Sponsored feature:
Selma Farmers Market sprouting well
From our weekly issue dated June 25, 2008
A wide variety of goods is offered. (Photos by Zina Booth I.V. News)
In four years, the Selma Farmers Market at Selma Community Education Center (SCEC) has expanded from two vendors on the front porch to 20 vendors in a pole building.
“Customers will stop by after church, get something to eat, and visit. It is becoming a community event,” said Linda Meier, a member of Selma Center’s Board of Directors.
Added Marcy Sowa, “The recent tomato scare makes people more aware of where their food is coming from. They note the seasonal reality of food, that it doesn’t grow year-round.”
Tending to the wood-fired Cobb pizza oven (Photo by Zina Booth I.V. News)
Even though much of the local produce is not quite ready, there are plenty of other gourmet delights available. Try some Good Fortune take-n-bake cocoa chocolate chip and walnut cookie dough. Tracy Curtis sells scrumptious raspberry or peach cobbler, almond scones, and cinnamon rolls.
Earth Prayer Farms’ organic sourdough bread is complemented by Linda’s Gourmet & Exotic Berry Blue Jam. Other labels include Strawberry Daiquiri ice cream sauce, or Hot Pepper Rush and Hawaiian Hottie, her hot pepper jellies. For those on special diets, some products are made with Splenda.
“Ida” provides a variety of vegetarian egg-rolls, and there’s always Cobb oven pizza.
Peruse the delightful photocards by Angelface, and the stunning gemstone and sterling silver jewelry by Dragonfly Creations.
Flying B Bar Ranch will have organic sheep and alpaca products to augment its current selection of gorgeous roses and fresh spinach.
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Vern Nielson sells hand-carved wooden stools, cutting boards, coffee tables, and original walking sticks. Sew Biz offers fabric crafts such as quilts, aprons, bags and potholders.
Visit Ruth Overholser’s herbal apothecary to purchase luxurious items such as Lady Thyme’s comforting chamomile eye pillow. Other herbal remedies include slippery elm throat lozenges and ginger-eucalyptus salve.
Paul and Susan, from Chernay Gardens, sell fragrant rosemary, lavender and strawberry plants grown from heirloom seeds.
The Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic will be on hand July 6 and 20, Aug. 3, 17 and 31, and Sept. 7 and 21 to answer questions on weeds and insects, and provide free water testing.
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July 20 will feature a Cobb oven repair day: “Come join, we need worker bees.”
Marcy Sowa, