Last week I pulled out my hat, to
ward off the heat, and headed to King City, Missouri. Justin Cottrell rode
along with me today to visit the Wells Family Farm. Justin is one of the owners
of KC Commercial Reality Co. which is the management company for the City
Market. www.kccommercialrealty.com
The Wells Family Farm raises
mostly black Angus cattle which are all grass fed but with a variety of
grasses. The Wells herds appeared to be very contented cows. We drove to each
pasture to check on the herd only to find them grazing along the tree line, I
think they had more sense than we did. At one point about forty cows headed
towards us at a full gallop, they thought we had food. Needless to say we high tailed
it out of there, when I am told to run I don’t ask why.
Since we were already in King
City we dropped by to see Donna and Daryl Clausen at Lost Creek Farm. I knew
Daryl was out of town at an elderberry conference but Donna and their son Todd
met us when we arrived. Normally I would have found Donna busy in the kitchen
baking for Saturday’s market, but this week she had opted to stay home so Todd
would be at the Market selling produce. Growing elderberries is new to Daryl
but you would not know that if you saw the plants, they look amazing. It sounds
like there is a lot of work involved in the harvesting of the berries but they
can be used for making wine, jellies, syrup and pies. They were just beginning
to flower when I was there and from what Donna told me the berries are super
small. In addition to elderberries the Clausen have planted cabbage, beets,
eggplant, squash, potatoes, onions, okra, cucumbers and watermelons. They
received so much rain in May they had to replant some items three times,
however things are looking great now.
Today I stayed near KC and
started my day off in Platt City at Rivers Edge Farm. This is a family farm
that has been in the Oberdiek family since 1880, in fact the road is named
after them. They currently farm 900 acres of corn, soybeans and hogs. Fifteen
acres of the 900 are dedicated to growing for farmers markets. At present they sell
at the City Market on Saturdays, Sundays and some Wednesdays, the Parkville
Market and the Leavenworth Market. Zach oversees the greenhouse which is filled
with 1200 tomato plants which produce about 2,000 pounds of tomatoes per week.
Tomatoes grown in controlled environments do not have the same imperfections as
tomatoes which are grown in the field and can be started much earlier. Zach set
the tomatoes in February this year. Gary told me they are really late in
getting many of the plants in due to the heavy rain in May, by heavy I mean 4
inches in an hour and was so deep it covered the mounded plastic covered rows.
Now they are dealing with too little rain and extreme heat. They were able to
get green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe and squash
planted. The watermelon should be ready in August, I can’t wait!
Just a short distance down the
road and I arrive at Dry Lake Farm. Addie and Lloyd Horn have been vendors at
the City Market since 2005. Lloyd handles the farming and Addie has a licensed
kitchen built on the side of their home where she bakes wonderful pies, cookies
and cinnamon rolls. Lucky for me Addie just pulled cookies out of the oven when
I arrived and I got a sample of a double chocolate chunk cookie, made my day.
Making pies were next on her to do list; she was working on portioning out the
crust. Lloyd drove me around the fields; he has had a tuff time this year. Hail
beat down his plants three times in the spring, last year he dealt with flooding.
He had a bunch of candy onions he had already pulled; they were drying in the
garage. As we drove through the rows of onions in the field Lloyd pulled one
for me to take home, there is nothing better than a fresh onion. He hopes to
have cherry tomatoes ready to bring soon and he has some zucchini ready to pick
now. I always enjoy my visit with the Horns and look forward to it every year.
You will find Dry Lake Farm is the third covered pavilion, most Saturdays, in
stalls 126-128.
One more farm to visit in the
same area along 45 highway. Floyd (Davie) Mc Farland and his son Mike have been
Vending at the Market for years and years. I know that Floyd eats lunch exactly
ant noon so I waited till 1:00 P.M. to stop in. He was just getting ready to go
back out in the field to till in between a few more rows to help control the
weeds. Floyd, like many of the farmers, is in dire need of rain. The tomato
plants are flowering to only have the flower drop off in the dirt. This is very
sad after all the work that has gone in to getting the plants to this point. Once
we get a little moisture Floyd will have a wonderful variety of vegetables in
his stalls. Floyd and his son are at the Market every Saturday in the first
covered pavilion in Stalls 0 – 3.
My last stop for the day will be
in air-conditioning, thank goodness. Like the farmers, I also visit the craft
vendors to verify that the items they are selling at the Market are made by
them. Kari Thomas lives close to the City Market so the perfect last stop for
the day. Kari makes a variety of items by hand so her booth should be pretty
interesting. When I visit crafters who sew items I look to see if they have a
large amount of materiel, lots of spools of thread, interfacing, patterns etc.
Kari had all of the above. For more information about Kari - On –Bags visit her
website at .etsy.com kari-on-bags
Next Week I am heading to
Buckner, Missouri which is located east of Kansas City.
Don’t forget to stop by the
Wednesday evening market; although it is a much smaller version of the weekend
market you will still be able to restock your fresh vegetables. The Wednesday
hours are 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
