Greetings One and All,

It is a little sad to be having our last market of the 2006 season. Although we are looking forward to the break, we will miss the fun and camaraderie we have been having with all of you during this past 6 months. This will be your last opportunity to stock up on all the fresh, local and organic food you will want to enjoy all winter long, until we meet again next April. In their messages below, the farmers have listed all the delicious and delectable food they will be bringing, so come prepared to buy what you need and remember much of it will last for weeks, much longer than store-bought produce, freeze, or keep in a dark, cool place, and ensure you have the safest, freshest and best tasting food you can have during the next 6 months.

ANNUAL MEETING

We will be having our ANNUAL MEETING this year on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9TH from 10 am to 2 pm. We will be meeting at Drumm Farm, East Wind Gardens Farm site in Independence. We are planning to have a potluck meal available, so please bring your favorite recipe if you can, and we will be discussing this past season and making plans for next season. ALL OF YOU ARE INVITED AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND.

We really are trying to be a FARMERS COMMUNITY MARKET, hence the name we chose, and so we rely on the involvement of the Community in all aspects of the Market to ensure we achieve this goal.

To that end, we are looking for volunteers to help with the market and activities and for your ideas:

To that end, we are looking for volunteers to help with the market and activities and for your ideas:

1. What you like that we're doing.

2. What ideas you have for more things we could do.

3. If there is anything you think we should consider changing, you should let us know that too.

Committees of volunteers help to run the market and you are all invited to join any committee and help out. Even if you only have a little time to spare, we would be happy to use your assistance.

If you won't be able to join us at the Annual meeting, but have ideas or would like to help, please respond to this email or contact us from the web site and tell us what you think. We will send out a reminder email in early December with the information again and with directions to the farm. The information will also be on the web site.

Grand Prize Winner

Our lucky Grand Prize winner in the Market Raffle this year, Kathy While, will be having her Organic Dinner for 6, prepared in her home by Chef's Bonnie Winston and Maureen Branstetter, this Saturday evening. She and her lucky guests have a spectacular Menu: Appetizers: Deviled Eggs, Spinach-Artichoke Dip, and Sesame Tofu w/Fearsome Sauce, Dinner entrees include: Pumpkin Risotto w/fried sage leaves, Cabbage Rolls filled w/ assorted wild mushrooms, Rainbow Carrots w/Date Molasses, and Rolls, followed by a salad of Mixed Greens w/sautéed Pears, Walnuts, and Blue Cheese, and finally for dessert: Apple Pie a la Mode. Most of the meal's ingredients are being provided by our farmer and artisan bread vendors, flowers are by Raquel, our flower vendor, and we are most grateful for the donation of the wines by Premier Cru wine distributors.

Recipes and MORE

This week we included 4 recipes below:Wild Rice Onion Soup, Santa Fe Wild Rice Soup,Fresh Tomato Salsa, and Pumpkin Cheese Tart.

Then we have information about an easy way to help our feathered friends make it through the winter and this is a fun winter activity for kids too: MAKE YOUR OWN SUET BARS.

Finally, in honor of our upcoming Holiday of sorts, we offer some new ideas for a safe, organic and healthier Halloween:Orange,BlackandGreenfor Halloween.It offers new ideas for organic treats, with no high-fructose corn syrup or animal fat, and other food and safer pumpkin decorating tips we hope you'll enjoy.

Thanks to all of you for your generous and loyal support of our Market this year.

We couldn't do it without YOU!

Have a Safe, Happy, Healthy, and Organic Winter and Holiday season!

We will look forward to seeing all of you Next Year at Your Farmers Community Market

From Bear Creek Farms

Wow, here we are - the last week of market and time for us to say thanks to each of you for making it another wonderful season! We can't tell you how much we enjoy the interaction with you all - news of your families, travels, recipes, etc. And how we've enjoyed sampling some of your great cooking - salsas, compotes, marinara sauces, breads and more - and the never to be forgotten jumbo shrimp lunch served at market. How lucky we feel to have customers like you!

