Featured Vendor: Tapestry Gardens

This weeks featured vendors are Will and Maxine of Tapestry Gardens. They are located just outside of LaCrescent with 22 acres in gardens. They are an organic farm.
They are on their 7th or 8th year at the Winona Farmer's Market. Will enjoys attending 6 farmer's markets a week to make his living. Will used to work construction, but turned to farming after learning that he had a heart valve problem. They started with a few acres of produce and worked their way into it.
Will's favorite vegetable is the tomato. It is also his most profitable.

Featured vendor: Alisa Hornberg

This week's second featured vendor is Alisa Hornberg. Alisa specializes in mainly annuals and perennials in the spring time. She also does free range eggs, herbs and vegetables. Her favorite herb is Sweet Margarine and her favorite vegetable is the cucumber.
She has been at the Winona Farmer's market since 2001. She believes people are drawn the market for the atmosphere. It is a great place to hang out and see what's going on in Winona.

Featured vendor: Katie and Ben Freitag

This week's first featured vendors are Katie and Ben Freitag. They grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. They also do canned goods.

Their salsa buckets are a customer favorite at this time of the year. It has everything you need in it to make fresh salsa you just take it home, chop it up and add salt. 

Ben and Katie have been selling at the market for 14 years. Katie believes people are drawn to the market because of the nice stuff everyone has and because it's a nice place to hang out on a Saturday morning. 

You can find their Facebook at www.facebook.com/thefarm900

Water Bottles!

This Saturday at the market will be our third Saturday selling our new Winona Farmer's Market water bottles! We are very excited about them because we know the market can be a hot place with limited drink options. We will also have a water cooler available to fill up any water bottle that you bring to the market. This is an effort to reduce waste from paper cups and provide our farmer's market customers with a cool new water bottle that everyone always needs.
They will be available again this week at the Market Coordinator booth for $10. Stop by and get yours this Saturday! All proceeds go directly to improving the Winona Farmer's Market.

Featured Vendor: Out on a Limb Orchard

This week's second featured vendor is Esther Heyer of Out on a Limb Orchard and Gardens, located in Nodine, MN. The orchard started out with just apples, but Esther took over when her father had surgery and started adding on the garden vegetables as well. She has everything at her stand from asparagus to zucchini. The newest vegetable she has tried is her white eggplant. She has also tried purple cauliflower that is new this year.
Esther has been a vendor at the market for 20 years. Her favorite thing about the market is being able to talk about products from people that are interested. She also enjoys learning new things from her customers. She loves talking and learning from them.
Esther's customer favorites are her pies. Esther hears from her customers that everything is fresh and looks nice. She picks everything the day before market to keep it fresh.

Featured Vendor: Sweet Treats

This week's first featured vendor is Barb Pierce of Sweet Treats. She does baked goods such as scones, yeast breads, cakes, coffee cakes, biscotti, short bread, and fruit cakes. Her favorite scone is the Date Ginger.
This is Barb's twelfth year at the market. Her favorite thing about the market is the people. She enjoys meeting all of the people. She loves making new customers and teaching them new things about food.
Barb was a professional chef at an italian restaurant in Milwaukee before she moved back to Winona.
Barb got into baking by growing up on a farm where they made all of their own cookies, bread and cakes. Barb has a Facebook page called Sweet Treats where you can leave special orders if you like. Facebook page link.

You can find Barb at the Winona Farmer's Market on 2nd and Main Street from 7:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Come early if you want to have a good selection, as Barb usually sells out pretty quick.

Featured Vendor: Pang

This week's second featured vendor is Pang. She is a vegetable vendor located in Winona, MN. Pang sells vegetables such as carrots, celery, lettuce, garlic, onions, and kohlrabi.
Pang has been at the Winona Farmer's market for about 8-9 years. Her favorite part about the market is coming and seeing all of the people.
Pang could not choose a favorite vegetable, but she did tell us that baby green beans were her best sellers because most vendors don't grow the small ones.

To view the full interview with Pang, please check out our YouTube channel here

Featured Vegetable: Kale

This Week’s Featured Vegetable: Kale

History of Kale

Kale has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years. Popular in Europe during Roman times and the Middle Ages, it arrived in the United States in the 17th century.

Kale Chips

Kale chips are a nutritious, easy-to-make snack: Remove kale leaves from stems, tear into bite-sized pieces, drizzle with olive oil and a dash of salt, and bake 10 to 15 minutes in a 400°F oven.

Kale's Antioxidants

Kale is packed with antioxidants, which help neutralize harmful free radicals in the body. Some research suggests kale helps reduce the risk of certain cancers.

Vitamins in Kale

One cup of chopped raw kale provides more than 100% of the daily value of vitamins A, C, and K.

The Kale Family

Kale belongs to the same family as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and collards.

Colors of Kale

Types of kale are differentiated by color (green, white, purple, or bluish green) and leaf shape.

*info found on webmd.com

Featured Recipe: Bean and Tomato Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

This Week’s Recipe: Bean and Tomato Salad with Honey Vinaigrette from eatingwell.com

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 1/4 cups dried beans, preferably heirloom, or 2 15-ounce cans white beans, rinsed (see Tip)
• 1/2 cup minced red onion
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 4 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon peanut or canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste
• 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 1 pound tomatoes, sliced

PREPARATION

1. If using canned beans, skip to Step 3. If using dried beans, rinse and pick over for any stones, then place in a large bowl, cover with 3 inches of cold water and soak at room temperature for at least 6 hours or overnight. (Alternatively, use our quick-soak method: see Tip.)
2. Drain the soaked beans, rinse and transfer to a large saucepan. Add 6 cups cold water. Bring to a simmer, partially cover, and simmer gently, stirring once or twice, until tender but not mushy, 20 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the freshness of the dried beans. (If you’re using heirloom beans, be sure to check them after 20 minutes"they tend to cook more quickly than conventional beans.) If at any time the liquid level drops below the beans, add 1 cup water. When the beans are about three-fourths done, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. When the beans are tender, remove from the heat and drain.
3. Combine the beans (cooked or canned), the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, onion, vinegar, honey, oil and pepper in a large bowl. Stir, cover and refrigerate to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
4. Cook green beans in a large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Pat dry and add to the marinated beans. Stir in cherry (or grape) tomatoes and basil. Season with pepper.
5. To serve, arrange tomato slices around the edge of a serving platter or shallow salad bowl and spoon the bean salad into the center.

Featured Vendor: Mary Speltz

This week's first featured vendor is Mary Speltz. She is located just outside of Altura, MN. She specializes in baked and canned goods. Mary always has a large assortment of pies and breads to choose from. And her canned goods range from jams to homemade catsup and maple syrup.
Mary was the oldest of all her brothers and sisters and she learned to can when she was about 10 years old and she has been doing it ever since.
Mary has been at the market about 8-9 years and her favorite part about it is the people. She loves seeing her regular customers and meeting new ones.

You can find Mary at the farmer's market every Saturday from 7:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Come check her out!