Our Community Market

From late spring through fall, we look forward to Saturday mornings at the Ferguson Farmers Market. A few weeks ago, we realized that some of our Saturdays this month are taken up with other things, like quilt shows and retreats, so on Sept. 12, we took time to make an extended visit, that started with breakfast.

There are lots of kinds of food at the market, including baked goods, chef demon- strations by local restaurants, and free samples of fresh peaches, but week in and week out, the Omelet Man fixes a delicious hand-built omelet to your specifications and cooks it in individual cast iron skillets, carefully tending them about 4 at a time. You order your fixins and give your name and take a seat at a picnic table and wait. It's worth it.

Our breakfast on this day consisted of coffee from the market booth, individual omelets, and scones from Cosi Dolce bakery. Watching the Omelet Man, Norm decided the key to the puffy omelet was covering it with foil during the last part of cooking. So he tried it at home and by golly, it works. Our breakfast disappeared pretty quickly.

Some of the colorful veggies from Thies Farm were very tempting. We bought some sweet corn, and the last of the peach crop from Murray's orchard in Illinois, which had the sweetest peaches all summer. Other farmers had organic produce, dried beans, and various nuts and fruits. One man sells honey from the hives on his farm.

But there's more to the market than food. To borrow from the old song, we have both bread and roses... or in this case, pansies. I bought a dozen and brought them home to greet passersby from our new wall. In the spring there are many perennials, herbs and garden plants to buy as well.

There is also a community of artisans who sell their work at the market. This woodwork is exquisite and I can never decide which bread board I want--or who could use another gift of one. The gentleman who made these also created bookends for us out of the shelf brackets from grandma Williams that Norm bought at the family reunion a couple of years ago. He is wonderfully talented.

On this day, a visitor from the Weaver's Guild was demon- strating how to card and spin wool. She was very patient and explained all the steps to us. Other weeks there might be other artists demonstrating a technique of their art. So the market is also educational. Once a month there is a craft activity for children, too.

This couple from Hermann, MO come the farthest to the market. They bring fresh herbs grown without pesticides, and homemade herb vinegars (blackberry cinnamon, anyone?) and fresh cut zinnias. They also have four alpaca goats and they bring yarn made from their wool. There are four different colors: dark blue/black; brown, rusty brown, and light beige. I bought some of the dark yarn because it is so lovely. With each skein you get a photo of the goat that grew it--no dye jobs here. I'm waiting for it to get cooler so I can start a scarf.


Even whimsy finds its place. These two wooden dogs are in honor of all the real pooches who come to the market with their people. The market coordinator, Kathy N, is a friend we have met through our exercise classes. One day we were talking about all of the local markets and Kathy observed that Ferguson's is more than a farmer's market, it's a community market. People gather, eat, listen to the band, sample the wares, visit with friends, sometimes conduct business, and go home laden with healthful food, much of it organic, all harvested within 100 miles and within the last 24 hours. The market will be open through Oct. 31. Then it will be a long winter until we see the white tents sprout up next May on the Victorian Plaza again.