Not too many people will look you in the eye and tell you that farming is easy.
 
Farming is, in fact, incredibly hard work from start to finish. And by “start” we’re not just talking about the crack of dawn although there’s that, too; it’s awfully difficult to farm without land, and gaining access to land is one of the very toughest barriers to entry you’ll ever come across. Between the difficulty in getting started and the hard work and uncertainty once you’re there, a lot of people can give you a lot of good reasons to try something – anything – else before you try to start a farm
 
And yet, for some people, farming is as necessary to life as breathing.
 
People like Sam Hsieh, who says, “I couldn’t go back to a life without farming.”
 
Sam (he/him, they/them) and Katie Schofield (she/her) are the hands and hearts behind Jumping Spider Farm and the newest produce vendors on the block – the 300 block of E Main Street, that is, where we are thrilled to welcome them to the Mount Horeb Farmers Market family for their very first season!

To farm, to be dependent on the land, is to be vulnerable. Vulnerability can be met (and even embraced) in many different ways. If we were to do a word search through all of these posts about the Mount Horeb Farmers Market, it’s a good bet that one of the most oft-repeated words would be ‘community.’ 

In our own farming community just this season we’ve seen weather and pests destroy most of Bures’ strawberry yield, and with it the financial security of their largest yearly crop that draws people to their farm. Strawberry season might be a blip on the calendar if you’re looking at the entire year, but there's a Bulgarian saying - about people and industries that rely on short, intense periods of business - that translates roughly to ‘one day that feeds the year.'

What can this community do for our farmers when their 'one day' is disrupted?

Well, to continue with the example of Bures this season, we can remember that they grow many other crops - this week they've got green beans and German butterball potatoes coming to the market, and before we know it, sweet corn season will be here! - and double down on our commitment to buying local and rearranging our shopping habits to choose local over convenience.
 
We see the acronym CSA so often it’s easy to forget that it has a meaning beyond “A weekly box of vegetables that we feel guilty about not finishing.” In concrete terms a CSA share puts money in the hands of the farmers at the start of the season when they need it the most, and more abstractly it’s the soil in which a beautiful, reciprocal relationship can begin to grow.

(Squashington  and Jumping Spider both offer CSAs - something to think about for next season!)

In a broader sense, everything we’re doing at the Mount Horeb Farmers Market is about Community Supported Agriculture; we are supporting our community’s agriculture, building a web of interconnectedness. A robust local food system is so important because community – collaboration, reciprocity, sharing – breeds resilience, a small farmer's antidote to vulnerability. The farmers at our little market all speak eloquently to this truth, that everything they do is in collaboration, not competition, with the land and with each other. 

As Sam and Katie say about their work on Jumping Spider Farm, “We love dreaming up and building sustainable, local, caring food systems, [and] we really appreciate the local food community of growers, farmers and customers who have welcomed, supported and mentored us.”​

​As new farmers, access to capital and land could have been insurmountable obstacles to Jumping Spider Farm growing roots. Fortunately, they found the Farley Center in Verona, which has a farming collaborative program to support immigrant and aspiring farmers, or farmers who want to start or continue farming but don't have the necessary capital or experience.  
 
From the Farley Center’s website:
“The Linda and Gene Farley Center for Peace, Justice and Sustainability launched its farm incubator in 2010, expanding upon the community gardening projects supported for 15 years. Through the farm incubator, aspiring farmers are supported with land, tools, education, and marketing assistance. Training takes place while maintaining full respect for the cultural crops and practices of the growers involved. All production is Certified Organic through Midwest Organic Services Association.”
 
What an amazing program for the time we live in! Just as none of us live in a vacuum, farming shouldn't happen in a vacuum, but food and farming practices aren’t necessarily passed down from parent to child anymore, or even through the communities we’re born into, where most of us grow up very disconnected from the food that nourishes us. So this kind of intentional cultivation of community and the preservation and dissemination of knowledge and wisdom from all over the world is exciting and necessary and a vital step towards small farm and farmer resilience.
 
“I love farming on shared land,” Sam says, “and appreciate the community of farmers and staff at the Farley Center, who bring wisdom and experience to the practice.”
 
And we appreciate them bringing their unique experience to the Mount Horeb Farmers Market!

Curious about how they chose the name? “Jumping Spider Farm was named after the Salticidae family of spiders. Jumping spiders are particularly friendly and curious, and quite bold – they will even appear to cock their head at you, and are known to leap great lengths to catch prey. They also hunt critters that would not be beneficial to growing vegetables, thus representing balance in an ecosystem. One day while reading in the grass, Sam saw a jumping spider tilt its head as if to look up in wonder. Since then, these spiders have appeared in times of transition to remind Sam that the universe has his back.”

We hope to see you at the Market this Thursday afternoon, and if you come by we hope you make time to stop and introduce yourself to Sam and Katie!

Good Morning, Mount Horeb!
 
In lieu of a featured vendor for you this week, I asked our vendors to recommend something in season that they’re especially excited about for me to highlight. Sarah of Squashington Farm said, “Garlic scapes! You can use them like you would regular garlic, especially good in cooking and salad dressings, or try drenching them in oil and either roasting or grilling them!”

Photos from BonAppetite.com (left) and KatieSping.com (right)

​I mentioned this to my mom, Lorna, who told me about being at one of the Madison markets recently when a fellow shopper was asking what these strange curly green stalks are, and not only the vendor but the several shoppers at her booth were falling all over themselves to sing the praises of garlic scapes.
 
