New Way to Farmers Market, and it’s time to get gardening!

COVID-19 Update

As things continue to change with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Market makes adjustments to how we are ensuring local food access for all.  For at least the next four weeks, the Market has moved to entirely online pre-order/pre-pay and pick-up only.  We have limited the number of customers for our Thursday and Saturday pick-ups, and currently both of those days are filled.  However, we will likely open up more spots in the coming weeks.  We currently have a waitlist and we recommend anyone who is interested in shopping to add their name to the waitlist at fcmarket.localfoodmarketplace.com.  Follow us on social media for updates. 

We want to give a special thank you to our wonderful vendors, who have adjusted so well during these trying times.  They have adapted to our new system and are going above and beyond with offering alternative purchasing option (outside of the market).  Make sure to thank your farmer for all of their work to ensure you have local and healthy food!

Welcome new vendors! 

Please help us give a special welcome to our new vendors for 2020!  Follow them on social media and look out for them at the market (many are participating in online ordering).  Our new vendors include: Bourbon & Grace (food truck), Good Grub and Tweets, Essentially Hemp, Bluebird Hill Farm, Taproot Nursery, Two Mile Creek Wood Works, Hither Blooms, Mulberry Orchard, Bluegrass Beef, Bagdad Blooms, Grace Amanda Art, Devers Beef, and Frondosa Farms.  Welcome vendors!

Online Ordering offers an abundance of items including plants

Our online ordering system offers a one-stop-shop for our customers to order from most of our Franklin County Farmers Market vendors.  There are a variety of vegetables, especially greens right now, but other items too like asparagus and radishes.  Meats include beef, pork, goat, and lamb, and vendors are also offering a variety of eggs.  There are many baked good options like bagels, breads, and desserts.  Our online store also offers spices and canned products as well as body care products.  

Plants are another offering from our vendors.  Now, in addition to being able to order your groceries online, you can also order flowers and/or vegetables for your garden!  Stone Fence Farm and Salad Days Farm are offering many varieties of tomato plants, and Salad Days Farm has many pepper varieties.  Brooks Hill Farm is offering a variety of plants from jade and aloe plants to fruit bushes (black raspberry and Alpine strawberry).  Bluebird Hill Farm is offering a wide selection of bareroot daylilies to make your garden gorgeous (check out their many beautiful options when you are ordering).  Potted flower offerings also include snowdrops and hanging baskets with pansies.  Herb plants are being offered by Dandelion Ridge Farm, Brooks Hill Farm, and Salad Days Farm; offerings include yarrow, thyme, sage, parsley, rosemary, oregano, mint, comfrey, cilantro, chive, and basil.  As you begin to work on your garden, keep in mind that many vendors have these offerings, making it so easy to have a beautiful flower garden and a bountiful veggie garden!

Facebook Fun

Maybe, like me, you’re a little bored while staying healthy at home.  Well, we’ve got great news!  We have been doing many new things on Facebook to keep you engaged and entertained.  Follow us on Facebook @franklincountyfarmersmarketky to see cooking videos and gather your kids around to read a book in our storytime videos.  We are also offering a special activity for youth (17 and younger).  Thanks to a generous donation from Bluegrass Realty, we are doing Farmers Market Kids Challenges with a prize for participants.  The challenges will go on for as long as we continue social distancing and staying healthy at home, but if you (your kids) participate in ½ of all the challenges we put out, you will receive $10/child to spend at the market (max $30/family).  So far, the challenges we have done are to plant a seed (or show us something you have already planted), and to try a new recipe.  To enter, send us a picture or video of your child(ren) completing the challenge to our Facebook page over Messenger.  We can’t wait to see!

What We’re Eating Now

This week, we tried a new recipe with goat meat, which we had never tried.  It was a spin on PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps, but we made it with local ground goat meat.  I was actually missing a lot of ingredients, but we made some substitutions and it was so good!  It is one of the better recipes I have tried recently.  Later this week, I am planning to make gnocchi.  I found a recipe for sweet potato gnocchi and I have some local sweet potatoes I still need to use.  What are you cooking this week?  Share with us on Facebook or Instagram! 

Pre-Order Only Market Coming this Saturday, Apr. 4th

Pre-Order and Drive-Thru ONLY Market

In an effort to keep our vendors and customers happy and healthy, we will be doing a pre-order/drive-thru only market this weekend at our regular location, the Farmers Market Pavilion at River View Park in Frankfort (corner of Wilkinson & Broadway).  Customers must pre-order through each vendor by Thursday, Apr. 2nd at noon, and the availability and contact info of attending vendors is on our Facebook page and website (FCmarket.org).  There will be NO WALK-UPS.

