Tuesday was the first market for me this season. I headed down to DeForest. First thing in the morning I make a ‘wish’ list of apples that I want sorted to bring. For the DeForest market I sort 3 bushels of William’s Pride, 3 bushels of ZESTAR! and 4 bushels of Paula Red. I also brought along caramel apples, cookbooks and a varieties of canned goods. I like having a variety of things at my booth…I feel that it draws people attention more and they’ll come and browse. I also hung up the fall banner that corrcreeatios from etsy made for me. She used all orchard and fall themed fabric. I think it adds a nice touch to my booth. When I’m not at the market I use it to decorate around the store.

Tuesday was a successful first market. I met a lot of new people and saw quite a few familiar faces from last season.

I also headed to Waunakee today for the market. Typically, Frank, my father-in-law will be attending that market but due to some other obligations I took over. Man, he chose a good one to miss…it rained for two of the three hours. I had on a tank top and shorts and of course didn’t think to bring a hoodie or jacket. I won’t make that mistake again!

I head over to Sun Prairie for the first time this Saturday morning from 7 until 12. This is usually a good market…lots of great vendors and a great deal of community support…the keys to a good market.

The girls went to a sitter today so we were able to accomplish quite a bit at the orchard. Diane got some things sorted out on the computer while I sorted for the DeForest Farmer's Market and helped customers. Then, before the sun got too strong, we took pictures of the quilts for our 'Quilt of the Week' special (which I will be posting...tomorrow sometime probably, or soon anyway) and hung the quilts in the store. The back room is starting to really come together now that the quilts are a part of it.

In the afternoon I finished sorting for my market and then I headed out. This is the first year for the market in DeForest and usually it takes awhile for them to get going. I have to say that it is already a WONDERFUL market. There were quite a few vendors and TONS of foot traffic. I really didn't even have time to walk around and check out other peoples booths...a good thing because I'm busy, a bad thing because I like to spend money. I brought some emu eggs because I didn't have a very large selection of apple varieties (only Paulared and Williams Pride) and I like to fill my table up and I wanted people to talk to me. The crowd definately found them facinating and I was able to chat with quite a few people. I didn't go through as many caramel apples as I thought I might, but now that some have tried them I'm sure they'll be back next week with there friends for more! If anyone is in the area or lives in DeForest I definately recommend checking the market out...it's from 4:30 until 7 on Tuesday nights!

Enjoy the rest of your night!

Well, I just returned home from a successful farmer's market in Sun Prairie. I sold all of my apples and about half of my caramel apples by 11:40. I could have had one more bushel with me, but that's not too bad. It was great seeing some familiar faces again. As always, I can never attend a market without forgetting something...this time it was my box of jewelry. Hopefully next week I won't forget it.

Since I finished a bit early I was able to try out some of Sassy Cow's delicious peach ice cream. I'm pretty sure they are a dairy farm located in Columbus, WI. Lots of vegetables were available as well and of course the bakery was there. My father-in-law is a huge fan of the shrimp that the seafood man brings. If you live in the area you should definitely check the market out sometime. They've really done a nice job. It's on Saturdays from 7 - 12 behind the Municipal Building (across the road from Cannery Square) if you're interested.

Well, off to the store!

So, I know this is a bit strange...I live on an apple orchard with TONS of apples and I only like a few varieties...gala, honeygold (we only have limited quantities) and now another variety...SANSA! Yeah! I now LOVE 3 out of the 37 varieties and like about 5-6 (I can also eat fireside, tolman sweet, and late season paula reds (when there nice and sweet). Unfortunately, this is the first year we've gotten any sansa's and they are TINY (which, ironically, I also love small apples) and we don't have very many. Frank and Diane picked all they have at there orchard...about 6 (I ate 3 today...plan on finishing those off tomorrow) and I had Jared check ours. He said we'll have maybe about 10 lbs total this year, but they are not ready over here yet. Basically, this is just a teaser for next year. Something for all of you sweet apple lovers to look forward to trying. But the word in the orchard is there are quite a few honeygolds' so at least there will be a few options this season.

The girls went to a sitter today and I was able to get LOTS done at the orchard. I sorted Frank's apple's for the Waunakee market...haven't heard how that went yet, put up a window screen display of some of my $4 earrings, did some work for the orchard on the computer, laminated signs, sorted more apples, and helped customers. Overall, it was a very productive day. As I was sorting some Ginger Gold's, Diane read my mind and brought down a bowl of popcorn from the house. It was delish! The perfect afternoon snack.

No word on how the caramel apples yet fared at the market, so I'm going to assume for the time being that we don't have to make more tonight...we'll see if that changes. Hope to see you all soon! I'm going to go put my girls to bed and then myself!

Yes, that's right, Jared and I just finished our very first batch of caramel apples. We made 72 with nuts and 27 without nuts. We're hoping they last through tomorrow...through Thursday would be nice, but I'm guessing we'll be making more tomorrow night.

I worked at the store this morning with Frank, Diane, Cedi and Capri. While Capri was napping Cedi helped me make some 5 lb bags of red potatoes. She did really good until she decided it might taste as good as an apple...turns out it's "ucky" when it's not cooked! The store is really starting to come together. It's pretty exciting. I made some really cute infant hats with flowers sewn on them that I just put in the store. Tomorrow we should really be able to make some progress since the girls are going to a babysitter for the day.

Frank will be heading down to Waunakee for the farmer's market tomorrow night. It's been decided that I will take DeForest on Tuesday and Sun Prairie on Saturdays. Frank likes the Waunakee market so he was fine with taking a day of them. He's quite the talker so feel free to stop by and say 'hi' if you're at the market tomorrow.

Had a few people asking about cider. Well, there's none yet. We're thinking probably the week after Labor Day...maybe that weekend. The key to a good batch of cider is to have as much of a variety of apples as possible. You get a really good flavor when you combine all the unique taste's together. It takes us a little while into the season to get enough of a variety to make cider worth selling. We'll definately keep you posted about when some will be available.

I'm going to head to bed! Take care and see y'all soon!