So, here we go - going out in a blaze of squash, pumpkins, gorgeous and tender lettuces and arugula, peppers galore, the most beautiful eggplant of the season, green onions and leeks, potatoes, onions, fabulous Swiss chard, southern cowpeas, cucumbers and finally Jerusalem artichokes. No telling what else we'll find, so stop by and stock up.

So thanks to you all -

Robbins & Jim

From East Wind Gardens

Well, we went from record highs to record lows--who doesn't believe in global warming?! At the market this week, we'll be bringing----ARUGULA, RAINBOW SWISS CHARD, SPINACH, GOURMET LETTUCE MIX, LETTUCE BY THE HEAD: (BUTTERCRUNCH, ROMAINE), GREEN BEANS, PEPPERS,ACORN SQUASH,KABOCHA SQUASHAnd maybe a few TOMATOES!

See you Saturday,

Tim, Maegan and Jeany

From KC Community Farm/KC Center for Urban Agriculture

This is the last market of the season. We are bidding goodbye to the 2006 growing year with a real mix of feelings! In many ways, this has been one of the more manic farming seasons we've had. We had the scare about the land we farm being sold out from under us (now it is looking like we will be signing a year's lease with the property owner, not settled yet, but hopefully soon), we had a gang-buster early tomato harvest that made us feel like the best farmers around, we had unbelievably abundant early harvests. Then that heat wave hit and the yields dropped and the bugs descended and diseases began to spread across the field like wild-fire. Now, we are back into abundance and the idea that maybe, just maybe, we aren't half-way bad farmers!

Our work with other farmers under the USDA grant went well this year; we did a bunch of work in the winter and early spring, our outreach suffered some as we reacted to the land crisis, but on average, we are amazed at how much time we spent working with other urban growers on production planning, pest control, small business management, and a host of other issues. We've done a ton of other work as well, creating and publishing our "Urban Grown" newsletter, reaching out to possible funders locally and nationally, and all kinds of organizational infrastructure work that seems unavoidable in the early years. We have made some great connections with municipalities and other organizations that we hope and expect will translate into making urban land available to other growers and would-be growers, this idea of a farm for every neighborhood begins to seem like something that really could happen, over time, and with some work and luck!

So, we are happy, tired, and ready for a bit of a change of pace in our workloads.

We are, as always, so pleased to have fed you all through this growing season. This winter, when you are tired of grocery store vegetables and dreaming of summer tomatoes, we invite you to think about how you are carrying our farms around in your bodies. The food you ate from all of our farms got transformed into bones and muscles and cartilage; you have the soil from our fields in you. You have a connection to our farms that will carry you through until next spring, when we will all show back up with tender greens and crisp, sweet root veggies and more. And we have a connection to you that we value and honor, and that will bring us back with more veggies and good food for you.

So! At the market this weekend, we'll have a small but lovely selection of TOMATOES, both ripened and green (mmm, fried green tomatoes), SWEET PEPPERS, SALAD MIX, BASIL, ARUGULA, LETTUCE, CARROTS, BEETS, TURNIPS (these are just tender and so sweet), EGGPLANT, and more. Many of these can easily be stored for the winter months, ask us Saturday about how to do that!

Many, many thanks for your support and appreciation, we are grateful to be a part of your lives.

Daniel, Katherine and the crew
Daniel Dermitzel
Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture
www.kccua.org
Daniel

From Windwalker Farm

It's always sad to see the last market approaching, as much as we're looking forward to that lazy Saturday morning, we will truly miss you all. We've appreciated the loyalty and friendship and treasure the sense of community that our market creates. Having said that, I'm pleased to say that next Saturday when 4:00 am comes around, Jim and I will be sleeping in a B&B in Santa Fe, I can't wait!

We've had several folks ask lately how they will make it through the winter without our ________ (fill in with pies, quiche, vegan cookies, burritos, etc.) and we have mentioned that I am usually in town at least once a week and we can combine orders and deliver in what you wish. If you would like to be notified of these deliveries and what will be available, send us an email (address below) and we'll add you to our growing list of dedicated customers.