Easier to use than bulb garlic! Great flavor! You can freeze them to use all winter! And, get this – they are low-FODMAP so people who are sensitive to/can’t eat garlic can use them to add that missing garlic flavor back into their favorite dishes.
 
But what the heck are they?? Well, they are the stalks that grow from the bulbs of garlic plants, and they are removed in the spring/early summer so that the plant will channel all its energy into its growing bulb. This means that garlic scapes are a kind of edible ephemeral; they’re there until they’re gone, so if you see ‘em, buy ‘em.

 A quick google search will yield dozens of ideas and recipes for cooking with garlic scapes, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here, but will just list a few of the easiest and most interesting ideas I’ve come across, and hope to pique your interest:

• Garlic scapes lightly sauteed and then added to a green salad or pasta salad (this is what we were eating when my mom and I started talking about garlic scapes and seasonality)
• Scape pesto
• Scape hummus
• Scapes added to soups, stir-fries, and sautees; or any dish where you’re throwing in all the extra veggies in your fridge from your CSA or farmers market haul

 
Lorna was reflecting on how she’s been cooking with garlic scapes for probably fifteen years but she remembers when she, like that shopper she saw at the market last week, was confronted by this strange plant for the first time, too. What is it, what do you do with it, and that question that most of us probably don’t ask as often as we could: where does it come from?
 
“When you only shop at the grocery store, everything is in season all the time,” Lorna said, adding that it was through going to farmers markets and talking to farmers that she cultivated an awareness of what was in season and when and from where – and especially an appreciation for those short-lived treasures like garlic scapes that strut their hour on the stage and then retreat to the wings until next year.
 
So, today’s lesson? (Besides ‘garlic scapes are great’?) Talk to your farmers! I’ve asked every single vendor at our little market, “What do you love about what you do?” and to a one they’ve replied with their own variation on, “We love making connections with the people who eat our food.”

“We love coming to Mount Horeb market in particular because of the strong sense of community. We have seen the same faces for 8 years now!!! It's incredible. We have watched babies grow into full fledged children and children become young adults. We love forging those long-term relationships with our customers and trying our best to be a reliable source of nutrition all year long.” -Squashington Farm, Sarah and Pat

It's our pleasure to feature one of our new vendors, Tisha Brown of Tisha's Delicious Bakery this week! Read on to learn more about Tisha's story, but first a few notes:

​If you’ve been reading these market blog posts since we started in May, you might remember that we spent some time talking about how our different farmers were affected by the strange weather we were having. That long cool stretch in April was great for apple farmers, but then we had an unseasonably warm streak which we now know brought bad news with it: you may have heard that most of the strawberry fields at Bures Berry Patch fell victim to a pest that came up with those warm winds.
They were able to open for one day of picking last week, so keep checking their social media and the Now in the Patch page on their website for updates as they assess their berry fields!

In the coming weeks we’re going to talk more about the uncertainties that all small farms face, but for right now we just want to make sure to spread the word that Bures has many other crops available! They're bringing new baby red potatoes to market this week, and in the farm store they currently have pre-picked sugar snap peas, farm fresh eggs, asparagus soup, pickled asparagus, pure honey, & locally produced jam. More peas, potatoes, green beans, sweet corn and sunflowers will be forthcoming – always something to look forward to!

Here's what else you can look forward to at the Market this week: GF hamburger buns from Tisha's Delicious Bakery: These soft, tasty hamburger buns are the perfect size for your summer burger fix and will hold up to any other sandwich you enjoy.  ​

Supporting the growers and makers right here in our community is what the Mount Horeb Farmers Market is all about. And cultivating community around food is what our featured vendor this week is all about: we’re happy to introduce you to Tisha Brown, Mount Horeb resident and founder of Tisha’s Delicious Bakery.

​Tisha’s business is motivated by a very simple goal: to create good bread that everyone can enjoy. If you’re thinking that sounds a little too simple to be newsworthy, just wait for the rest: Tisha’s bread is made entirely without gluten or dairy products. That’s why the “everyone” and the “enjoy” in her mission statement is so important.
 
While understanding of and accommodation for food allergies has come a long way in recent years, many people, Like Tisha herself, decided it was easier to simply cross the problematic items off their shopping lists rather than settle for the gluten-free or dairy-free versions of their favorite foods, which often left much to be desired in terms of taste, texture, and price.
 
“I feel my best when I avoid all gluten- and dairy-containing foods,” Tisha says. “It took a while to adjust to this new diet but eventually, I settled into a routine. Sadly, because commercially available gluten-free breads just weren’t that delicious, I had mostly eliminated bread products from my diet. While these adjustments had unquestionably benefited my body, I developed a keen sense of being left out of a key ingredient for the enjoyment of life and of community, a common feeling for those with a wide range of food allergies and sensitivities.”

In 2020 Tisha joined the ranks of home-bound folks who were experimenting with baking their own bread. After a lot of trial and error and almost giving up a few times, she developed a recipe that yielded consistent results: a beautiful loaf that was nutritious, with good texture, and a taste that could be savored by all. “I want everyone to enjoy my products, not only people who have no other choice.”
​
And judging by the smiles on the faces of those who come back for a donut or a bagel or a loaf of bread every week, she’s succeeded.

​This is her first summer vending at a farmers market and in the few short weeks since she began selling, her booth has become a destination spot. “I have really enjoyed being at the market,” she says. “It’s great to meet the community, make connections with neighbors and friends and to share my products more widely with folks. I am especially enjoying the smiles of the children who are really grooving on those donuts! I bring more every week and they sell out fast!” One little boy with chocolate on his face was heard exclaiming, “These are better than regular!”

All above photos are from Tisha's Delicious Bakery's Instagram. We recommend you follow her both to work up an appetite and to keep up with her newest creations!
​
The bakery is, technically speaking, a side gig for Tisha. Balancing this passion project with her full-time job has meant that she’s put a lot of very intentional work into developing the business in a way that is sustainable, and in fact that is one of the three pillars that Tisha’s Delicious Bakery is built on: Joy, Sustainability, and Community.

“Joy,” she says, “goes deeper than happiness. Joy is that deep sense of satisfaction in a job well done.” Sustainability has multiple meanings here; there’s the sense in which she is committed to building her business in a way and at a pace that she can sustain without losing the joy that baking brings to her life, and there is the practical side where she has chosen to use products and packaging that are reusable, compostable, and/or recyclable. And then there’s community, and Tisha’s deep-seated belief that “food should bring us together, not separate us from one another.”

Besides finding Tisha's Delicious Bakery products at the Mount Horeb Farmers Market and at other pop-up markets in the area, you can order directly from Tisha via her website. She bakes everything to order and pick-up day is Thursday. Right now she's offering three types of bread, hamburger buns, two varieties of bagel, pizza crust, brownies, cookies, donuts, shortcake, and biscotti. WOW!

When Tisha isn’t in her kitchen, you can usually find her out and about enjoying the wealth of good times to be had right here in Mount Horeb. She loves to bike the Military Ridge trail, hike in Donald Park and other local wild areas, and of course spend time at Brix, which she describes as her home away from home, enjoying good food and live music on Thursdays and Sundays.
 
The Mount Horeb Farmers Market is located at 315 E Main Street every Thursday from 3:00-6:30 PM. On behalf of the Market Board and all of our vendors, we hope you’re enjoying your summer and hope to see you ‘round the market soon!

From Squashington Farm: lettuce mix, lettuce heads, escarole (below left), CELTUCE! (which is what, exactly? Click here to find out!), microgreens, peashoots, scallions, garlic scapes cilantroooooooooooooooo, kale, collards, chard, PEAS!

From Whoopies Cookies and Sweets, a tantalizing concoction: the Caramel Macchiato Whoopie Pie (above left) with espresso and homemade caramel in both the cake and the frosting! 
Tisha's Delicious Bakery will have more shortcake (above right)!
The humans of Drift Coffee are still off adventuring (lucky ducks!) but remind you that you can pick up bags of beans from Brix Cider, and Mighty Leaf Microgreens is taking a brief hiatus as well due to the hot weather at the market being hard on their product, but anyone interested can still order from their website and they make deliveries on Thursday!

You probably already know that Thursday afternoons are open mic night at Brix Cider, just down the street from the farmers market, and many of our vendors like to relax there after the market with a glass of cider and a meal chock full of locally-sourced ingredients (like, just for example, veggies from Kingfisher and Squashington farms!).
This summer, there’s a reason to make Wednesday nights Brix nights as well – starting this Wednesday the 22nd, they kick off their Small Batch Science nights on the patio.
“We’re bringing data-driven research to our local food conversations and farm-to-table activities […] We’ve invited UW graduate students and other scientists to give research-based flash talks about topics relating to local food and agriculture.”
​Hope to see you there!

Mary Ann and Marc Bellazzini are well acquainted with living in rhythm with the seasons and sharing the bounty of their land: they own and operate Campo di Bella, a farm-to-table restaurant and winery, on their 20-acre farm outside of Mount Horeb. “We grow as much food for our Friday and Saturday night dining experiences as we can, and buy [the rest] from other local producers and/or organic,” says Mary Ann.

The space they’ve crafted at Campo di Bella is a sort of living fairytale; a delight to all the senses. If you’ve never been out there, or haven’t visited for awhile, or even if you’re there every weekend, they warmly invite you to come out for a special even on July 9th:
 
“Join us on Saturday afternoon for a glass of wine and farm tour with our son Massimo. Massimo will lead the farm tour starting at the winery at 3:00 PM and guests will walk the access road past our orchard into our culinary garden and vineyard. Come see the sheep, pigs and chickens and the fields where your dinners come from. We will walk back to the winery and you will enjoy a glass of our own Fossil Rock Red wine as part of the tour.”

You can register for this farm tour and see more events here on their website.
 

​“We've been in operation for the last 6 years and have created some housemade value-added products like our artisan red wine vinegar,” Mary Ann says. Their artisan red wine vinegar is what Mary Ann will be bringing to the Mount Horeb Farmers Market every other week this season. Her next market day will be this coming Thursday, June 23rd, and then July 7th, 21st…you get the idea.
 
“I love educating our guests and customers on how we grow the food that we serve in the restaurant and what ‘local’ really means when making a value-added product.  I enjoy coming to the farmers market so that community residents get to learn about us and what we offer our community.”
 
