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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 9, 2005 Growers market opens By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Flowers, not fruit, dominated the opening day of the Ashland Growers and Crafters Market on Tuesday. About 20 vendors clustered in the National Guard Armory parking lot for the market's first week, even though the usual summer fare of salad greens, berries and potatoes won't be ripe and harvested until May or June. "It wasn't a busy day," said John Koch, the owner and chef of Cooks Kitchen Organic Food Services in Ashland. "As it gets into the season and as the farmers come in with their crops, it'll pick up." Ashland resident Anne Marie Caruso walked to the market with her daughter Sienna, who is almost 5 months old, to pick up daffodils, organic eggs and organic beef. The trip to the market was as much for the food as the chance to be out in the 70-plus degree weather. "It's a very nice day," said Caruso, who has been coming to the market for years. "We're having an early spring and it's beautiful." Koch brought his organic, sugar-free sauces and dressings for market-goers to sample on the first day, though. While most of his products can be found at grocery stores in Ashland, Talent and north in the Willamette Valley or through his Web site, there are a few special blends he holds back for the market. "I like to have a few things that they can only get at the market," Koch said. "It makes them come back." The market-exclusive items - chocolate fudge sauce, Thai red curry paste and almond olive dressing - generated a strong following last year, Koch's first season at the Growers Market. When the market shut down in mid-November, some people made the point to stock up for the winter on the special sauces only sold at the market. Most of the other market vendors also peddled items available year-round. Booths loaded with pottery, fresh bread and pies, jam, wooden artifacts, cow and goat's milk outnumbered the produce stands. Vegetables that could be over-wintered in fields, such as topless carrots, beets and turnips were available from a couple of local farms. "They're really sweet," said Laurie Hultquist with Fry Family Farms in Talent. "The cold increases the sugar content." Fry Family Farms also sold salad mix, chard, red cabbage, kale, broccoli and plants seeded in greenhouses over the winter, though the booth had sold-out of the salad mix, broccoli and all but one bundle of chard. Ashland Growers and Crafters Market runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Tuesday in the National Guard Armory parking lot, 1420 E. Main St. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected] . DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms Homeschooling Tatoos student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Fasa Student Loans Tatoo Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams