First market, farm party.

This past Friday was our very first Farmer’s Market. Our first market as the farmers. Very exciting. And exhausting. It was great fun to meet folks, and talk about local agriculture and CSAs. There is so much enthusiasm in Spearfish. It’s awesome. Neither of us are very comfortable sales people. But the good vegetables do well enough selling themselves. Except maybe when they are completely unrecognizable to people. Apparently garlic scapes are a new one for Spearfish. Baby bok choi too. It’s ok. I’m comforting myself by collecting a list of comments – there are lots of comments, the creative ones are the complimentary ones: one especially sweet woman approached the scapes asking, “What are these darling things?”  Another, with a sparkle in her eye, immediately recognized them as garlic ‘chives’, and asked us about pea eggplants. Made my day.

So we learned a whole lot standing on the other side of the table. It’s hard to keep bok choi looking perky when it’s 90 degrees outside, even in the shade with a spray bottle. We should bring recipes with us, examples on how to prepare these treats. And we should bring dinner with us too, the smell of burgers and funnel cake is a powerful one. The table, cooler and crate, chalk board, etc. all fit quite nicely on the farm bike, but soon I’m going to need a trailer. There is a strong inverse correlation between a market’s beer consumption and interest in buying fresh vegetables, something like r-value of -0.9468, I’m sure of it. Of course, there is probably noise.

Here are some photos from our harvest for the market..

..and off to market. By bicycle. Food miles are more fun when they are by bike.

Fresh from the farm to you: Rhubarb, hop shoots, garlic scapes, and baby bok choi. Bon appétit.

AND we’ve had our first on-farm community event – the Weeding Party was a big hit. Thank you to all our CSA members, good neighbors, and new friends who came out to help us weed! Together, we got 9 beds cleaned out; the potatoes, beans, and beets are looking in top form now they’ve been cleaned out from the weeds. And it was SO MUCH FUN. Usually weeding for us is a lonely activity, accompanied by the soft sound of the wind and the heartbreaking hum of a nearby lawnmower. Not so during our Weeding Party Bonanza! It was a morning of rainbow colored sunhats dotting the field, old friends catching up, new friends being made, kiddos waxing philosophic on bugs and weeds.. Sharing ideas and interests over rows of beets and beans. We cruised through the weeds in the morning, fueled by a cooler full of cold water and lots of good conversation, and feasted together afterwards. Lots of delicious things – some right from the farm. Jeremy and I are deeply grateful for everyone’s time, hard work, ..and good cooking. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

We’re looking forward to more fun community events on the farm. If you are interested in coming out to share in these fun farm festivities, we’ve got an email list put together and would love to add you. Let us know. cyclefarmer[at]gmail [dot]com. And certainly, if you ever have an itch to weed.. we have weeds.

We are also looking forward to a fun season with the Market downtown. There doesn’t seem to be much for advertising happening, and a fair amount of confusion with folks still thinking there is still a Saturday morning market – so tell your friends. Bring your neighbors. There are other vendors, farm fresh eggs, jams and jellies, flowers, honey, come down and see. This past Friday Talli from Moonrise Mountain Ranch had a basket of leeks, so gorgeous. Friday evening, 5:00 PM. We’ll be there until 8.. we’ve got chores to do. See you downtown!