One of the things they offer to this community is a retreat-like space – their dining patio overlooks Blue Mounds State Park – to enjoy the spectacular natural beauty of this area while eating fresh, local food that is a tribute to local ingenuity as much as to their cultural roots. Both Marc and Mary Ann grew up in close-knit Italian households where food and mealtimes connected them to their families’ roots and cultural history and, as they say, “We continue to harvest our childhood experiences and the importance of family, food, winemaking and cooking.” Faced with underwhelming results when recreating a family recipe he had enjoyed in Italy with store-bought ingredients, Marc made the discovery that ‘not all tomatoes and carrots are the same,’ giving rise to a passion for sustainable, organic, time-tested practices in their own farming pursuits.
 
When they’re not on their farm Marc and Mary Ann love to get away and enjoy a play at American Players Theatre performance in Spring Green, hang out with friends at the Hop Garden in Paoli on a Sunday afternoon, or explore the many paths, vistas and hideaways at Donald Park.

​Looking for a new way to incorporate Campo di Bella’s artisan red wine vinegar into your summer cooking? Here’s a recipe from Mary Ann:
 
“One of my favorite ways to use our vinegar is to add to my weeknight side dish of a lentil salad.  I boil the lentils with some herbs & bay leaves and onions or shallots from the garden for about 20 minutes until lentils are al dente.  Then I remove bay leaves and cool on a cookie sheet in the fridge if possible. I make a simple vinaigrette with our artisan vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and mix with lentils for a nice and refreshing side dish or add a fried egg on top for a simple summer meal.”

​School is out…we’ve had our Frolic…the pools are open in Mount Horeb and Blue Mounds… Must be summer time! For many of our vendors at the Mount Horeb Farmers Market this means a return to the season of bounty, while for others their big crops are winding down – every spear of asparagus you see may be the last!

Tisha's Delicious Bakery will be bringing SHORTCAKE! This is especially exciting if you, like us, are constantly refreshing the 'Now in the patch' page on the Bures website and see that they're anticipating strawberry season to start between the 15th and 20th of this month! 

A note from Drift Coffee: due to the fact that Ben and Christine are about to embark on a wonderful and much-deserved vacation, this week (June 16) will be their last market for a few weeks -- so stock up on your beans!

Whoopies Cookies and Sweets will be bringing coconut-lime whoopie pies, and I expect we'll all be singing that song for the rest of the day!

Squashington is bringing quite a lineup: Scallions, green garlic, escarole, kale, collards, chard, head lettuce, microgreens, peashoots, lettuce mix, kohlrabi, baby beets, eggs, and as always…surprises!
And finally, Kingfisher Farm will be at the market this week, but not next week so be sure to stock up if you need anything them-specific! (Like maybe some hot sauce to compliment your microgreens - read on!) This week they're bringing the first of their garlic scapes plus some beautiful head lettuce.

“We are Joey and Kristin Gorman, husband and wife, grower and composter, seed lady and worm guy, and we love growing, cooking and eating good food.”
 
For Kristin and Joey, their path to farming and to the Mount Horeb Market started with searching for “An efficient, sustainable, healthy way to grow and eat greens even during those never-ending Wisconsin winters.” They’ve now been growing microgreens for the past year and a half, and have developed their business to serve the Mount Horeb and environs. They offer delivery within the area (zip codes 53562, 53717, 53719, 53593, 53572, 53517) via their website and outside of the area through MarketWagon.com

But what ARE microgreens, exactly? Quite simply, they are seedlings; the first shoots produced after a vegetable seed sprouts. Because they’re harvested right when they’re putting all that energy into sprouting, they are packed with nutrients and flavor. Getting enough nutrients can be a struggle, and nutrient deficiency can have a big impact on overall health, so it’s pretty exciting to have a natural, easy, delicious, local way to pack some more punch into our meals.

From the Mighty Leaf Microgreens website:

“What makes them mighty?

Certain microgreens contain as much as 40 times the vital nutrients by weight as their full-grown counterparts. We use organic seeds and soil, and harvest at the first sign of "true leaves" for optimal flavor. After harvesting, our microgreens are packaged in recyclable containers made from recycled materials. Seeds and stems left after harvesting are fed to our three ducks, and the rest is composted, so nothing goes to waste.”
 
Mighty Leaf Microgreens had their first day at the Mount Horeb Market on June 2nd and will be returning this week, June 16th. “The grow is looking great,” they say, and they are planning to bring more pea shoots (they’re a big favorite, they sold out last market!), sunflower shoots, radish, broccoli and cabbage, as well as more mixes available which is a great way to taste test multiple microgreens at once. Their mix features sunflower shoots, radish, broccoli and cabbage.
 
This is their first year selling at a farmers market so they’re testing out an every-other-week schedule to work in rhythm with their growing cycle – if that changes we’ll let you know, and you can always check our social media to see the weekly list of market vendors.

​“We've tested a variety of organic seeds, organic grow mediums and grow methods,” Kristin says, “leading us on this magical (and sometimes not so magical) journey to creating Mighty Leaf Microgreens. We built this urban farm as a way to get the word out about the health benefits, sustainability, and pure beauty of microgreens.”
 
They offer a weekly recipe – this week’s will include pea shoots as the main ingredient – and invite market-goers to stop by their booth and chat. “We love the process of growing microgreens, talking to market visitors about the nutritional benefits of microgreens and sharing different ways to use them. We love that the market brings the community together and supports local businesses and farmers.”
 
Sharing recipes and ideas for incorporating microgreens into every meal is a big passion of theirs, and they invite their customers to think outside the salad bowl. “Summer dishes are especially easy to add microgreens to such as tacos, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, spring rolls, stir fry, ramen you name it!”

