What wonderful pictures! And what great booths you have at your market! Wow if we had produce and baked goods like that at ours I'd be there regularly! Those mushrooms look amazing. Glad it was a good day for you in spite of the weather. Do you feel like you make enough money for it to be worth it?

The mushrooms! Oh my! Everything looks so lush and wonderful. I'd love some close ups of your baked goods.

Why would anyone need a fire pit to be 20 feet tall? I don't understand. A pit goes the other direction, doesn't it?

I wonder if you could plant the bottoms of the celery and grow some new shoots.

Eileen

Here is a link that might be useful: Regrowing celery from the base.

Wow, great report! You could do the PR work for the FM.

I love the fall leaves in the background. Makes me want to do a road trip.

Nancy, are you still without your canopy? I hope you didn't get wet, but I'm glad you did so well.

Cathy, start north, the colors are beautiful right now.

Annie

Thanks for the report, Nancy. I have never, never, ever seen mushrooms like that-I must not get out much. Those carrots, celery, everything, looks great. I'm glad the weather cooperated again with you. Stay warm.

Another great report. OMG, those mushrooms! I could do serious damage with those. Mixed creme of mushroom soup comes to mind. Thanks for checking in Nancy. Glad you are still doing well despite the weather! NancyLouise

I live in a cave on Mars. Maybe that strange spaceship thing that's been crawling around here taking pictures recently has some of those marvelous mushrooms on board? I've sure never seen anything like them up close and personal! Wow!

Great pictures. Glad you're still doing so well.

/tricia

Great photos Nancy. Love the wild mushrooms.

I didn't realize that the celery was called European celery. I bought some of the same at our Farmer's Market last Sunday and from a vendor with the same name - Providence Farm.

~Ann

Blueiris...profit? LOL...I'm not keeping track of every expense but I do set my prices on cost of the ingredients and time spent actually making things. The biggest payback for me is that I am doing something I enjoy and getting out among people. I could treat it more as a job and do more but need to build up gradually. I just started handing out a little flyer about doing special orders....

Eileen, it is a ground level pit but they need to get the smoke up and a way from downtown.

Annie, I fixed the canopy and then it broke again...it was just a cheap one for my first year. There are only two more markets outside then we move inside for winter and spring. I won't need a canopy until June. Plenty of time to see if I'll even want to continue. If I do, I'll buy a good one for next year.

Ann, guess it's a good name for a farm... I love the celery. I used some in a fritata last night and it tasted really good.

Glad to hear that the pictures are appreciated and that you like the mushrooms. Thanks.

Nancy

Dang, I was hoping you'd be able to put that back together, I knew it had gotten broken. Ah well, only two more? Then you'll be at the library?

Annie

Starting Nov 1 we are in the library. I won't even need to take my own tables, they provide them.

Wizmom, I love the idea of a Farmer's Market at
the libary, (first 'r' purposely ommited), but
during the winter, is there any fresh produce
available, or is it just homemade goodies?
If that's the case, maybe it should be called:
Farmer's Bakesale? But, then again, maybe your
climate has fresh veggies in January?

lbpod, Nancy lives even further north in Michigan than I do, so there are not fresh vegetables in abundance. However, root vegetables store well and could conceivably be sold well into the winter. In addition, cold tolerant crops such as greens and lettuce are often grown in hoop houses or greenhouses. In addition, there is grass fed beef, pastured pork, organic chickens and turkeys, eggs, artisan cheeses made from local milk, etc. There are also dried beans, freshly ground grains, honey and maple syrup, fresh and dried herbs.

However, the vast majority is most likely going to be homemade goodies. Things like Nancy's jams and jellies, made from locally grown fruit, are still farmer's items and so they get sold at our farmer's markets. If I can get a cookie and a cup of coffee while I'm stopping by to pick up a dozen eggs and a jar of honey, well, that's a double bonus!

Annie

I love these reports too Nancy. I wish I was there right now to eat some of those caramel apple rolls. Yum.
Sherry

Thanks Annie, I forgot about all of that other stuff,
since our Farmer's Market doesn't have much of that.
But it's all wishful thinking, because there is no
room at our libary, cause they went ahead and filled
it up with books, sigh. But, with all the vacant
factories around you would think they could have
a market in one of those, during the winter.

Great report, Nancy! Sounds like you think like me when it comes to extra expenses like the canopy..."I won't need a canopy until June." Your baked goods sound fantastic as usual. I would love to find some of that European Celery down here - I think the celery leaves are the best part.

Teresa

Our library was just built a few years ago. They built it with the community room for events and the FM is perfect use.

Annie, right on! We have most of those things.

Teresa, you and I have always thought much along the same lines....

Nancy

Oh, Nancy, I just thought, maybe one of your fish mongers could be there, at least taking orders, since you're right on The Lake? (sigh) I suppose that's wishful thinking but it would sure be nice, you could do your grocery shopping before you ever went home and without going to the store!

I've eaten your baked goods and they're better than any I've had at the most upscale of restaurants and fancy bakeries, so I'm sure you will continue to do well. Some people might even like it inside better, not having to worry about weather.

lbpod, my library is small and full of books too, but most comunities have civic centers, conference rooms in their city hall, township buildings, etc. I only wish I could convince my small county that a year round farmer's market is a good idea. We have two summer markets in the county and they do a booming business in the summer, it would be nice to find all the vendors in one place in the winter too. We have two permanent farm markets but they close for the winter. One is having "pick your own chestnuts" right now, but that'll end the first week of November, then it will close.

I can go pick up local honey, maple syrup, organic locally made cheese, whatever, but it would sure be nice to do it all in one spot, under a roof, in a heated space, and with one of Nancy's cinnamon rolls and a cup of coffee!

Annie

I'm sure I can pick up things for a nice dinner. The mushroom people will be there and they always have a couple of different mushroom soups, their Lobster Mushroom Bisque is really good. The organic meat people have beef, pork and chicken. Then there's the turkey farm people, I've already ordered my T-Day turkey and she has many items made of turkey.
I bought a whole chicken and stuffed it just a couple of weeks ago and I'm making chicken and noodles for tonight using their thighs and my European Celery, organic carrots, onions and garlic.

Flash freezing and controlled storage is pretty common around here.

Most of the main vendors have all signed up for the winter market. I think it going to become a social thing for people to shop at it, even in the winter. There not much going on in the wintertime here. It is also centrally located to the downtown stores, county building and hospital. There is even a big parking lot.

Nancy

OOPS, I forgot to comment on the European Celery.
I have never seen it before, but it looks like something
I would chop up and freeze and use during our long, hard
winters, in zoup and other such winter dishes.
I'm going to research this and see if I can get some
seed and grow it in my garden next year. I've never
seen it in my local farmer's market, so I'll have
to DIY. The more celery leaves in a chicken zoup,
the better, (up to a point, of course).

It sounds wonderful, Nancy, I wish I werecloser. I think Michigan gets more beautiful the further North you go!

Annie