Red Stick Farmers Market

My Saturday morning routine includes a visit to the Red Stick Farmers Market. This week, I remembered my camera, and I want to share with you why I love the market as I do.

I started my morning with a pint of Smith's Creamery chocolate milk. I normally get a half-gallon of chocolate milk for Drew just before heading home, but since he's galavanting about the country, I treated myself first thing!

I love seeing all the fresh produce! This time of year is fabulous for tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes! Glaser's Produce Farm has a fantastic variety from which to choose, and Fletcher Farms, from whom I bought my strawberries for the fabulous strawberry vodka, now has some of the prettiest tomatoes around.

Of course, Chenier Farms has excellent Brandywine and other tomatoes, too, and other vendors have grape and cherry tomatoes. Mmm mmmm good!

Eggplants take center stage, too. So many varieties to choose from! Here are a couple of choices from Glaser's Produce Farm.

Squash and onions get along famously ... I can get my fill of each from many vendors, but here are some selections from Chenier Farm.

Chenier Farm also sells the best honey around and is my supplier for fuyu (or kaki, as some call them) persimmons. These persimmons won't be ripe until the fall, but trust me: they are worth a try! They are not like the tart American persimmons, but are instead sweet when green and crisp or orange and fully ripe. Oh, how I love a fuyu persimmon!

Another great combination is goat cheddar cheese with apples! When I was in high school, my dear friend Eve introduced me to this combo, and I've been grateful ever sine. Here, I've selected Ryals' Goat Farm cheddar cheese to accompany Beard's Farm freshly picked apples ... ahhh, it doesn't get much yummier than this:

My favorite new farm is Robertson Organic Farm. It's located in Baton Rouge, and is one of the few farms that is actually certified organic. I couldn't resist a carton of okra ... olive oil, Tony Cachere's, and a grill are all you need to make a tantalizing okra!

I like to get extra okra to slice and freeze for a nice winter gumbo, too! And what is perfect with gumbo? Fresh file, of course ... and rice! I like to watch Uncle Bill grind the sassafras roots into his famous Creole File, and I love the smell of Cajun Grain's organic brown jasmine rice cooking on the stove. Just thinking about this makes me want a bowl of gumbo, till I remember that it's nearly 100* every day.

Of course, there are a few people that everyone knows. Mr. Buddy loves giving out pecan samples from his Plantation Pecan Company, but this time of year, his booth features peaches!

The blueberry farm dude (a.k.a. the black bear dude, since he is one of the Louisiana black bear experts, as well) is eagerly waited for each year. His farm is not certified organic, but employs organic methods in its fields.

Mila loves sharing growing tips with interested market goers. I buy almost all of my plants from Greenhand Nursery because of Mila's extensive knowledge and gorgeous plants.

Or, if you don't grow your own flowers, you can pick up a bouquet from one of several vendors.

This week, there was a fun game: "Guess How Many Tomatoes!" I didn't win.

And most weeks, there is a demonstration of some sort. This week, Forte Grove Bakery based in Plaquemine, Louisiana provided the entertainment with a canning demonstration.

I oscillate between Forte Grove and SaySaye's Village Bakery. I just love SaySaye's braided French bread and apricot spread!

Of course, there is other entertainment, too! There is sometimes a kids' booth with kid-oriented activities, or maybe an informational booth from the Master Gardeners' Association, or a useful thing like the knife sharpening skills of Doyle Hanson.

And music: of course there is music. No Louisiana function is complete without music! There are different musicians playing outside every week, and sometimes the dulcimer society has a jam session inside.

I admit that I can sit for hours listening to the musicians who grace the market with sound each week.

But there is so much more, too! There's the *other* goat cheese vendor, Belle Ecore, whose venture began because somebody gave her two goats ...

... and Nur's Kitchen, with delicious hummus (also available at Whole Foods), stuffed grape leaves, and my favorite red lentil balls ...

... and fresh seafood and meat and chicken and eggs ...

... and, well, why don't you try it for yourself? There are so many more choices and more vendors than I can possibly mention here!

And, on the first Saturday of each month, the farmers are joined by artists for the Arts Market ... but it would take another entry to describe the wonders of the arts.

See you Saturday! I'll be there bright and early.

Wow, it's hot.

Wow, it's hot. June 1st ... over 100*. June 2 ... over 100*. June 3rd ... yep, you get the idea.

And windy! We have had a very windy spring this year, with 10 - 20 mph winds being the norm.

So what does all this mean for the garden? It is dry! There has been very little rain around here for the past four months, and the plants have to be watered quite frequently. I have been watering every other day, but the combination of heat and wind this week has resulted in a need for daily watering, especially of the vegetables.

The good news is that although it is too hot for most of the tomatoes to set fruit, the strawberry tomatoes seem to like the heat. Not only is the first strawberry tomato finally ripening, but it is a prolific producer: one vine has well over 100 tomatoes set right now! It is such a sweet variety, and I've only tried the ones from the store. I cannot wait to sample freshly picked ones and see how sweet these really can be!

The dinner plate hibiscus is another summer garden keeper. This plant loves the heat and produces quite a fantastic display once it starts blooming. It's gotten plenty of water since it is surrounded by veggies, but the lack of rain has resulted in a slightly smaller bloom than usual. Still, nearly 11" across isn't too bad!

I hear thunder outside right now, but there is no evidence of water falling from the sky to relieve my poor, dry gardens. Amazingly, the water just 50 yards away - the Mississippi River is at flood stage - is about 20' higher than my yard at the moment. Thankfully, that water is safely behind a levee!

Fortunately, however, the fruit trees seem to be okay. The high water table because of the river and the long roots of the fruit trees have kept them healthy, despite our strange weather pattern this year.