Today was a really fun day visiting a wide range of vendors. The City Market is hosting the 2016 National Association of Produce Market Managers (NAPMM) conference in April. www.napmm.org Members attending the conference will travel to various farms in the area; today was spent visiting farms we thought would be a nice experience for the attendees. Justin Cottrell and Deb Churchill are part of the planning committee for the conference so went along. Justin is one of the owners of KC Commercial Reality group that manages the City Market and Deb Churchill is the Property Manager for the City Market.

Our first stop was Juniper Gardens in Kansas City, KS which I visited a few weeks ago. New Roots for Refuges has a wonderful story and does so much for families trying to make a living in this country. www.newrootsforrefugees.blogspot.com  Three families in their program sell at the Sunday Farmers’ Market.

We had an appointment to take a tour of Shatto Milk Co.; I have not done this for a few years so I was really looking forward to it. Shatto has really grown over the years and has a wonderful operation. Everyone on the tour gets to sample some of their very popular flavors of milk, milk a cow, see the milking area and where the milk is bottled. It is very interesting and something anyone would enjoy. www.shattomilk.com

Next stop was Windy Ridge Greenhouse in Plattsburg Missouri. The Hanks have a very nice location where customers can come to their farm and by bedding plants. Right now the greenhouses are empty but come April they are a sight to see. In addition to bedding plants the Hanks have a greenhouse for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. They also grow row crops which is quite the challenge this year with all the rain they have had in that area. www.windyridgegreenhouse.com

Stop four for the day is Vantill Family Farm Winery. Cliff and his family have a wonderful winery, event space and an outdoor eating area where they bake stone fire pizzas. This would be a great option for a lunch stop on the tour. Of course we had to sample a little wine before we left. www.vantillfarms.com

Our last stop for the day is at Birds Botanicals located in one of the caves off 435 in Kansas City. David Bird has been a vendor at the market for at least 15 years and is the expert on orchids and carnivorous plants. There is so much to see and admire when visiting Birds Botanicals and the pictures just do not do it justice. I am sure this location will be a hit on the tour. www.birdsbotanicals.com

Next week I need to really get some farms checked, I am running a little behind. WE have had so many new Sunday vendors apply this year that checking their farms and the Market’s contracted vendors farms have kept me really busy. But what a great way to spend the day!