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Crafters are back, Manager Profile, Mizuna Recipe
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Dexter Farmers Market

Weekly Newsletter #12
 
 
 
 

June 12, 2020

Sat 8am-1pm
3233 Alpine St, Dexter, MI 48130
(Vol. 1 Issue 12)



Announcements:

  1. Crafters have returned to the market! Look for Judy Welsh's beautiful paper craft greeting cards, stationary and more this week!
  2. The Tuesday market is suspended at this time. We will look into reopening this market day when we have more vendors that are committed to selling during that time.



***


   Farmers markets are an essential part of the food industry and as such, we need to follow protocols similar to grocery stores:

  • Please only send one person from your household to shop,
  • wear a mask
  • wash your hands at our provided hand washing station (we also have hand sanitizer in the dispensers throughout the market).
  • Sadly, one of the most important messages we will be sending is: please do not linger.
  • We will be allowing 20 customers into the market at a time, so please come with a patient mind, in case there will be a wait. We also ask that you shop quickly to make space for the next customer.
  • The market is fenced and the traffic flow will be one-way running North to South. Please enter at the gate closest to the library and exit toward Main st. Don't worry, there will be plenty of signs to let you know what to do.
  • You will see very little product out on the tables, which will be missing any fabric decorations, but rest assured that we will have lots to sell you.
  • Remember that the vendor is an expert in their field. Now is a great time to ask them to pick for you! Please only touch what you will buy.



***


SNAP, PEBT, Double Up Food Bucks
WIC Project Fresh and Senior Project Fresh

    Many residents have needed to sign up for food assistance benefits during the pandemic and we are happy to welcome you to the Dexter Farmers Market! Don't be shy to have us walk you through anything you need to know to get healthy food on your table, utilizing your Bridge or PEBT card, or Project Fresh coupons. (Please note: if your child(ren) qualify for free lunch at school, you should receive a PEBT card automatically. Be sure to activate it before you come to the market!)
    The DFM has secured a Double Up Food Bucks grant, which matches customers charges on their cards. For example, if you have been provided a PEBT card recently, you can come to the market and charge $30 with the market manager and receive wooden tokens that can be spent on approved items with any qualifying vendor (they will have signs on their booths indicating what forms of payment they take).
    In addition to those tokens, Double Up Food Bucks will match you $30 (for this example) for the charge you made on the EBT card.  DUFB will match any amount you charge your SNAP/PEBT card (unlimited!) in $2 increment aluminum tokens. These are free of charge, but can only be spent on fresh fruits and veggies. This means your SNAP tokens can be saved for:
  • Fruits and vegetables;
  • Meat, poultry, and fish;
  • Dairy products;
  • Breads and cereals;
  • Other foods such as snack foods and non-alcoholic beverages;
  • Seeds and plants, which produce food for the household to eat.




***

Bike Medic

   The Bike Medic will be servicing your bikes for free like every year, but this season they will be at a different location: Scio Community Church, 1293 N Zeeb Road. Bill and company will be following safe contact; you must set up an appointment for service. You can get in contact with them through their Facebook page here.




***


    Have you ever envisioned yourself as an entrepreneur, charming people at the market? Is your vegetable bed enough to feed an army? We have an open application deadline and welcome new vendors anytime of the year. Please visit our website and fill in an application! Tell a friend! 

Vendors
    This is where you will find the list of our vendors and what they offer, to be updated every week. Click the links to go to each vendors website and find ordering info.
Two Dogs Farms - perennials, annuals, veggie starts, berries, fruit, veggies, maple syrup and jellies and jams from Ray Sowers. And coming soon: Scottish Highlander grass fed Beef!!

Paper Cup Coffee Co - Isaac brings the freshest, fire-roasted coffee by the cup, whole bean and ground; plus hand-dipped chocolate cake donuts and date balls. Follow his Facebook here.

Hoppy Soaps - Stephanie fills the market with the fresh smells of bar soaps, bath bombs, shower fizzies, deodorant, lip balm, body butter, and herbal sachets. Some of these products are even made from her home-brewed beer! Follow her on Facebook here.

Shagbark Knoll - Henry has gorgeous asparagus, beans, beets, tomatoes, apples, plums, basil plants, and Zephyr squash.

NOKA Homestead - Noelle has a breath taking array of produce. From radishes to greens to potatoes, all grown with respect and care for the earth and its creatures! They have a variety of CSA boxes this year, please visit their site to sign up for their wait-list. Follow their Facebook here. Sign up for their newsletter here to hear how they can bring you fresh produce this year regardless of market open date.

Owl Hollow Bakery - Anne will have delicious pies, breads, baked goods, granola, Amaizin' popcorn, free range eggs, maple syrup, and pure Greek olive oil.

 Jacob's Fresh Farm Shares - chicken and duck eggs, as well as a wide variety of veggies and fruit grown with natural methods from heritage and non-GMO seed. They have several different types of CSAs depending on your family's needs, including boxes that have bakery and coffee items included. Visit his site and get signed up today!

Hives on the Hill Apiary - Jacob also runs a great honey business. Find honey in all sizes of jars, plus he will remove your swarms!

Shoreline Wild Salmon - wild, Alaskan, hook-and-line caught salmon. King and Coho Salmon sold frozen in vacuum sealed packages. Smoked Coho Salmon sold in shelf stable jars. Marie and her dad, Mark handle the fish with the utmost care, all the way from the fishing vessels in Southeast Alaska to the farmers market in Dexter! Look for them in May, August, September and October.

MaryAnn Simpkins - one of our founding members brings produce, baked goods, sewn and crocheted housewares, nuts, soaps, eggs, honey, too much to name! Please keep an eye here for her earliest harvests, there will be lettuce soon!

Jeff Peters - Jeff is a market staple in his 11th year at the DFM. He brings breathtaking cut flowers like Cosmos, Sunflowers, Zinnias, Cockscomb, and a rainbow of lilies. He will also have leeks, storage onions, kohlrabi and tomatillos.

My Serenity, Creations by Rachel - lovely bath, body and home goods, soy candles, natural deodorants and bath bars.

Manchester Blooms Flower Farm - Amy grows beautiful bouquets, arrangements, and buckets of freshly cut, locally grown annuals. Some of the bright beauties offered include: Cosmos, Zinnias, Sunflowers, Allium, Poppies, Daisies and many other wildflowers. This year, Amy will also be offering a wide selection of herbs,edible flowers and beneficial plants. Online ordering begins in July.

Herb 'N Beans - Steve has artisan crafted coffee, tea, locally grown hemp flower and oil, and freeze-dried fruits and veggies.

Judy Welsh - charming hand cut cards, framed beach glass, driftwood art and notebooks.

Sweet and Salty Cookie Co - Jeff is back with the best cookies! Chocolate chip, double dip chocolate chip, M&M, peanut butter, snicker doodle chip, butterscotch, Special Dark, Reese's, sea salt caramel, dark chocolate pecan, maple oatmeal raisin, pecan raisin, milk chocolate raisin, molasses, caramel apple crisp, gluten-friendly chocolate chip and gluten-friendly dark chocolate pecan.

Paper Bead Elegance - Karen makes the most fascinating jewelry - from paper! Barrets and earrings; durable and gorgeous artisan statement pieces.

BB's Beauty Essentials - Brittney puts a new twist on bath products. She makes body sprays and rooms sprays, plus shaving cream, sugar scrubs and foot scrubs.

Specialty Tea Products (STEAP) - Samantha has a variety of loose leaf teas and blends. Visit her website to sign up for a subscription!

Skalski Farm in Hamburg - John and Rochelle will be back this year! Their vegetable, fruit, and start plants are grown using organic methods. They will have larger, more mature vegetable, herb and flower starts sold in individual pots. Teaser: they will have strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and sweet corn!!

Ski's Sausage Co - this is Dan's first year, but he's a local from Pinckney! He offers a large variety of sausages; traditional Polish kielbasa and cheddar, jalapeno cheddar and traditional bratwurst.

Ruhlig's Produce - Janelle and Matthew come from the long time Dexter farming family, Ruhlig. After a few years off, they will be returning in July, to bring corn, beans, greens, squash, tomatoes, peppers and more!


New Vendors Added Every Week!
Meet the Market Manager!


Hired just over a year ago,  Dana Queen is the City of Dexter Farmers Market manager. She is responsible for performing or delegating all administrative and logistical tasks pertaining to the market. Many things in her background have made her a good fit for this position; her family, interests, and education have all come together to make her well suited for the position.