The Market will function as a drive-thru, and customers will not get out of their vehicles.  Walkers and bicycles who have placed orders are still welcome; we will have a place for you to wait while we gather your order.  Customers with last names beginning A-L will pick up orders from 10am-11am and customers with last names beginning M-Z will pick up orders from 11am-noon.  The Market drive-thru will not open until 10am to allow vendors the time to set-up.

We love that the market is a community gathering place, and it feels really strange to ask folks to stay away. However, this Saturday it is important that customers come to the market, pick up their orders, and go home.  Saturday is not the day for chatting with vendors or friends - even through the window of a car - and we really need everyone’s help in keeping the market - and our community - safe and healthy.  If you haven’t placed an order, wave to us from the street if you drive past, but please don’t stop by to visit. 

Please also give us some grace during this market as it is our first time doing this format.  You may face a wait in the drive-thru or for your food to be delivered to you, or you may have missed the order period all together - just know we are doing our best!

We are also working hard making plans for the start of the regular market season on April 18th.  We will be offering fresh, local products to the community in one way or another on that day; stay tuned for more details!  Follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information, and some other fun, too!  I’ve been working on fun videos and activities for our Facebook page including cooking demos and book readings.  We will also be starting fun kid challenges soon with the opportunity to win some money to spend at the market!

What can I do if I didn’t get my pre-order in?

We have some pretty great farmers at our Market, and many are going above and beyond during this time.  If you didn’t have a chance to order, there are still other ways for you to support our local farmers and access fresh, healthy food.  Some are offering pick-up at their farms, and even delivery, outside of the regular-scheduled markets.  See the list below for farmers who are offering these services and follow our Facebook/visit our website for the most-up-to-date list and further information. 

Bramble & Birds: Contact John and Susan at jwweibel55@gmail.com or (502)592-1341 for pick-up/delivery of pastured chicken, turkey, and eggs.

Dandelion Ridge Farm: Contact Abbie at abbie@dandelionrdigefarmky.com for pick-up/delivery of fresh and dried herbs, herb plants, preserves, edible violets, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.

Hundred Happy Acres: Call or text Emily at (513)535-1617 for delivery/pick-up of pork, goat, and lamb.

Kuhndog Ridge Farm: Contact Jack at Kuhndogridgefarm@kuhndog.net or (502)545-6566 (call or text) for delivery (to market pavilion) of honey.  You can also order online at www.kunhdog.net.

Mefford Family Farms/Bluegrass Meadows Beef: Contact Diana at meffhogan@yahoo.com or (502)545-0574 (call or text) for pick-up/delivery (to market pavilion) of Belgian blue beef.

Salad Days Farm: Contact Maggie at maggie@saladdaysfarm.com or (859)396-2966 for pick-up of greens, microgreens, and pea shoots.  An online farm store will open soon for daily access.

Three Hill Farm: Contact Jessica, preferably through Facebook messenger (@3hillfarm) or call (502)535-0077, for eggs.

What We’re Eating Now

This week, I made kale chips (see demo video on Facebook), and they were delicious!  I’m also planning to make some pesto with some local microgreens.  I’ve never made pesto with microgreens, but I saw someone else doing it on the internet and thought I’d give it a try.  We’ve also been trying to support local restaurants during this trying time for them due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  So far, we’ve tried a local pizza place and a Greek restaurant.  Both were delicious!  What are you cooking (or ordering from restaurants) this week?  Share with us on Facebook or Instagram. 

COVID-19 Update

Update for Market Community

Our farmers are busy producing great food, and many are finding novel ways to feed our community. The market board and staff are working hard to help the farmers market respond to the rapidly changing situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to keeping everyone safe and healthy, connecting our community with local food, and supporting all our local producers.

We are planning to have our last winter market on Saturday, April 4, from 10 am -12 noon. This will be a pre-order only market where customers will need to place orders in advance for curbside pick-up at the market on April 4. Ordering details will be available mid next week. We plan to open for the regular market season as planned on Saturday, April 18 and are planning for an online ordering/curbside pick-up option.

As always, we are grateful to be part of this amazing community, and we’ll keep you updated here about the market’s plans. We’ll also be sharing information about alternate ways that you may be able to source fresh, local food. Thanks for your support and be well!

Health and Honey

COVID-19 Update

We are living in un-precedented times and things will be very different for the next few months.  I encourage you to take care of yourself, take time to celebrate the coming of spring, and perhaps try a new recipe or make a meal to drop off for a friend.    