Add color and flavor to your avocado toast by topping it with broccoli, radish or cabbage microgreens. It's an easy way to add another healthy component to the dish.
You will need:
Slice of toast
Half an avocado - mashed
Light sprinkle of sea salt flakes
Handful of microgreens - broccoli, radish, kale, cabbage
Dash of your favorite hot sauce
 
Spread mashed avocado on toast, sprinkle with sea salt, top with microgreens, add a dash of hot sauce*, YUM!
For more meal inspiration, check out their website and follow their instagram!
 
*For hot sauce, may we recommend…

We're excited that our Community Table will be staffed this week by a representative of the Save to Give program! Stop by to talk to Brady and get all the details on how to participate, but here's a little sneak preview:
Save Energy while Earning Money for Local Nonprofits
As a Mount Horeb resident, you can earn money for local nonprofits simply by turning off lights and taking other easy energy savings steps in the Save to Give Challenge. By changing a few habits at home, you can lower your energy bill and raise up to $25,000 that will be donated by FOCUS ON ENERGY®, to three local nonprofits: Neighbors Helping Neighbors, the Optimist Club of Mount Horeb, or the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society.
Get started by logging in to your account at Mount Horeb Utilities 

And we'll see you round the market soon! Thursday the 16th from 3-6:30 PM, rain or shine!

Howdy, Market Pals!
 
Can you believe how time is flying? It really feels like we’re heading into summer, what with  Mount Horeb's annual village festival, the Mount Horeb Summer Frolic, kicking off this Thursday the 9th!

We hope you’ll make the Mount Horeb Farmers Market part of your Frolic plans – or the other way around! As always the Market will be held on Main Street from 3-6:30 PM. The Frolic kicks off around 5 PM with carnival rides, beer tent, and a little later comes bingo and the Thursday Night Slow-Pitch League at Grundhal Park. Check out the full Frolic schedule here. 

As always, this is not an exhaustive list of everything and everyone you'll see at the market this week, but just a glimpse to whet your appetite for all things local...

Dorothy's Range (Heritage hogs,  farrow to finish, raised on pasture and supplemental organic grains) is fully stocked with pork chops, bacon, bratwurst, ready to eat ham slices, roasts, sausage,  ribs and MORE.  

Campo di Bella returns with their famous Artisan Vinegar!
Blue Valley Gardens will be back with asparagus, turkey chorizo, and honey. (And don't wait to get your asparagus fix, the season is winding down!)
A note from Double Dutch Sourdough: "I'll have the usual variety, plus a new honey spelt sandwich loaf, and I'm trying to make more! In an effort to make inventory last a bit longer, I am going to put a 2 loaf max per person." Anna has been consistently selling out of product within the first couple hours of the market, so this should be good news for those of you who can't always shop early and have missed out!
Whoopies Cookies and Sweets will be in attendance once again with cookies, scones, and of course whoopie pies!

Squashington Farm is bringing you: EGGS! Lettuce Mix, Spinach, Pea shoots, Microgreens, and.... Surprises!
From Tisha's Delicious Bakery: "I will be there and the main thing is MORE Bagels!! I'm going to bring plain donuts with vanilla or chocolate icing and cinnamon sugar donuts this week. AND also bread, bagels, cookies and brownies." 

And finally, here's what you can expect from Worker Bee Honey Co: "We'll be offering: Local raw honey; sugar scrubs; lotion bars; beeswax/soy candles; and organic powdered ginger, made in our farm kitchen (promise it's the best you've had!). 
"We're also excited to have my daughter Gwenna Mlsna (a MoHo senior) and family friend Sylviah Seeliger (a MoHo Freshman) tag-teaming an entrepreneurial venture offering high quality cookies and dog treats made with mostly organic ingredients, including honey from our hives in the cookies!"

​Pick one up at the information table (cash or checks accepted) and rep your Mount Horeb Farmers Market with pride! These canvas totes are sturdy enough for market day and grocery store runs and stylish enough for everyday – plus, and we think you’ll agree, the elegant color scheme will go with everything in your wardrobe!

Besides being the spot where you can pick up your Market bag and sign up for the Market newsletter, the Information Table is where the Market board members hang out every week, so it’s your one-stop spot for Market information – they’re there for all your questions, comments, or just to get a drink of water and shoot the breeze. And if you’ve been wondering about applying for the Community Table, well then they’d really love to talk to you!
 
From the Board: “As stated in our mission, our market is motivated to provide a chance for the people of our town and its environs to come together as a community.  As a way of facilitating this goal, we offer up a Community Table. Each week the market provides an opportunity for a local organization to be present to explain its mission and attract new members, volunteers, or participants.
 
If you are a member of a community group from within or around the Mount Horeb area and would like an opportunity to join us at market, please read over our Community Table policies and submit your application to the Board.”
 
Find the policies and application here. 

