“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.