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Nampa Farmers' Market 
Saturdays, May through October
October 3, 2009:
Entertainment:  Elvis
Chef at the Market 10 - 11am
In Historic Downtown Nampa, 12th Ave. and Front St. ,
Just south of the Canyon Co. Historical Museum in the old train depot.
Fresh, Healthy, Local Vegetables, Fruit, Meat, Herbs, Flowers,
Baked Goods, Nursery Plants, Crafts, Sweets, Entertainment 
and Much More!
www.nampafarmersmarket.com

Read about our 2006 Summer Squash Research Project:
Harvest Frequency, Yield, and Economics of Summer Squash

Saturdays,  May - October  9 a.m. - 1 p.m.,
Rain or Shine
Scroll down for more

Pollinator Paradise
at Nampa Farmers' Market

Pollinator Paradise sells produce at Nampa and Caldwell Farmers' Markets and by special order. 

The Nampa Farmers' Market is held Saturday mornings on 12th Ave. between 1st St. and Front,   in downtown Nampa, Idaho. Hours are  9am to 1pm.  The 2009 Market Season runs from April 25 until Oct. 31. Our booth is in the west parking lot off 12th St. near Front St.  Look for the banner with the leafcutting bee, behind the stairway next to the brick building.

The Caldwell Farmers' Market is held Wednesday evenings at Serenity Park, 12th and Dearborn next to the Caldwell Library,  5:00pm - 8:00pm.  Last market was Sept. 30.

Produce can also be delivered in the Parma area on special order.  Contact us by phone to arrange delivery: 722-7808. 

Read past  Pollination Moments, and check out our recipes and links to nutrition information.

From other farmers' markets, read "The Hows and Wise" of shopping at the market, and a slide show on farmers market shopping and food safety 

Well, two nights night of frost hit our garden and ended the production of summer produce for this season.  It's probably the earliest frost that we've experienced since we've been doing the farmers' market.  Often our garden escapes a borderline frost by a degree or two, but no such luck this year. 

We're coming to the market this Saturday, October 3, mostly with salvaged produce.  So, we have a little bit of a lot of things, including a few items that we haven't had at market yet this year.  Then, we are taking a break from the market for a while.  If the weather isn't too bad, we may be back for the last market or two with salad mix and other greens.  Meanwhile, we're going to try a camping trip, and we'll prepare the garden for the winter.

The two items that we have the most of this week are new this year for us: green and purple tomatillos and yellow Finn potatoes.  The tomatillos are great for salsa (try our favorite recipe) or roasted with squash or peppers.  Yellow Finn potatoes are very similar to Yukon Gold, with yellow skin and flesh, and a buttery texture. 

Also relatively abundant thanks to the salvage harvest are green bell peppers (many good for stuffing) and Anaheim peppers.  I haven't had time to till in the radishes that we had for several weeks, so I harvested a bunch more huge (hot) radishes.  Now that we've had a frost, tilling the garden and planting a cover crop for the winter is high on our to-do list.

Sadly, the pineapple tomatillos were hard hit by the frost.  I only found enough in my salvage harvest for three little bags.  The last of the candy cherry tomatoes are a little more abundant. 

There's a little bit of mini squash left from early in the week, and in my salvage harvest I picked lots of micros.  Many hadn't bloomed yet.  We'll sell them by the pint this week, along with a recipe for roasting them, and a small spring of rosemary.  We roasted some for ourselves yesterday, and I was surprised that the flavor reminded me of corn!

We have only a few small lemon cucumbers and a couple of bags of mixed French Filet beans and Dragon's Tongue beans.

Arugula, and New Zealand Spinach are still available.  We have a few bags of stir fry mix with komatsuna, mustards (hot), a few leaves of black and red kale, and New Zealand spinach. 

If your salvage harvest includes pickling cucumbers, we'll have several stalks of dill at the market.

Elsewhere at the market, the Powers had some very nice heads of lettuce last week.  Add a small bag of arugula, some ripe tomatoes and the last of the cucumbers for a traditional salad.  Plus, there are lots of fall crops waiting at the market including winter squash and pumpkins of all kinds.

The Nampa market continues through October 31.  Our booth is in the west parking lot off 12th Ave. west of the new basement stairs next to the brick building, across from the Martin Family.   

Remember to bring a cooler when you come to market if you plan to purchase produce, and won't be headed home right away.  Come early for the best selection. Bring your friends!  

Show up at the market without enough cash?  Nampa Farmers’ Market takes credit cards.  Bring your master card, visa or American Express card to the market manager’s booth and purchase wooden market tokens, which can be used for your purchases at most vendor booths.  Also at the market booth, you can get a large ecologically friendly canvas shopping bag with our market logo and tee shirts with the market logo in a variety of colors.  Plus you can sign up for our monthly gift basket drawing.

The market is located in Historic Downtown Nampa, on 12th Ave. between 1st St. and Front St., in front of the old railroad station/historical museum.  The market takes place every Saturday from 9am until 1pm, rain or shine, through October 31.  Check out the Market web site for more information:  www.nampafarmersmarket.com

Below are photos and descriptions of some of the items that we had for sale previous seasons.   We hope to have the same or similar produce during the 2005 season.  If there is something that you could not find at our market last season and would like to have available this season, let us know.    We'll consider growing it, or will suggest it to the other vendors.  Sometimes it's a matter of coming during the appropriate week, since some produce has a short season.  If we know of your interest, we may be able to contact you when your favorite produce is in season.
 