In other community news, Telsaan Tea is moving! Luckily, only right down the street, into a lovely retail space (the former location of Moonhill Mercantile) that will serve them very well. If dropping by Telsaan Tea in person is a part of your Thursday Market routine, be sure to stock up this week! Here’s the timeline from Telsaan’s website: 

• Jun 7-12 - Our store at 209 E Main Street is still open, but... um... it's a lot less tidy than usual.
• Jun 12 - LAST DAY to shop at our old location at 209 E Main St. This is also the LAST DAY to order any "Bulk Tea" until we have our new space ready. We're overstocking pre-packaged sizes of our best-selling tea in advance of the move.
• Jun 13 - Probably an awkward, semi-open transition day.
• Jun 14-21 - Our brick-and-mortar store is CLOSED while we're moving. Our ONLINE STORE IS OPEN. Shipping orders are still be available! Pickup orders are also still available (limited hours). Pickup at 108 E Main St, and please pardon the moving process
• Jun 22 - Tentative opening at 108 E Main St.

As always, thanks to every single one of you who’s come out to the Market this last month! We love seeing your photos and hearing your stories about your market day treasures, so be sure to tag us on facebook and instagram @MtHorebFarmersMarket and #MtHorebFarmersMarket!
 
And check out some snaps of recent market days here on facebook and here on instagram.
 
See you Thursday!

Let's open up the floor to our debutantes!
 
We’re really pleased to welcome five new vendors to our market lineup this year – most of them not just new to the Mount Horeb market but to all markets! This community is rich in entrepreneurial spirit and it makes us so proud to be a part of these young businesses’ debut into Driftless society. We’ve had a great start to the 2022 season so far and want to thank all of YOU, dear readers and shoppers, for giving these folks such a warm welcome, for spreading the word, for bringing your smiling faces to market rain or shine, and sharing the love.

​Launched in January 2021, Tisha’s Delicious Bakery produces gluten and dairy free breads and other baked goods in Mount Horeb, WI.

Gluten-free, dairy-free, AND delicious? Yes, really!

It started with my own food sensitivities. Sadly, because commercially available breads just weren’t that delicious, I had mostly eliminated bread products from my diet. While these adjustments had unquestionably benefited my body, I developed a keen sense of being left out of a key ingredient for the enjoyment of life and of community – a common feeling for those with a wide range of food allergies and sensitivities.

In 2020 when I began baking bread for myself, and my successes became tastier and tastier, I was busting to share the good news of what I had found: Tisha’s Delicious Bakery was born.

Food should bring us together, not separate us from one another. But for many with food-based allergies or sensitivities, food can become a hindrance to community. I want everyone to enjoy my products, not only people who have no choice.

Thursday, June 2 will be Tisha’s first day at the Market!

Connect with Tisha: Facebook | Instagram | Website

We are Joey and Kristin, husband and wife, grower and composter, seed lady and worm guy, and we love growing, cooking and eating good food.

Why microgreens you ask? We've been searching for a way to grow greens, year-round, in Wisconsin... we don't ask for much right? Then we discovered microgreens. An efficient, sustainable, healthy way to grow and eat greens even during those never-ending Wisconsin winters.

We've tested a variety of organic seeds, organic grow mediums and grow methods leading us on this magical (and sometimes not so magical) journey to creating Mighty Leaf Microgreens. We built this urban farm as a way to get the word out about the health benefits, sustainability, and pure beauty of microgreens.

We have been living in Mount Horeb for four years and growing microgreens for 1.5 years.

Thursday, June 2 will be Kristin and Joey’s first day at the Market!
​
​Connect with Kristin and Joey: Instagram | Website

Worker Bee Honey co is a new venture from Angele Mlsna, owner and operator of Snapdragon Farm and Stables in Mount Horeb.

I recently left my 21-year career in healthcare to focus full time on our farm. I am currently apprenticing with my father-in-law to learn about bees and how to care for them. This is a great opportunity for me to get out and connect with our community, and the market allows me to showcase my father-in-law's raw Driftless honey and the products I make with the beeswax, including hand-poured candles and sugar scrubs.

Being a vendor at a farmer’s market is a quiet little dream I’ve had since first moving to Wisconsin. It only took 30 years to do. Achievement accomplished!

​Connect with Angele: Instagram | Facebook | Website

I hope y’all caught the feature on Anna in the Mount Horeb Mail last week (and in case you missed it, here’s the post on our blog!)

I'm a Wisconsin native and a second-generation baker; my dad ran a donut shop in Oconomowoc while I was growing up and then an artisan bread business in Milwaukee during my college years. I started Double Dutch in Beverly, on the southside of Chicago in January of 2020, and now operate out of my home in Verona.

​All the bread – including the enriched loaves – are leavened only with sourdough. From start to finish a loaf of my all-natural bread takes 24 to 36 hours to make.

Connect with Anna: Instagram | Facebook | Website

And last but not least, coming to the Market at the end of this month, here’s a sneak peek at our fifth and final newbie!

At Jumping Spider Farm, we strive to nurture community care and climate resilience by growing food for our community and inviting others to connect, grow, learn, and imagine. We grow over 40 kinds of organic vegetables (and over 100 varieties!), including some specific varieties important to Farmer Sam’s Taiwanese culinary heritage. We have been growing food since 2021 at the Farley Center in Verona, WI, on Ho-Chunk land.

Connect with Sam and Katie: Instagram | Facebook | Website

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Bures Berry Patch is a fixture of our local farming community, and farmers Ed and Kathy have been bringing their fresh berries and produce to the Mount Horeb Farmers Market since 2015. This year they’re celebrating a big anniversary – 20 years of farming!
 
I’m very pleased to bring you this special conversation with Kathy Bures as she shares her thoughts on farming through the years – along with a lot of wonderful photos! – and reflects on their journey with joy and gratitude.

