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he Oriental Farmers’ Market happens just about every Saturday morning throughout the year. The next one is on Saturday, February 4 from 8-11a on Hodges Street between South Water and the harbor.

What You’ll Find At This Week’s Oriental Farmers’ Market

Bob of Old Cypress Farm will have eggs from the hens he raises locally. These are pastured eggs. Also, French Black Copper Marin and Americana eggs.

Mel of Blue Bottle Gardens aims to return this week with bunches of winter greens – mustard, Russian red kale, Toscano kale, Swiss chard, bok choy and a salad mix. Also, radishes, cutting celery and jars of dried bay leaves. Possibly some beets.

Sandie of Academy Street Gardens will have greens, Italian salad mix, sweet potatoes, kale, arugula, among other things. She’ll also have 7-grain bread, freshly baked bagels, pasties and some pre-Valentine goodies, as well as granola. Jams and Jellies and probably some pies in the mix, too.

Pat of BeeBee’s Best is planning to be there with an array of baked goods: assorted fresh baked breads, great for your Super Bowl party. Croutons will be available for your special salad (Or make something special with her homemade crunchy bread crumbs — no additives or preservatives). Pat will also have homemade sugar peanuts to munch on along with cookies and homemade pound cake slices for dessert.

And our newest vendor, Dianne is at the market again this week with handmade earrings and lighted bottles. (Think Valentine gifts….)

What’s Coming Up At The Oriental Farmers’ Market Later This Winter and Spring

The Farmers’ Market Garden Yard Sale is happening on Saturday March 24.It’s a chance to get rid of those gardening things you no longer use, and a chance to pick up some good deals. Anything related to the garden is game. (Cookbooks and gardening books, too.) (Just let us know if you’re going to be selling…)

Dorita Boyd of Raindrop Ridge Herb Farm returns for her yearly visit to the Oriental Farmers’ Market on Saturday, April 7. She’ll have many selections of herb plants, including hard to find varieties, from her farm near Washington and Bath.

The market will celebrate Earth Day on Saturday April 21. More details soon…

Bob Lyon of Old Cypress Farm says that he “just bought another beef cow and hopes to buy more in the near future. My goal is to have at least four cows for breeding and raising the calves for beef. The next phase will be starting a herd of meat goats along with a few dairy goats. I have had success in making cheese from the fresh cows milk and want to try goat cheese.”

Over the winter and in to the spring, Blue Bottle Gardens is growing hard-neck garlic with a harvest estimated for June. In the meantime, Mel is also growing kales, chard, mustard, beets, radishes, and cutting celery to bring to market periodically.

Looking for Organically Raised Chicken and Meat in Oriental?

One more note: organically raised meats and poultry are easier to get in Oriental now. You can have your organic meats and get them delivered, too.

Genell Pridgen and her husband and her parents raise chickens, cows, pigs and lambs at their Rainbow Meadow Farms in Snow Hill. They also make bacon and sausage from the organically raised animals and all of it is in great demand from here to the Triangle. (And for good reason: the meats really do taste better than the mass-produced ones.)

What’s good for us is that Genell and her family come to Oriental every other weekend for some R&R from the hard work on their farm. Genell says that if Oriental Farmers’ Market customers want to order Rainbow Meadow meats on line, she can deliver them when she comes to Oriental. The Rainbow Meadow Farm website is http://www.rmfpasturepuremeats.com

A big “Thank You” for nurturing our grassroots….

The Oriental Market has been a truly grassroots effort since its start in July 2007 and we remain a grassroots effort. We get no funding from any source other than you when you come to the market. Now in to our fifth year, we send a big thanks to you for your support….

If you’re new to us, and if you are looking for locally grown, locally made food, some introductions are in order. Namely, we are as local as you are going to get, unless you grow it yourself. Throughout the year — all 12 months — you’ll find produce grown in gardens in Oriental and Pamlico County. Eggs laid by Pamlico County hens. Breads and other baked goods coming from local ovens. As well as plants and artisans’ work….

Most of our growers raise their produce without chemicals. Find out for yourself. Come on down and talk to the people who grow the food and ask them how they grew it. That’s the beauty of the Oriental Farmers’ Market. You can also ask about the chickens that lay the eggs and the baked goods that come from Oriental and Pamlico County kitchens and the artisans’ work and the plants….

The Oriental Farmers’ Market sign floated away in Hurricane Irene from its usual position outside the Wits’ End on Hodges Street. During the storm surge, it floated away and away and away and came to rest in a backyard in the SailLoft subdivision on the other side of the bridge. It’s since been returned to its home.

Our other Oriental Farmers’ Market sign came back home in late September, thanks to Bill Manger who found it while clearing trees near a friend’s home at Otter Creek. After floating 8/10ths of a mile away in Irene, the sign is a little heavier — with all the absorbed water — and needed a wash, but it’s back on Hodges Street to again let passersby know about the market.

Got A Recipe?

Want to share a recipe with the Oriental Farmers’ Market? We’re open to recipes for any thing that’s in season or sold at the market. Drop us a line here and we’ll post your recipe on the recipes page (To send the recipe, just click reply on this email.)

Come On Down And Sell At The Market

We welcome you to sell at the market if you have something that is locally made or locally grown. Basically, if it’s locally made or locally grown, bring it to the market to sell. There are a few more guidelines for selling at the market which you can read here. As guidelines go, these are pretty simple, so come on down and join us as a vendor. (But please, contact us first so we can let our customers know you’re coming.)

We also welcome your ideas of food-plant-craft related demonstrations to happen at the Farmers’ Market. For more info, call Melinda at 675-0180.

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