Winter Blues

Each year, the WV Extension Agency puts together a conference for small farmers throughout the state. The days are filled with workshops on all kinds of topics. I'm hoping to make it next year as an attendee!

It is also a time for farmers around the state to showcase their goods in a winter farmers market. This year marks my fifth year of attending and each year gets better. Products range from honey and jams to baked goods to soaps and even some produce! There are also WV authors on hand signing their books.

Here's my haul. I could have spent another hour walking around and I had planned on taking some pictures while I was there, but alas a certain little girl was growing impatient.

Dawn at Brightside Acres makes some absolutely stunning teas. I adore her blend called Sparkle My Spirit. It was so helpful when we were building to help keep my stress levels under control. But, I can't drink it while nursing as it has St. John's Wort. So, today I asked Dawn what she would recommend for a nursing mama and she directed me to Renew. I'm drinking a cup as I write and it is wonderful.

I generally make our sandwich bread. Since I was gone all day today and I made Dan's lunch with the last of our bread from the freezer, I was more than happy to find some whole wheat bread from Joan at the Sheepherder's Kitchen. The loaf is beautiful and I love things with only a few ingredients and ones you can pronounce!

We are members of Mountain People's Coop in Morgantown and we love buying things like flour, oats, and peanut butter from them. It was nice to see them at a table as I remembered while walking around that I was out of oats!  I also picked up some dried mango. It is this mango that got us interested in starting to dehydrate our food.

I was drawn toward the book table because there were a number of children's books. Since I will be homeschooling, I thought it would be neat to get a book from a WV author. Melinda was there and told me about the story lines of each of her books. As a retired public school teacher, she tries to incorporate positive messages using nature. In this book, a young owl learns all about the other birds of forest and finds out that each one is different. Character traits are personified in each bird and the young owl learns that you are who you are. I'm already thinking of ideas to use it as a good jumping off point for a lesson on birds!

The illustrator and publisher are both West Virginians. I love that so many things can be found locally.

This basil smells amazing. Like knock your socks off awesome. There is a greenhouse in Berkeley Springs that uses aquaponics to grow produce year round. They had other lettuce as well as fresh turmeric. And tomatoes!  Now to figure out what to do with the basil!

We love supporting our local (and state farmers)! We are looking forward to the Bridgeport Market this weekend. We will talk to the farmer we are getting our chicks from and load up on some meat. Are there winter markets in your area?