It's almost not too late to order our Stock-up items, if we hear from you by this afternoon or evening. The prices are: scones - $12 for 8; cookies - $10 for dozen; bars - $12 for 9; sweet breads - $10 for 6; pies - $18 for frozen; granola - $13 for 3#; quiche - $18 each; quiche cups - $8 for 6; burritos - $13.50 for 6.

The pie flavors this week include: apple, bumbleberry, peach-blueberry. And I'm still looking for pie plates!!!

To order, email: Joan

We will see you Saturday -

Joan, Jim, Kristy & John

From Shroomheads

Hello Everyone!

I will have mushrooms - maitake, chicken, honey, and lion's mane. Alsotomatoes, herbs, turnips, hot peppers, and celery. I may arrive late, but will make it by 10:00am or sooner. Thanks for all your support this summer!

Tena
www.shroomheads.com

Helping our feathered friends through the winter -Make Your Own Suet Bars.

Start by saving grease drippings from fats that harden when cold: bacon, sausage, coconut oil, etc. (You can also use peanut butter if you don't use any of these types of fats.) Fill up old jars and store in the freezer. When cold weather hits, heat the fat until liquefied. Mix until thickened with your choice of bird seed, coarse corn meal, dried fruit or roasted peanuts. Place in small disposable tart pan or muffin tin and set outside or in the freezer to harden. Reusing the mesh bags from onions, lemons, etc., place a few suet bars at a time inside and hang from tree limbs. This is a great activity to teach kids about reusing and caring for nature.

Orange, Black and Green for Halloween

by Emily Main

Nothing kills a parent's festive Halloween mood like realizing what a nutritional nightmare this holiday can be. After the fun of dressing up and trick-or-treating are over, kids are left with a pile of artificially sweetened candy that wreaks havoc on their health. High fructose corn syrup, Halloween's most pervasive ghoul, is a leading contributor to childhood obesity and is frequently made from genetically modified corn and refined with genetically modified enzymes. And it seems to come with everything, whether in the candy your kids are collecting or the store-bought cider you're serving at home.

Adding to the nutritional headache of Halloween are the environmental and social impacts chocolate can have. Cacao beans grown in full sun are more susceptible to disease than their shade-grown counterparts and therefore require heavy doses of toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The crop's social ills include child slavery, which UNICEF has found abundant on cacao plantations, and low wages paid to farmers because of market deregulation.

All that can make your face turn green. But fear not! There are healthier alternatives for your child and the environment that will make you feel green in a good way. Below is a selection of organic, fair-trade and individually wrapped treats that you can hand out to the neighborhood kids, and you may even educate them about the environment in the process. And that's a good trick.

Candy

Chocolate

Look for the "Fair Trade Certified" label, which ensures that chocolate farmers were paid a fair price for their crop. Global Exchange sells Fair Trade Certified Equal Exchange chocolates ($7.95/42-piece bag). Teach your little ghouls more about fair trade with their Trick Or Treat Kit, which includes the fair-trade chocolate, "Fair Trade is Boo-tiful!" poster and postcards and a recycled trick-or-treat bag decorated with the Fair Trade ghost ($15.00; www.gxonlinestore.org).

Endangered Species Chocolate Company's Belgian-chocolate Bug Bites in organic milk chocolate come with educational trading cards ($29.60/64 bites). These sell out quickly, so order early. The company also sells non-organic Dark and Milk Chocolate Halloween Treats sourced from a co-op in Nigeria ($5.50/24 pieces; www.chocolatebar.com).

Betty Lou's Inc. makes organic Almond Patties, chocolate North Shore Patties and peanut butter Golden Smackers ($30.72/24-piece box; www.bettylousinc.com).

College Farm Organic's Chocolate Mint hard candies come in biodegradable corn-starch packaging ($2.69/24-piece bag;www.veganessentials.com).

