New farmers market makes debut

By PAT SHAVER Courier staff writer

May 20, 2009 02:01 pm

— OTTUMWA — Terry Mitchell has never been to a farmers market, but she found herself selling her homemade baked goods at the Green Earth Farmer’s Market Monday.
She said she is good friends with the market’s organizer, and she’s always loved to bake. Mitchell has lived in Ottumwa her whole life and said she just never got around to going to a farmers market.
Mitchell and about nine other vendors were selling local goods at the market Monday. It was the first day of the new market in Ottumwa.
“We hope we have more vendors,” said Ule Glenn, one of the organizers, who was also selling at the market. “We hope it’ll grow.”
Mitchell was selling cookies, pies with crumble tops and breads. She plans to continue selling at the farmers market, though wasn’t interested in expanding to others.
“I think once a week is enough. There’s a lot of labor involved,” Mitchell said.
Chefs from the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa were giving free samples of salads made with fresh produce and homemade dressings.
“We’re happy to do it, and hopefully we’ll have someone here every week,” said B.J. Whitmore, executive chef at the Bridge View Center.
Mark Jansen, of Oskaloosa, was selling jerky, burgers and brats made from buffalo meat.
Jansen, who has 13 buffalo, said he buys the animals and feeds them corn for about six months; after that, they “make good meat,” he said.
Buffalo products, like Jansen’s are fairly hard to find.
“This is the first [farmers market] I’m selling at. I said ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a try,’” Jansen said.
Nicki Wyldes and her brother, Stephen Maize of Ottumwa, were selling homemade granola, biscotti and a few herbs at the market.
“I like all things natural,” said Wyldes.
Wyldes said her specialty is apple butter, which is made from apples from her apple tree. That will come later in the season. They only plan to sell their products in Ottumwa
“I just want to support Ottumwa and the farmers market,” Wyldes said.
Mariya Stetsa, of Eddyville, sells at farmers markets in the area for five months out of the year as a full-time job. She moved to the area from the Ukraine about nine years ago and started selling at farmers markets a few years later.
She was selling flowers, some fresh produce, baked-goods and homemade pasta.
“Everything is made from scratch,” Stetsa said. “You have to really work.”
Phyllis Heitsman, one of the organizers, was selling sweet Annie, a fragrant, sweet annual that can be grown and dried.
“It makes your whole house smell that way,” she said. “I’m really into unique things.”
Heitsman, who runs Unforgettable Designs, a gift shop in Ottumwa, was also selling wreaths made from wild grape vines.
Marcia Boeckner, of Bloomfield, was selling dandelion jelly Monday. The recipe came from her sister in Ontario.
The jelly is made by boiling the flower, then straining it and using the water it was boiled in. Boeckner said it tastes kind of like honey.
She was also selling cookies, jellies, bird houses, farm eggs and granola, among other things. She will sell blackberries later in the summer.
Organizers are optimistic that the market will grow and more vendors will participate as the season goes on.
“We’re hoping to have a variety of things that have to do with earth and nature,” said Heitsman.
Every week they will raffle off a basket of goodies from the market that will be awarded at the following market, Glenn said.
There will be no Green Earth Farmer’s Market on Memorial Day, but it will continue 4:40-7 p.m. every Monday night after that until October.
Pat Shaver can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or via e-mail at p.shaver@ottumwacourier.com.

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