By Don Hall
News-Leader staff
On a recent Friday morning, things were hopping at the Howard County Farmers’ Market on South Washington Street, next to the county health unit.
Vendors were occupying all of the floor space under the roof, and others were even set up outside on the grass. You figure out real quickly that the Farmers’ Market is more than just fruits and vegetables.
Kevin and Angie Nason are beekeepers from Old Washington. They own Southern Yankee Homestead, and by mid-morning they’re sold out of eggs, cucumbers, and zucchini, but they definitely still have honey and honey products.
Kevin is from the Northeast (“He’s the Yankee,” Angie says with a smile), and he grew up working bees with his dad. After a few years away in the Marine Corps, he got back into beekeeping in a big way.
He now sells bees as well as honey products and he works as a mentor with Hives for Heroes, a group that helps veterans get involved in beekeeping. He and Angie currently tend 50 hives, and they expect to have 100 by the end of the year.
Jodi Brackett, owner of Brackett’s Petals and Produce in Lockesburg, has some beautiful onions, leaf lettuce, and radishes for sale. Everything else is already gone.
“I’ve been gardening since my mother made me,” she says. Mom’s lessons must have taken hold. Jodi has a 2-acre no-till garden. “We try not to disturb the soil any more than we have to,” she explains.
After breaking up the ground in the spring, it’s only mulching in Jodi’s garden, using old hay, shredded paper, cardboard, and wood chips from a tree service. “I let my worms do the composting for me,” she grins.
Jodi is in Nashville most Fridays, and she manages the Lockesburg Farmers’ Market that’s open from 8-noon on Saturdays.
Louise Hicks has a familiar face. It turns out she retired from Walmart last July, where she spent the last few years as a greeter. No wonder she looks familiar.
Louise loves quilting. “I’ve been doing this a long time, at least 30 years,” she says.
In addition to quilts, she makes beautiful handmade items that are useful in the kitchen, things like aprons, potholders, kitchen towels, bottle grippers, and plastic bag holders. And don’t forget the dog bandana scrunchies, in small, medium, and large, for the assistant cook.
Glen Shortridge was raised in De Queen and worked for a time there as a carpenter and roofer. But wanting to make a better living moved him to Texas, where he eventually retired as a safety manager for a company based in San Antonio. Then, it was back to De Queen.
“It looks like you’re into woodworking,” I say. “Well, I’ve been working with wood all my life, but it’s a little more refined now.” His pieces are intricate and impressive, and all done by hand. He doesn’t use computerized equipment for his creations, just a scrolling saw and a sharp eye. He’s been at it for 10-12 years, and Fridays, he’s in Nashville.
Lanny Brothers works the counter at the Farmers’ Association Co-Op in Nashville.
He also raises a lot of sheep. If you’ve ever noticed a large flock about 5 miles out of town on the way to Murfreesboro, they belong to LTB Farms.
Lanny’s wife Theresa can be found on Friday mornings at the Farmer’s Market, selling lamb raised on their farm and then processed in Hope. She also has baked goods for sale, including delicious-looking homemade sourdough bread.
You can contact Theresa and Lanny online at the LTB Farms website, or just stop in at the co-op and tell Lanny what you want. But the easiest way to get your locally-raised lamb is to head to the Farmer’s Market.
We have a thriving Farmer’s Market here in Howard County, but you’d better get there early. It opens at 7 a.m. and by 10:00 there are very few vegetables and no eggs left, and almost all of the lamb is gone.
That’s really early for retired folks or school teachers on summer break, but the early bird really does get the worm.
Or, in this case, the garden-fresh veggies and loads of other things for sale every Friday morning on South Washington Street.
