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June 1, 2009

Farmer's Market open for the season

By DUANE NOLLEN

OSKALOOSA — If you’re looking for produce that’s grown locally and a fair price, the Oskaloosa Farmer’s Market is open for the season.

The Mahaska Ruritan Club has sponsored the Farmer’s Market since 1978. The market had a rainy 2009 debut Tuesday, but it was a sunny day Saturday for the market that was set up on High Avenue next to the Hy-Vee parking lot.

“We’ve changed a little bit,” said Larry Linsley of the Ruritan Club. “We got permission to block off this street until noon.”

Eleven vendors set up shop at the Farmer’s Market. Two of those vendors had decided to switch from the Des Moines Farmer’s Market to Oskaloosa, Linsley said. The vendors had a variety of wares on sale Saturday such as fresh vegetables, jellies, flowers, plants and baked goods.

The purpose of the Farmer’s Market is to “raise it locally, sell it locally and hopefully people will buy it locally,” Linsley said.

The vendors had traditional vegetables such as onions, broccoli and radishes, but they also had some more exotic items such as kohlrabi, a green vegetable.

“It’s a cross between a turnip and cabbage,” said Doug Veldhuizen, of Leighton. “You can eat it raw.”

“There’s a lot of different ways people have had it,” he said. You can use kohlrabi in stir fry, he added.

Although it’s relatively unknown, it is a popular item. Several vendors had the vegetable for sale Saturday.

“It’s one of the better-selling items,” Veldhuizen said. “Many have not heard of it, but enough people like it.”

Veldhuizen said he planted the kohlrabi plants he had on sale during the first part of April.

Veldhuizen cut some kohlrabi for people to sample.

Some of the people who tried kohlrabi were Hope Weimmeister and her daughters Micayla and Madison, all of Oskaloosa.

“It’s delicious,” Weimmeister said of the kohlrabi. “It almost tastes like cucumber.”

Weimmeister comes to the Farmer’s Market often.

“We come every year, we love it,” she said. “We just get fruit and veggies.”

She said her family likes the Farmer’s Market because it has food grown locally, and it’s not trucked in from California. She also wants to support local producers.

Weimmeister said that they have a small garden at their home in Oskaloosa to grow tomatoes.

Lewis Briggs, of Oskaloosa, had stand next to Veldhuizen, and he sold jalapeno butters.

Briggs said he sells three kinds of hot jalapeno butters — habenero butter, jalapeno butter and mild jalapeno butter.

He also had some samples for people to try.

The mild jalapeno butter has “got a little bite,” he said.

How can you use jalapeno butter?

“You can use it in chili, meat loaf and all kinds of seasonings,” he said. You also can use it as a chip dip and eat it straight from the jar, he added.

Briggs is making his jalapeno butters into a home business — Lou’s Condiments, hot jalapeno butters.

“I started five months ago,” he said.

He’s finishing up construction of his kitchen to grow his business.

Briggs said a friend introduced him to jalapeno butter and he took the recipe and modified it a little bit.

“I’ve had good luck,” he said. He’s gone to bars to promote it and for people to try it.

“Everybody loved it,” he said.

The Farmer’s Market is open now until Oct. 17.

The market is held on Tuesdays on the eastside of the city square from 4 to 6 p.m., and on High Avenue West next to Hy-Vee from 8 a.m. to noon, Linsley said.

For people interested in being a Farmer’s Market vendor, they can contact Lyle Siefering or Jamie Williamson at Hawkeye Real Estate, Linsley said.

Herald Editor Duane Nollen can be reached by email at oskynews@oskyherald.com

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