She was born and raised in Ann Arbor and, having loved horses from birth, started taking lessons in Dexter in 1994. Eventually, she saved up enough allowance to buy a horse and spent even more time around the village.  She attended Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University where she majored in psychology and social work, and took courses in music and public speaking. During high school and college, she worked in countless food service settings as a barista, waitress, hostess, cook and manager.

Dana grew up in a very musical family and started piano lessons and choir at 7 years old. She continued with music through college, gaining experience in contemporary music, where she learned about microphones, sound balancing, and atmosphere, as well as the good old fashioned, human-powered opera and music theory and history. She also participated in theater growing up, both in speaking and singing roles, as well as costume director and stage hand.

In addition to performance and behind-the-scenes experience, Dana gained event planning experience on staff for one year at the North American International Auto Show. She draws upon all of these skills to make the events at the market fun and engaging, so it’s not just food and crafts, but activities for people to enjoy while shopping. Experts say that patrons want not just produce and prepared foods, but a festival feel at farmers markets.

The main thing that brought Dana to her work as a market manager is her love for farming and gardening. Dana's mother Linda, while growing up in Texas, learned her skills from her grandmother, which she passed on to Dana. "I spent many summers whining about weeding, but learning nonetheless! She took me to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market at Kerrytown as a child and I saw produce, prepared foods, crafts and puppies! I also met vendors from all over Southeast Michigan; Mennonites, rural families and some with lives similar to mine."

Dana also has experience as a vendor, both in farmers markets and other venues. She and her step sister, Beth have a crochet company they named Big Sister Little Sister that they started in 2011. They both learned to crochet as kids, but crochet had become popular again and there were cool, modern patterns to be made! They became so prolific, that they needed to get all of that yarn out of the house! They began to sell their work in a booth in front of Beth's house to passing U of M football fans on game days. As their expertise increased, they opened an Etsy shop, attended a few craft fairs and had a booth at the Northville farmers market. This has given Dana some "from the ground up" experience.

In 2009, Dana married a man with similar passions in self sufficiency and crafts. He is an auto mechanic, a standup comic, home cook and a blacksmith (quite a pair, aren’t they?) In 2015, when the time came for them to buy a house, They were so happy to find one just outside Dexter. They have started what they call an "urban  micro-farm'' with their three sons and have spent the last 5 years putting in a large organic garden, pollinator feeding flower beds, and have their first flock of chickens this year!

With climate change and increasing detachment of consumers from their food sources, it is imperative to educate and keep the interest of patrons. In addition to protecting the planet, Dana takes it as personal mission to make the DFM financially accessible to people of all backgrounds. Making it possible for customers to pay with 5 different types of food assistance benefits is her point of pride for the last year. Helping local entrepreneurs succeed and getting nutritious, local food and products in local homes makes her proud to be a market manager and inspires her to continue to make it a thing to be prouder of!
Visit Their Website!
Upcoming Events

At this time, the DFM has canceled all music and activities. We are following Governor Whitmer's Reopening Plan. We are in Phase 4 which allows crafters to return and our coffee vendor to sell hot coffee by the cup. Still, after purchase, please proceed to a place away from the market. Please be patient and know that we are working hard to provide free entertainment and educational events to Dexter as soon as is possible. Events will resume when all threat of community spread has been addressed.

Spring Mizuna & Pea Pasta


Possessing dark green serrated leaves, the taste of mizuna has been described as a piquant, mild peppery flavor, slightly spicy, but less so than arugula. Peppery mizuna, sweet peas, and crunchy radishes punctuate this easy springtime pasta. You can substitute or add Arugula as well!

    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Total Time: 25 minutes

      Ingredients
      • 8 ounces whole wheat penne pasta
      • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
      • 4 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
      • 2 cloves garlic, minced
      • 1 1/2 cups shelled fresh or frozen English peas (defrost peas if frozen)
      • 3-4 cups mizuna, lightly packed
      • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
      • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
      • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
      • 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, plus more for topping
      • Salt and pepper to taste
      • 3 radishes, thinly sliced


      Instructions

      1. Set a large pot of lightly salted water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, according to package directions, until al dente. Carefully scoop out 1/2 cup of the pasta water and reserve. Drain the pasta.
      2. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and peas and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. If you’re using fresh peas, they should turn bright green.
      3. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the cooked pasta along with the 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add the mizuna, crushed red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, and feta cheese and stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mizuna begins to wilt, 1-2 minutes.
      4. Remove pan from heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve with sliced radishes and a sprinkle of feta cheese.