Market Resumes Normal Hours

Thank you to our loyal market customers who dealt the market time change last week.  We apologize to those who did not know about the change and came after 11:00 as we were already packing up.  This Saturday, we will return to our normal hours, from 9:00am-Noon, and they will remain so until the last market, which is October 26. 

In a recent article I mentioned the abundance of spiders this fall.  In addition to the spider, another critter getting a lot of attention this season is the stink bug.  Everywhere I turn I see one of these little bugs. At first, I thought the problem was just my own due to the fact that I have a large pumpkin and squash crop, which may be their favorite thing to eat.  However, it is now clear that these little stinkers are everywhere—even city dwellers are complaining.  Stink bugs don’t really “stink” until you squish them.  Even then there are a lot of smells which I would deem much worse.  However, the smell is unpleasant and annoying, especially when you are squishing a lot of them at once, as I do walking through the pumpkin patch.

            Also, I haven’t overheard much conversation about grasshoppers, but they seem to be another insect with a very large population this fall.  I can’t walk anywhere in my garden without several of them jumping out of my way.  As a life-long fan of the “Little House” books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I have seen so many grasshoppers that it puts me in mind of the year the Ingalls family dealt with a grasshopper plague during the “Plum Creek” years.  The devastation they wrought on all of the crops made for a very lean year for the Ingalls family.  As Laura recounted, “. . .it was good to know that there were turnips enough in the cellar to last all winter long.  There would be boiled turnips, and mashed turnips and creamed turnips.  And in the winter evenings a plate of raw turnips would be on the table by the lamp; they would peel off the thick rinds and eat the raw turnips in crisp juicy slices.” (Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek)

            Luckily, the amount of grasshoppers this year is not even close to reaching “plague” status.  It makes you realize how fortunate we are to have such variety and abundance at our fingertips.  The choices at farmers market are almost overwhelming when one imagines eating turnips night after night.  However, since we are not forced to eat turnips on a daily basis, choosing from the many turnip recipes I found at seasonalchef.com was an enjoyable task. 

Roasted Turnips, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and Dried Cranberries
3 cups cubed peeled turnips (about 1 1/4 pounds)
3 cups cubed peeled sweet potato (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 1/2 cups cubed peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
 Cooking spray
2 Tbsp butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine the first 6 ingredients in a shallow 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with butter.  Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until tender, stirring after 45 minutes.