Currently, the Market has the last pop-up winter market planned for Apr. 4th with the regular season opening Saturday, April 18.  The market board is working diligently to figure out how to best continue providing fresh food for the community while following guidelines from the CDC, and things may change.  We will keep you updated in the coming weeks on our social media, in our e-newsletters, and through this column.  Follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information as we strive to ensure the health of our community while meeting the need for consumers to access healthy food and farmers to provide it.

Featured Food: Honey

Featured Food is a new part of this column that we will feature once a month.  Each month, I will interview farmers from the Market that produce a certain food or food type and will then introduce you to the production process of that food.

This month’s featured food is honey!  Honey, to me, is the perfect natural sweetener that I use in everything from desserts to homemade granola bars to sweetening my coffee to putting on bread and more.  Honey is good for more than just eating too: it has antibacterial properties that assist in the healing of wounds, and many people use it for soothing sore throats and coughs.  I like to buy local honey not only because I know where it is coming from and how it was made, but also because it helps with my seasonal allergies. 

We have many vendors who sell honey at the Market, and several who specialize in it, focusing on honey almost exclusively.  This includes Kuhndog Ridge Farm, Lazy Dog Honey, and the Capital City Beekeepers Association.

Both Jack (Kuhndog Ridge) and John (Lazy Dog) have been beekeeping for over 10 years, and when I asked them both what their favorite part about beekeeping was, they had surprisingly similar answers.  Jack says “It never ceases to amaze me as to how organized the beehive social structure functions,” with John pointing out that “the rewards include being presented with new, sometimes inexplicable, observations when working in the hives”.  Fascination surrounds honeybees as they have social structure with one reproductive queen and thousands of drones (males) and worker bees (females) who all work together to ensure success of the colony.  Jack tells us that “it’s one superorganism of 20,000-50,000 bees, each having their own job and doing it without being told.  While there is only one queen bee in a hive, the queen is not in charge.  The female worker bees decide where, how much, and what sex of bee she will lay”.

Honey is created through a process of flower nectar collection by bees and natural processing (they store nectar in their crop, which is not their digestive stomach, and regurgitate it, breaking it down into simpler sugars[1]).  It is then stored in the honeycomb, where the constant fanning by the bees’ wings causes evaporation and thus, creation of the thick, sweet liquid.  A hive will produce around 65 lbs. of surplus honey each year, which is the honey beekeepers harvest[2].  Honey from different beekeepers, locations, and bees tastes different.  Jack explains that because of different bloom periods of flowers and plants, honey harvests taste different.  He says “Our first harvest is in early June and yields the light and sweet black locust honey…Our second and third harvests are in June and July, [and are] a mix of locust, clover and summer wildflowers.  Our summer harvest is in August and our fall harvest is in late September and will be clover, summer and fall blooming flowers…Fall harvest is generally darker honey with fuller flavor, often with a toffee taste from the Astor flow[er].  The spring honey is the lightest and delicately sweet tasting.”

You may be wondering how do the bees stay alive in winter?  John explained to me that beekeepers provide supplemental feed (sugar water or fructose) in preparation for winter that allows the bees to build up food stores before winter.  Jack adds that “they will need this to generate heat to keep the hive at a about 90 degrees year-round, even when it’s zero degrees outside!  We also feed the bees a winter patty (a moist sugar with essential nutrients)…”

Beekeeping comes with its challenges too.  Pests, such as mites, beetles, and moths, as well as diseases pose a threat to the honeybee.  John summarizes by saying “keeping the colonies healthy during the entire calendar year is complicated and increasingly expensive.  And, the most difficult part is being confronted with a colony that has died despite that effort.”

If you’ve thought about beekeeping, John and Jack both encouraged education, whether through local bee clubs like the Capital City Beekeepers Association, bee schools, reading books, and/or having a mentor.  Educational information can be found on the website for Capital City Beekeepers Association at https://capitalbees.weebly.com/. 

Have I convinced you of how cool honey is yet?? 

What We’re Eating Now

As last weekend was one of the Pop-Up Winter Markets, I am enjoying lots of local deliciousness this week!  For breakfast yesterday, I enjoyed oatmeal with Lazy Dog honey with southern pecans: delicious!  Lunch and dinners this week will consist of lots of salads with locally-grown lettuce and spinach from Cedar Ring Greens.  We enjoyed Hundred Happy Acres brats yesterday and later this week, I’m going to make pasta with roasted tomato coulis from Dandelion Ridge Farm with ground beef and honey wheat bread from Mefford Family Farm.  I also look forward to breakfast with farm-fresh eggs from Happy Jacks Farm and homemade

[1] https://news.ncsu.edu/2013/06/how-do-bees-make-honey/

[2] https://www.honey.com/about-honey/how-honey-is-made