September is a Great Month to Visit Farmers Market

September has arrived and along with it, cooler temperatures.  August was so cool in general that last week’s heat and humidity was really hard to take.  Now it is really starting to feel like fall.  This means that fall crops will now become available at market.  Apples will be plentiful with many varieties from which to choose.  Fall items like pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn will be available so that people can begin to decorate.  Winter squashes such as butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash can be purchased and cooked into warm, hearty dishes as temperatures continue to drop.

            This is not to say, however, that the main season crops are completely finished.  Sweet corn is still readily available.  Peaches are still being harvested.  Sweet red and yellow bell peppers abound.  Tomatoes are hanging in there.

            I was not at market last week, however, I heard reports that parking was a bit tricky and some vendors were misplaced due to the set up of the Rib Fest.  Those people who decided against coming to market because of this will be happy to know that things are back normal this week so we hope to see everyone there.

            For those who are curious, the wedding I attended was absolutely wonderful.  The flowers held up beautifully during transport, and despite the fact that I am no professional florist, they looked gorgeous.  When the flowers themselves are so lovely it is pretty hard to arrange them in a fashion that won’t look nice.  There was an arbor made by the bride’s father out of tree limbs and grape vines that we decorated with all of the leftover flowers, which may have been the highlight of the wedding decorations. 

            Every year right around Labor Day I get a phone call from Dorothy Montgomery.  Her many roles in the community include former commissioner, 4-H Leader, teacher, and now newspaper correspondent, not to mention all around good person.  She requests thirty red peppers and seventy five red tomatoes so that she can make her yearly batch of her mother’s tomato sauce.  I have made this chili-type sauce from her recipe and can vouch that it is delicious.  It is called Fronie’s Sauce because Fronie was her mother’s first name.   The numbers in parenthesis reflect the size batch that Dorothy makes.  She tells me that she takes the seeds out of the tomatoes and it is her husband John’s job to do the grinding.

Fronie’s Sauce

15 Ripe Tomatoes (75), Pare and remove seed pods. Do not scald tomatoes as it makes them watery.

2 cups sugar “or more” (10 or 12)

1 cup vinegar (5)

3 onions (15)

6 Red mangos (30) Grind Onions and peppers first, sprinkle with salt, and drain.

1 Tablespoon Salt

½ teaspoon each cloves and cinnamon

Cook all ingredients until thick.  Process in pint jars.