walsh who oversees the cheese making process and distribution of all their cheeses. Dave oversees the dairy farm which includes growing all their own feed, and the milking and care of all the cows. Lad Jisa’, Dave’s father, started the dairy farm in 1946 with just a few Holstein cows.  They currently milk 300 cows per day at 2:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in the milking barn. (I no longer have any reason to wine about coming to work at 4:30 a.m.) Dave has about 800 cows and plans to add another 300 head, they are in the process of building a new barn to house them. Some of the cows are used for breeding others for milking and many are young calves. The entire heard is made up entirely of cow’s bread and raised on Dave’s farm and the cheese is made entirely from milk from his farm. I found it very interesting that they had to adjust the cows feed throughout the year depending on the season to guarantee the consistency of the milk. If the milk is not consistent the taste of the cheese won’t taste the same either. 

The cheese making area was super clean and everyone was busy seasoning and bagging cheese curds and making a batch of cheddar cheese. Jisa Cheese has a very small staff so everyone works very hard to produce the amount of cheese they currently make for grocery stores and schools. Most of their customers are located in the Kansas City area. Once the cows are milked, the milk is transported down the road to the processing plant where it is pasteurized before it is used to make the cheese. During the cheese making process the PH levels need to be constantly monitored, this is done by the cheese maker who we could see takes a lot of pride in the product he produces. Julie explained that the time will vary in making the cheese depending on the variety, cheddar takes the longest. I love meeting people who take such care in producing the food that comes to the City Market. Jisa Farmstead Cheese will be at the City Market for the next five weeks and possible into the fall and winter. You will find them in stall 137 in the 3^rd shed. www.jisacheese.com

  

We left at 6 a.m. and did not arrive at our second farm until 3:30 p.m., lots of driving time today. I always know when I am getting close to King City, Missouri; you can’t miss the mile after mile of wind turbines. I just think they are so cool and a little mesmerizing to watch. When we arrived at Lost Creek Farm we found Darrel and his son Todd busy in the fields picking purple hull peas and Donna had just finished baking zucchini bread and cinnamon rolls, the smell was amazing. The Clausen’s have an out building they converted into a commercial licensed kitchen. So in addition to selling produce in their stalls they also have baked goods all the way through Christmas. After leaving the kitchen Donna had to show off their new walk in cooler. Having a cooler is supper important; once the vegetables are harvested you have to get them cooled down. This is not true for tomatoes, no refrigeration for them. Earlier that morning they picked two large totes of green beans. After being in the truck most of the day it was a nice change to walk around in the fields. Darrel had a major setback earlier in the summer. His neighbor had his corn fields sprayed and the spray drifted into Darrel’s freshly planted fields a killed many of the tender plants and stunted his tomatoes. Luckily the company that sprayed attempted to make it right by them, but more often than not this is not the case. But like any good farmer Darrel pulled on his boots and replanted. Since everyone was busy we strolled through the fields on our own trough the tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, okra, peppers, green beans, cabbage and potatoes. Donna and Darrel are at the Market every Saturday in the first covered shed in stalls 9-10.

www.lost-creek-farm.com

Last state and lost stop for the day is Wathena, Kansas at Goode Acres. John farms a beautiful section of land that overlooks the Missouri river and was once an apple orchard. He has since added three high tunnels and had the land terraced. The August heat has taken a toll on many of his plants, some of which he has started to replant. John grows 5 kinds of basil which looked to be doing pretty well. He had a few rows of an assortment of peppers and eggplant. His cucumbers looked to be winding down as did his tomatoes. John said he was getting ready to dig sweet potatoes which were located in the lowest field. Goode Acres is one of the few farms I visit that raises celery. Goode Acres sells at the Market in the Farmer w/ Local Supplement Category, which means he must grow at least 50% of all the items he brings to the Market. I will be visiting John’s farm again next month as I do with many of the vendors who sell in this category. You will find Goode Acres in the first covered farmers shed in stalls 5-8. For more information visit John’s web site at www.goodeacres.com

  

On Thursday I will be heading to Buffalo Missouri to visit a possible new vendor and Warrensburg to visit a mushroom farm. The weather is supposed to cool down later in the week so I am anticipating a beautiful drive around the lakes.