Happy New Year!

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.  I bet some of you are wondering what happened to the updates in the second half of last year. Well between work and financial issues there simply wasn’t any time left. However here we are in the new year and things hopefully will be getting better. Today’s episode is more or less an update rather than a normalized post. I’ve got some photographs, and some information and of course operations continue at the farmers market.

Is this the Digital Camera shot, or is it a Camera from a smart phone?

            These two photographs were taken in late December as part of a test to see which could take a better night time photograph. I used my smart phone (Motorola Moto E5 Cruz) and my digital camera (Canon Powershot A2200) to attempt to snap an image of the same difficult subject. It’s up to you, the reader to determine which picture is better and, which is the smartphone camera and which is the actual camera. I’ll reveal which is which in the next episode of LITFM.

Maybe this is the Phone-photo? You'll have to wait until next episode to find out.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

In this shot we have all the surviving hot peppers that were too young to bear fruit this year tucked away inside a cold frame for the winter until the temperatures stay warm next year and production of those deliciously hot ‘Fayetteville Inferno’ peppers resumes. There are, Tabasco peppers, a few pepperoncini’s, some Aji Limon peppers and a black naga or two in there also. The cold frame they are in is made of a cedar frame and poly carbonate glazing so this little mini-greenhouse never dips below freezing temperatures no matter what the rest of the green house is doing.

Yes, I've lost a few, but to compensate for acceptable losses I took many more cuttings than I needed.

Here we have a sneak peek into what will be a special for-sale item in 2019. These little plants are cuttings of my Pomegranate bushes, that have leafed out and are rooting in the high humidity chamber. Hopefully if all goes well, I will have these for sale some times around May. This ties into the core nature of agriculture, we never plan for the short term, we invest in the long term and if the variables in doing so are managed just right, we reap rewards for our diligence in the meanwhile.

 

Burn Baby Burn! Fayetteville Inferno!

These three are pepper plants, from left to right I have a mature Aji Limon, A Fayetteville Inferno Hybrid, and a Red Peter. This is just enough pepper action to kick start the new year’s plant plans. Lets all keep our fingers crossed for no excessively cold weather this winter. 

Not a garden photo technically but worth sharing as a slice of life.

This last photo was snapped downtown on a somewhat rainy foggy day at the City Market. That crane is part of the construction efforts to build the Baseball stadium that no one actually wants. Some could call it a visible symbol of progress, but it’s debatable as to what it is progression our fair city towards. Either way, much like the test gardens there is work to be done.

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

Soup Kit, Parsnip - $6.00

Soup Kit, Turnip - $6.00

Ginger, 6.0 oz - $2.00

Garlic, Whole bulb - $1.00

Seasoning Pack - $2.00

Lavender Pack - $3.00

Aloe Vera, 6” - $5.00

Norfolk Island Pine, 6” - $5.00

‘Green Ice’ Gasteraloe, 6” - $5.00

Flowering Maple, 4” - $3.00

Flowering Maple, 6” - $5.00

San Pedro Cactus, 6” Clay pot - $10.00

Monstrose African Milk Bush, 5” Clay pot – 8.00

Coming Soon:

Coffee Plants (next week!)

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

            This brings to a close the first LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 18^th or the 25th of January. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.