This week’s trip is one of the farthest I will do this year. By the time we got home we were in three states, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, for a total of 636 miles and 15 hours. I always take a little company with me on this trip just in case I need a relief driver so Deb Churchill, Property Manager for the City Market volunteered.

We started by working our way south on 71 highway to Carthage, Mo to visit Craig Hansen, Hillside Farms. Craig has one crop, elephant garlic, and has spent much time researching the best growing method for garlic and after much trial and error produces a wonderful product. The garlic is planted in the fall using compose that he starts in the spring and makes out of turkey manure and wood-chips, I was surprised it did not have a bad odor. (Yes I smelled it!) This year’s crop is almost ready to harvest. Once the garlic is harvested the tops are cut off and the outer skin is peeled away to allow the bulb to dry. This process is always done with gloves since the garlic oil can burn your skin after handling the bulbs for prolonged periods of time. The drying process is done on large specially designed racks with multiple fans operating at all time to keep the air circulating. If all goes well Craig plans to be back at the Market on Saturday July 5^th. Craig’s stalls are located in the 2^nd farmers shed space 89. 

We continued south on highway 71 to Seneca, Missouri. Seneca is home to the Lee Family who have been vendors at the City Market for seven years. They are farming three locations this year, like many of our farmers they are expanding. In addition to the fields next to their home they have a field about a mile away and another near Freeman, Mo.   The Lee family grows a variety of eggplants which range in size, shape, color and flavor, a few I have never seen before. As always their field looked good. I am always amazed by the amount of rock they have to work around in the fields. You will find them at the Market every Saturday, up to the first frost, in pavilion three stalls 116 – 118.

  

Our next stop is Anderson ,Missouri which is a small town located on hwy 59. The Xiong family farm location makes me happy that we now have 4 wheel drive on the markets truck. The farm is located down a rocky lane, we had to stop and open a gate which is in place to keep in the cows, drive through the field and through another gate to reach the farm.  Nhia and daughter showed us through the fields pointing out many unique items they sell to various ethnic shoppers at the market. Some are used in salads, stir-fry’s, and for seasoning; many of which are very bitter and definitely an acquired taste. The purple peas where very beautiful and a favorite with many of the Markets’ early morning shoppers. These peas are not meant to be eaten raw since they are very bitter, but once cooked they are delicious. The Xiong’s have started farming a new section of land since we visited last year; they are farming approximately 6 acres with no more than 4 or 5 people to help.  Nhia is always looking for a new item to introduce to his customers a few I was not familiar with was chayote, moringa and dinosaur kale. The Xiong’s are at the Market every Saturday in pavilion two stalls 84-86.

After leaving Anderson we headed farther south to Summers, AR to the farm of Mainhia Moua, who happens to be Nhia Xiong's cousin. We found Mainhia and her husband busy in the field trying to finish up before a fast approaching rain storm hit. Their farm was beautiful with very few weeds, I was really impressed since they have had a lot of rain and heat, just what weeds like. Mainhia graciously showed us through her fields. The brussels sprouts would be ready soon, what a cool plant. They also were growing purple sweet potatoes, assorted peppers, beets, flowers and much more. The rain started to come in heavy so we ran for the truck. I hope we will see them at the Sunday Market soon but I would be a little surprised since it is at least a four hour drive to Kansas City.

Back in the truck we head NE to Springfield, Missouri. Deb and I wanted to visit the Farmers Market of the Ozarks Thursday evening market. This market is about two years old and is part of a brand new shopping center. Basically the shopping center was built with the farmers market in mind. This market is managed by Lane McConnel and was fairly busy for a week night. We looked like such tourist walking around taking pictures. I love to visit other farmer markets but never really am able to. There is another farmers market in Springfield, the Greater Springfield Farmers Market. Their Thursday market ended at noon so we were not able to get there on time.

We grabbed a quick dinner and headed home. We had a long day but I always enjoy visiting with the vendors away from the hustle of the Market. Next week I will be going solo and heading north of the river.

It seems like it has been raining every Thursday for the last few weeks, I am so ready to have a sunny dry day to visit farms. I got a late start again this week so I thought I would visit two farms which are located on the same road in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. In the past I knew these two farms have had some issues with flooding from a nearby creek so I was not surprised to see a section of the road covered in water. I stopped where I was and called Kaying Lor to see if it was safe to cross over the creek since the water was not rushing. He told me that it was not a good idea and I took his word for this. Last year they were working in their fields and the creek suddenly rose and they had water up to the doors of their van, I wanted no part of that so gladly turned around.

