I took a break from the Wednesday night farmers market to update my blog. The days have gotten away from me again. Tonight we have two vendors selling produce; one of these is Bryson’s Farm Fresh Produce from Hale, Missouri. I visited the Bryson’s a couple weeks ago and got a great tour of the farm from Doug and Pat who do much of the day-to-day work on the farm. Joe’s farm has really evolved over the years since my first visit in 2004. At that time, the farm was much smaller and did not have three greenhouses and a nice walk in cooler. A couple of years ago they added an additional 40 acres to their farm and recently added a pond which was funded by a grant. This new pond provides water to the back part of their fields. The Bryson’s grow a wonderful variety of products to bring to the Market every Saturday and Sunday year round. This year they are growing fourteen varieties of heirloom tomatoes, if you have not tried heirloom tomatoes you are in for a treat. Their backfield contain four varieties of watermelons (they planted 1200 plants) cantaloupe and 3,000 fat jack pumpkins plants, that is a lot of vines to maneuver. When I visited, they were busy getting their fall plantings in so they can continue vending at the Market through Christmas. You will find Bryson’s Farm Fresh Produce in pavilion one and two on Saturdays and in pavilion two on Sundays. For additional information, visit their website at www.brysonsfarm.com

On my way back to Kansas City, I met up with Marlin Frye in Lexington, Missouri. Marlin and his Son Mark are vendors at the City Market and get a portion of the produce they bring to the Market from Marlins other sons farm in Lexington. This is the location where they harvest field tomatoes and greenhouse tomatoes, summer squash and zucchini. Not too far from Buckner, where they operate a country store and greenhouse, they lease land where they grow watermelons and pumpkins, which they sell to Price Chopper. At their greenhouses in Buckner, they grow hanging baskets for the spring and mums to sell in the fall. Both Mark and Marlin Frye fall in the Farmer with Local Supplement Category at the Market. This means they must grow at least 50% of everything they bring to the market and may supplement the other 50% as long as harvested within 500 miles of the City Market. Frye Farms supplements tomatoes in early summer and all of the peaches they sell. The peaches come from Beckner’s Orchard located in Waverly, Missouri. If you are looking for a fun day trip in the fall, around the end of September, Frye Farms host a day where they make sorghum the old fashion way, it is something worth seeing. You will find Frye Farms in pavilion three on Saturdays and Sundays and Fresh Maters, Mark’s business; in pavilion one on Saturday and Sunday.

I will head out again tomorrow; I just need to decide in which direction.