What’s happening in the Patch these days?
Usually in May we're picking asparagus and it's our family's favorite vegetable in part because it means once again we're eating fresh from the Patch. Plus, the weather is warming up so we like to get outside and cook. And asparagus does not disappoint on the grill! It's quick, it's easy, and it's delicious! Here’s a recipe we recommend.

More recipes from the Patch to make the most of your picks and purchases can be found Right Here.
 
Customers are starting to ask “when is strawberry season going to begin,” and the answer is probably sometime between June 15th - 20th. Right now, asparagus and rhubarb are both doing really well but they usually slow down by the time strawberry season gets here, so don’t miss out! During strawberry season we let people come out and pick their own berries as well as sugar snap peas! Plus, we start to dig the first of our baby red potatoes!
 
What’s the best way for folks to keep up with what’s happening in the Patch?
Signup for our newsletter through our website – www.buresberrypatch.com – and follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram.

What do you love about what you do?
​We're really grateful to be in the fresh market farming business. We love getting to know our customers and their families, growing food for our friends and neighbors, and we're really fortunate to be in this business and to have such tremendous support from the community.

When you’re not in the Patch, what do you like to do here in the Driftless?
 Our family likes to take hikes at Governor Dodge State Park and climb the towers at sunset at Blue Mounds State Park. We also love checking out the shops on Main St. Mount Horeb and going for walks on the bike trail.
 
Reflecting back over the 20 years you’ve spent farming your land, what springs to mind about that journey that you’d like to share?
I think the most important thing I can say about being in business for 20 years is that it takes the love and support of an entire family to make it all happen. All our family members have come to help during strawberry season. We’ve had nieces and nephews, sisters and brothers, moms and dads and cousins too, all come to give us a helping hand throughout the years.
 
It’s kind of like raising a child, it takes a village. Someone was always there to take care of our kids when we needed to be down in the Patch, someone was making us lunch and dinner so we could grab something quick to eat in the Patch, and someone was answering the phones and checking voicemail when we were out in the Patch. We’ve been truly blessed with the helping hands of family and friends.

Squashington: Lettuce mix, spinach, peashoots, radishes (maybe), turnips (!!!), gem lettuce, cilantro, loveage, scallions, green garlic, storage garlic, and plant starts: Tomatoes, peppers, greens, eggplant, herbs.

Joining us for her first market of the season, April of Dorothy's Range will be bringing her pastured pork to market: Ground pork, ham slices, some roasts, and maybe even a couple pounds of bacon, limited quantity.  

Campo Di Bella is making another appearance with their artisan vinegars!

And Blue Valley Gardens will be bringing turkey chorizo and asparagus.

This is just scratching the surface, so we hope to see you tomorrow, May 26th, for the rest!

“Baking is a part of who I am,” says Anna Holland, Wisconsin native and second-generation baker who now owns and operates Double Dutch Sourdough. Her father ran a donut shop in Oconomowoc and later an artisan bread business in Milwaukee. “Some of my earliest memories involve my dad taking me to work with him in the middle of the night to frost donuts, to play with dough, to fall asleep on a stack of 50-pound flour bags.”
 
Anna raised her first loaves as Double Dutch on the southside of Chicago in January of 2020, before moving back home to Wisconsin where she now operates the cottage bakery from her kitchen in Verona. All of her bread, including the enriched loaves, are all-natural and leavened only with sourdough. From start to finish a loaf takes between 24 and 36 hours to make.

​This is Anna’s first season with the Mount Horeb Farmers Market, and y’all have certainly rolled out the welcome mat for her! Each week, every last loaf has vanished from her booth long before the market’s curtain call:

It’s an exciting reception for a first-time vendor and a good reminder to shop the market early and often! If you miss her there, you can always take a look at her weekly menu online to order directly from her at www.doubledutchsourdough.com
 
“It’s just me,” Anna says about the cottage bakery that she operates out of her home in Verona, “so I can only do so much volume,” especially with her commitment to bringing only the very freshest products to market; nothing is baked ahead or frozen.
 
We talk a lot about the joys and struggles of eating locally in regards to fruits and veggies. A quick google search will net you hundreds of articles about making the most of a weekly CSA box or farmers market haul, and I think there is a parallel to be found between the thoughtfulness involved in seeking out locally-grown produce and locally-baked bread. It’s the same mindset shift we talk about when trying a strange new vegetable, rather than reaching for a California greenhouse tomato, because that’s what’s in season right here right now.

The thing about “really fresh scratch-made bread,” Anna says, “is that it doesn't stay as soft for as long as grocery store bread” because it’s not loaded up with preservatives, sugars, and dough conditioners. So there can be a bit of a learning curve to figuring out how to make the most of your super-fresh bread. (That’s assuming, of course, you don’t eat it all in one sitting!)
 

-preheat oven to 315
-cube remaining bread into desired size, 1 inch or smaller
-toss with 1 tsp of olive oil per 1 cup of cubes
-sprinkle with salt and other desired seasoning (herbs, onion powder, garlic, etc)
-spread cubes in a single layer on a pan lined with parchment paper
-bake until golden and crispy, about 15 to 25 minutes depending on the size of the cubes.
 
Tip: If you think the croutons are done, take one out, leave to cool off for two minutes and then taste. Sometimes right out of the oven they'll still feel soft, but they crisp up more as they cool.
For bread crumbs, follow the procedure above and then blitz the croutons in a food processor. You can store in your freezer for up to 6 months and only take out what you need, when you need it: Croutons will need to thaw a bit before you put them on your salad but bread crumbs can be used in a recipe straight from the freezer.
 