Just up the road from Kaying Lor is the farm of Dennis and Youa Thao. They have two locations they farm in this area, one of which is on the other side of the flooded creek and the other is surrounded by bobbed wire and has a locked gate. Since I could not reach Dennis on the phone it looks like I will be heading back to Pleasant Hill in the near future.

As I head towards Leeton, Missouri I was sort of dreading the long uphill curvy drive I knew I would have to drive up to reach Janette and Don Neal’s home, especially since it was still raining. What a relief when I saw that the drive was in good shape. I found Janette busy baking bread to take to Sedalia to sale at their Friday farmers market, it smelled wonderful. Janette will bake bread on Friday to bring to the City Market on Saturday. The Neal’s put in a licensed kitchen a couple years ago in a n effort to extend their season, they are usually at the Saturday market during the winter. Janette quickly showed me what was left in their greenhouse and what they had planted in the surrounding fields, we did this as she watched the time so she would not burn the batch of bread she had in the oven. The fields close to their home get rotated every year and are currently planted with green beans, cherry tomatoes, okra, melons and a few more items which were just too muddy to reach. Janette and Don played tag team today showing me around. Don got in the truck and we drove to their main field which is about three miles from their home. This is where the bulk of their produce is grown. Don and I maneuvered around the large puddles and mud past 600 foot rows of beautiful cabbage, tomatoes, fennel, broccoli, watermelon, cantaloupe and purple kohlrabi.  Bristle Ridge farm grows a major amount of candied onions, 40,000 to be exact. The large onions were peeking out of the ground, I know what I will be buying on Saturday. The Neal’s sell at the City Market every Saturday and Sunday for most of the year and are located in shed 3 stalls 112-115 on Saturday and shed 2 stalls 57-59 on Sunday.

Next week we are off to Arkansas, Seneca, Anderson, Carthage and Springfield.

When I started out today I thought for sure I would be soaked and a muddy mess by the end of the day. But luckily the rain stopped shortly after I left the office. I traveled in a pretty large loop this week hitting Gladstone, Westphalia, KS and Kansas City, KS on the way back.

 

I was excited to start my day out by visiting a new Artist Crafter vendor, Linda Morrison. Linda is a retired home re-modeler who now makes acoustic and electric cigar box guitars and ukuleles, how cool is that! She has been doing this for the past 3 years and even teaches a class for local children on how to build their own. When I arrived she played a little tune for me on an electric variety and it sounded great. Linda explained that the sound will vary depending on the type and size of the cigar box. She makes them with either a slide or fretted depending on the musicians’ preference. We went to her workshop and saw a guitar she is currently working on and her stash of cigar boxes which she gets from a local cigar store. They are truly a work of love; Linda admitted she has a little trouble selling them since each one is so special to her. The guitars range from $175.00 to $210.00. Linda will be selling at the Sunday farmers market off and on throughout the year.

 By the time I left Gladstone the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking out. It takes about two hours to get to Westphalia, KS from Kansas City. Westphalia is south of KC off of I-35. My timing was perfect, as I pulled in the Heck’s driveway Ashton was just finishing his lunch and had time to give me a look at their fields. The Heck family’s main crop is sweet corn but they also raise melons to bring to the Market. The green house tomatoes they raise are sold closer to home so never make it to the City Market. A few hours before I arrived they had a storm go through which provided a little rain but the winds did a number on the corn, the stalks had a little lean going on but Ashton said they would straighten back up. The Heck’s grow 3 varieties of corn on 45 acres and bring corn to the City Market for most of the summer. You will be happy to know their corn is tasseling and should we ready in about two weeks, I can’t wait. You will find the Heck family at the Market on Saturdays on the east end of all three covered farmer sheds, stalls 41, 52 and 143.

My last stop for the day is at Juniper Gardens in Kansas City, Kansas. Juniper Gardens is operated by Catholic Charities and is their location for the New Roots for Refugees program. New Roots for Refugees help refugee women start their own small farm business growing and selling vegetables. These women come to the United States with significant agricultural experience and this program gives them the help they need to get started. The facility currently has 8 acres which is divided up among 17 farmers; each farmer gets a ¼ acre plot. The facility is equipped with a large cooler which is divided up among each farmer. They also have a wonderful wash area where all the vegetables can be washed before bringing them to the Market. The plots I visited today belong to Hai Li Mar and Sa Je Dar who are both from Burma and Oma Dar and Mee Nge.  All the plots looked beautiful and were full of cabbage, greens, garlic, onions and herbs. All four new vendors will be setting up at the market on Sunday and I am sure they will continue to do so throughout the summer.

Not sure where I will head next week but I plan to head down to the Joplin area on the 19^th. The Joplin trip is always a long day so I usually take Deb Churchill, the Property Manager for the Market with me. It helps to have someone to talk to on a long trip.