Hard Candy

Fortunately, a variety of organic and vegan hard-candy options make it easy to find candy free of animal-based gelatin that may have been derived from animal parts infected with Mad Cow Disease. However, when handing out hard candy, make sure you're only giving it to older kids who won't choke on small pieces.

Try these:

Ginger People Candy's individually wrapped Original Ginger, Spicy Apple, Gin Gins and Peanut Ginger Chews ($10/2 lb. variety pack; www.gingerpeople.com).

Organic Candy Company's Sour Fruit hard candy in cherry, lemon, pineapple and orange ($1.95/3.5 oz. bag, www.veganessentials.com)

The Candy Tree's Organic Mixed Fruit Taffy in cherry, lemon, black currant, strawberry and orange ($2.79/2.6 oz bag); Organic Orange Lollipops ($2.79/pack of 7); and Organic Lemon Lollipops ($2.59/pack of 7; all available through www.veganessentials.com)

College Farm Organic Naturepops in Citrus Blast, Tropical Treat, Cheery Cherry and Wild Berry ($4.79/18-pop variety pack; www.veganessentials.com)

Let's Do Organic! Classic, Jelly and Super Sour vegan gummy bears ($2.34/4-bag box,www.shopnatural.com)

Fruit Snacks

Sneak something fruity into trick-or-treat bags, like Kettle Valley's Organic Fruit Snacks in strawberry, blueberry, cherry, cranberry, peach and berry blend ($23.30/pack of 30; www.everydayfruit.com) or Stretch Island's "Fruitabü" Organic Smooshed Fruit snacks in apple, apricot, grape, raspberry and strawberry ($14.00/30-piece box; www.stretch-island.com). Earthbound Farm sells their organic Thompson Seedless Raisins in snack packs ($2.99/6-1.5 oz. boxes;www.ebfarmstore.com)

Cookies

Dancing Deer Baking Co.'s trans-fat-free Chocolate Chip, Triple Chocolate and Lemon Daisy shortbread cookies come in individually wrapped, two-cookie packs ($24.95/6 boxes with 12 cookies each;www.dancingdeer.com).

Popcorn/Snack Mix

Robert's American Gourmet makes a variety of vegan, gluten-free and wheat-free snacks to satisfy picky palates. For a truly organic Halloween, hand out their "Chaos" certified organic snack mix in single-serving packages ($36/case of 24-2 oz. bags;www.robscape.com).

Or, offer kids Healthy Handfuls Lucky Duckies Cheese Crackers ($28.50/case of 36-.75 oz. bags;www.healthysnackstore.com)

Snack/Granola Bars

Natural grocery stores offer a wide variety of individually wrapped snack and cereal bars that work perfectly as Halloween handouts. If you can think beyond orange-and-black packaging, you can get pretty creative with your treats.

Try the Puffins Cereal & Milk Bars in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip by Barbara's Bakery (about $10/15-bar box, www.barbarasbakery.com) or the EnviroKidz Organic Koala Chocolate, Panda Peanut Butter or Cheetah Berry Crispy Rice Bars by Nature's Path ($20.34/case of 6, 6-bar boxes; www.naturespath.com).

New England Natural Bakers' Save The Forest organic trail mix bars and cereal bars come in a variety of flavors like cinnamon raisin and banana chocolate ($4.70/6-bar box, www.wellnessgrocer.com)

Think organic Snack Bars come in a variety of flavors, including chocolate coconut and cherry nut ($37.80/20-bar variety pack;www.everydayfruit.com)

Trick-Or-Treating With a Cause

Use Halloween to teach your kids about helping other kids. UNICEF sponsors a "Trick-Or-Treat for UNICEF" program whereby trick-or-treaters collect change in addition to candy while they're out making their rounds. The money raised goes to UNICEF's worldwide aid programs. You can get collection boxes at local Pier 1 Imports and Hallmark Gold Crown stores or through their web site, www.unicefusa.org.