Our “almost-year-round” farmer’s market features local honey, nuts, jams, jellies, pickled vegetables, salsa, dressing, herbs, gift items, Circle E Candles, and colorful free-range eggs from our own flock of chickens. We sell locally produced items when possible–look for the bright green labels denoting local products. If it is something we grew, the label will state “homegrown” also

Besides the stock available in the market, we try to have what we call various ” runs” during the year. In June, there’s the “Peach Run”–we take our big trailer to Fredericksburg, or Fairfield, depending on which side of Texas has the best crop. We take pre-orders for boxes of fruit and call ahead and have it all picked the morning of our designated arrival. We return that night, then the next couple of days are “pick-up and pay days” for those who pre-ordered. We try to get a few extra boxes if we can but you can never count on that. Some of those orchards have to get stingy with their peaches because there are never enough good ones to go around, so do order a box  if you really want one. It never fails, if we do a second peach run of the season, that most of the folks who participated in run #1 come back for another “fix,” saying things like: “Good thing I ate one right out of the box on the way home–when my daughter got  here with all the grandkids, those peaches just vanished into thin air. I ‘m not telling her I’m ordering this second box. And don’t you tell her, either!”

Sometime in late fall, we bring back Fredericksburg pecans. We have been buying them from Mrs. Segner, grande dame of the legendary Segner’s Pecans, which is now called Fredericksburg Pecan Company. If you’ve never had a hill country pecan, you don’t understand the allegiance people feel to their pecan supplier. Recently, the price of pecans has shot  upward as foreign countries discover the joy of pecans–and they, like us, know the cream-of-the-crop when they taste it. And they want our Southern pecans. We usually are able to offer them year-round, but you never know when the supply will dry up.

We also make a pilgrimage to Carrizo Springs in South Texas for onion sets. This just  happens to coincide with November’s deer season, so what do you know–we make sure we never miss making that trip for onion sets. Onion sets are tiny little onion plants–about 4-6 inches long with a baby bulb on the end. Each onion seed makes one “set, ” which in turn makes one onion. Last fall we got 3 varieties: Contessa (white), Yellow Granex (1015), and Red Candy Apple.(These onions are for sale now in the market.) You don’t have to pre-order the sets–just keep checking the website or Facebook for “the onions are coming!” updates. We keep them refrigerated for a few weeks in small bundles, so you can get several kinds without having to buy enough for the whole ‘hood. The short-day varieties recommended for our part of Texas start the bulbing process when daylight length reaches 10-12 hours. They take approximately 110 days to mature. The earlier you plant them, the larger they get. Usually.

Late winter brings us to Strawberry planting season. We will offer bare-root strawberry plants – we keep them refrigerated in bags and get them out when you need them. They are approximately 6 inches long and have frizzy roots that  you can lightly trim and keep bagged in your own refrigerator until you get around to planting. Perfectly sized for planting in Strawberry Topsy-Turvys or straight into your soil. More on this as the season gets closer.

Spring brings out the gardener in all of us, and we are your supplier for locally-grown vegetable plants. We spend our fall and winter days and nights planting our own seeds and nurturing the young plants to be able to offer them for sale in the spring. We get a little adventurous with some of our seeds—if it sounds interesting or strikes our fancy for some reason, we plant it and see what comes up. Sometimes we win, sometimes we grow duds. Some ugly ducklings turn into princesses–like, for instance, the Eva Purple Ball heirloom tomato so many of you are enjoying eating this summer. We  had those plants for sale this spring and literally could not give them away. No one had heard of them, and they were not an impressive plant in the looks department. Let’s just say Eva would have been in last place in any beauty pageant she entered. But boy did she strut her stuff when it came harvest time–this tomato is the most beautiful heirloom we have ever grown–round globe-shaped, with pink flesh that  holds its own among the best black tomatoes ever. This 1800′s beauty from Germany’s Black Forest is perfectly smooth and not all craggy like most heirlooms. No cellulite on these orbs! Imagine botox for tomatoes and you get what Eva Purple Ball is all about. So when you pick out your tomato plants for next year, try thinking outside the crate. You might get lucky!

We have other stuff during its appropriate season, such as pumpkins in October and November, Texas watermelons in late spring through summer. To get the best flavor and buy locally produced items, educate yourself about the seasonal availability of your favorites. Or just keep coming in to see what we have new.  Our supplies fluctuate with the seasons, but we get what we can when we can. The joy of being a locavore is getting to partake of everything at its peak!