Ask Anna what she loves about what she does and her answer will leave you feeling like you can just about smell that fresh bread in the oven. “I love creating and the outlet that bread gives me. I love the smells, the mystery of why a loaf turns out perfect and why, sometimes, it doesn't – even when the ingredients and process are seemingly the same. And finally, I love bringing people joy with good food.”
 
As for her move back to Wisconsin from Chicago, she says it feels like a homecoming. Between baking days you’re likely to find her driving around to enjoy the scenery, hiking at Blue Mounds State Park with her family, or listening to music and enjoying the sunshine at the Hop Garden in Paoli.
​
Follow Double Dutch Sourdough on Facebook and Instagram for more beautiful baking photos, delightful delectables, and recipe ideas!.

Read on for a sneak peek of this week's market, but this is far from a complete list! Hope to see you this Thursday from 3-6:30 PM on Main Street!

The flavor of the week from Whoopies Cookies & Sweets is Snickerdoodle! Yummmmm.
Bures is bringing Asparagus, it's coming in strong now, folks!

Kingfisher is bringing their full lineup of veggie and herb garden starts, as well as salad mix and a few spring specialties like salad turnips and radishes.
Blue Valley Gardens will be joining us for their first market of the season, bringing asparagus and chorizo ground turkey!
Squashington will have lettuce mix, spinach (baby spring and winter-sweetened), green garlic, storage garlic, micro greens and pea shoots, parsnips (last chance for overwintered sweetness), plant starts and more!

Last Saturday my dad and I were driving to the east side of Madison to visit a friend who lives in the neighborhood where I grew up. As we turned down familiar streets, where tulip trees were in full bloom and leaves were bursting out on every branch in that special nature’s-first-green-is-gold, my dad shook his head and said, “Every year there comes a day when spring is just here and every year it takes me by surprise.”
 
Spring, as they say, has sprung, and I think we’re all ready to make the most of it! Maybe that starts right at home in your own garden. Have rhubarb coming up? Think it looks ready to be picked but worry that your wishful thinking is going to net you an underripe rhubarb pie? Me too! Luckily, we have experts at hand. According to Kathy Bures of Bures Berry Patch the size of the stem is far more important than the color. Look for a plump stem at least 10” in length, and either use a sharp knife or gently pull the stalk while twisting to one side until it breaks, and don’t harvest all the stalks off one plant at once!

Looking for a little more info? Kathy recommends this Gardening Know-How article on harvesting rhubarb. 

And if you don’t have a rhubarb patch of your own, don’t fret! Just hurry on down to the market on Thursday and get some from Bures, who expect to bring their first harvest to market this week.
 
These rising temps mean more bounteous offerings from all of our farmers, including our vendor of the week: Kingfisher Farm and Fermentation! Read on…

​Eva Denny and Caleb Coccari-Swift have been bringing their fresh veggies, kimchi, sauerkraut, hot sauce and grass-fed lamb to the Mount Horeb Farmers Market for over five years. Farming and fermenting is their business, but the love they have for the land they inhabit encompasses every aspect of their lives; they are active conservationists, participating in various projects like Water Action Volunteering (citizen stream monitoring on their property), seasonal burns and pollinator habitat improvement.
 
“Kingfisher Farm,” they say, “is dedicated to bringing vital nutrition and bold flavors to our community.”

This week, they’ll be bringing their first salad mix of the season to market, as well as their full line up of plant starts including the habanero pepper that they use in some of their hot sauces, and over TWENTY varieties of tomatoes! On top of that, they’ll be sampling their Smoky Southwest hot sauce at their booth. So please, stop by, say hi, and prepare to say “mmm!”

Located in Argyle, Eva and Denny grow primarily for the Mount Horeb and Madison markets. “We love Mt. Horeb Market's tight-knit community,” Eva says. Getting to enjoy food from the other vendors is a Thursday highlight, “and then going to Brix's open mic night, also conveniently on Thursdays!”
 
Ask Eva what she loves about what she does, and her big smile and ready reply tells you that this is a person who puts her heart into her work. “We love making our own schedules, being home with our kids, having abundant fresh food, enjoying spectacular sunsets, getting enough vitamin D…” 

It’s a great word, “Abundance,” one that especially characterizes this time of year in this corner of the world. Flowers are blooming, pollinators are buzzing, the sun is working its age-old magic, and farmers are coaxing life out of the earth. All of us at the Mount Horeb Farmers Market wish you a joyful spring, and look forward to seeing you in beautiful downtown Mount Horeb on market days: every Thursday from 3-6:30 PM.
 
Never tried Kingfisher Farm’s kimchi, or looking for a new way to enjoy it? Eva says:
 
“We have a go-to recipe for kimchi-fried rice that honestly saves our butt at least one night a week. Chop one onion or one bunch of scallions and sauté them with a cup of kimchi, before adding 2-3 eggs and some already-cooked rice. Season with soy sauce. So easy!”

Just a sampling of what to expect:

Campo di Bella is joining us for their first market day, and bringing their artisan red wine vinegar!
 
Squashington will have lettuce mix, radishes, green garlic, parsnips, microgreens, peashoots, plants for your garden and more!
 
See you rain or shine this Thursday, May 12th from 3-6:30 on Main Street!

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