Spring Crops   click on photo to see a larger image.
Hand crafted Salad Mix - of about 9 different lettuce varieties, including buttercrunch, black seeded simpson, red sails, and heirlooms such as freckles, speckles, rouge d'hiver, red oak-leaf, and others.  Depending on availability it may also include some baby spinach leaves, and a little tat tsai and other mild unusual greens.

I make it no more than 48 hours before it goes on sale, and it lasts for about two weeks. 

Head and leaf lettuces - I sell head lettuces in late spring, in addition to salad mix.  Heads are washed, but the leaves may still have some soil and an occasional earwig, because I use no pesticides. 

Right:  Red Iceberg.  Below from right:  Jericho Romaine, Speckles, Slowbolt Simpson type, Buttercrunch.

arugula a spicy green with a nutty, radish-like flavor.  Tear it up and add it to salads for pizzazz, or use it alone in a salad with fruit and toasted nuts to tone down the heat.  It can also be used in cooking like spinach.  I usually sell small and large bags at a fraction of the grocery store cost.
 
Arugula salad 
Washed Spinach, with little stem.  Several varieties are usually available, including semi-savoyed and smooth leaves, and oriental types.  They are great for cooking, or tear them up in a salad or add to a sandwich.  Very healthy!
Other spring crops include, red mustard greens, kale, pak choi, tah tsai, and purple mountain spinach (orach).  Sometimes I put together stir fry mix with a variety of these greens.  Also available is fresh cilantro, rosemary, and tarragon.

Pictured:  Red mustard greens
Late Season Crops
(Generally available no earlier than August  through frost.)
 
click on photo to see a larger image.
French Filet Bean Medley:  French Filet beans, yellow wax beans, and burgundy beans.  The burgundy beans turn green when they are cooked.  Beans are harvested two or three times a week so they are very tender.  Steam for about 5 minutes, until the burgundy beans turn green, and add a bit of butter, pesto, rosemary, or just eat them plain.
Roma Bean Medley  These are flat, Italian beans, a bit meatier than snap beans.  They are particularly good with pasta dishes.  The medley contains green and  dragon's tongue, a pale yellow pod with purple speckles.  When cooked, the Dragon's tongue loose their purple and turn pale yellow.  Cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces and steam until the burgundy color fades.  (burgundy varieties not available in 2005)
Summer Squash - Picked daily so they stay small.  Some elongate zucchini varieites, including sungreen, raven, butterstick and zephyr.  Patty Pan types include Peter Pan, early white, sunburst, starship, papaya pear, flying saucer. Also Geode and Eight-ball, light and dark green  round zucchini.

New:  Read about our 2006 Summer Squash Research Project:
Harvest Frequency, Yield, and Economics of Summer Squash

Basket of mini squash, with a mixture of varieties.

Summer quash are great steamed, sautéed, or grilled with or without herbs.  Or sauté with eggplant, tomatoes and herbs in ratatoulli.

Fresh Edamame, the Japanese snack, is high in protein, lower in fat than peanuts, and high in isoflavones, which help prevent cancer and the symptoms of menopause. Boil the pods in salted water for 5 minutes, then drain and cool. Then pop the beans out of the pod and eat. The pods are compost, like peanut shells.
These are small bags, about 4 oz.  Larger bags are available during peak seasonl
Cherry tomato medleys: Varieties include Sungold (bright orange when ripest), yellow pear, white currant, gold nugget, large red cherry, and red and green grape tomatoes. These look great in a salad, or eat them like candy right out of the basket.
 
Tomatillos  I grow traditional large green tomatillos, as well as purple de milpa and pineapple tomatillos.  They are great in salsa and chutney, or cut them up and put them raw in a salad.
 
Green tomatillo salsa 
Lemon Cucumbers - shaped like lemons but taste like cucumbers -always sweet and juicy, never bitter.  I pick them small before the seeds take over.
and Orient Express Cucumbers - thin and crisp, few seeds.

 
no photo available
Eggplant, including white "Snowy", "Lilac Touch", the thin pale purple "Bride", and green "Italian White". Ratatouille is our favorite dish with eggplant. Eggplant can also be baked, and the pulp mixed with tahini and herbs to make baba ghanouj (pronounced baba ganoosh), a Middle Eastern spread that is used for dipping pieces of pita.
 
sweet peppers, and cayenne peppers. These generally aren't ready for sale until September.
 
Jacque Scott's roasted peppers
fresh basil: Genovese, lemon, purple and mammoth. 
 
Pesto season starts in July!  Try a Caprese salad.
Italian flat leaf parsley  More flavor than curly parsley, very nutritious, low calorie. (not available in 2005)
 
tomato marinara on pasta
Tabouli salad 

Come early for the best selection.  Bring your friends!

Top of Page     Leafcutting bees & alfalfa    The Solitary Bee Web   
Binderboard
   New Mexico Native Bee Pollinator Project  Nampa  Market   About Dr. Strickler
Bee Nests and Accessories  Links to Food, Gardening and Nutrition Information  Recipes
Pollination Moments    Summer Squash Research  Summer Squash Diary Blog 

Updated 012/21/2007
© Karen Strickler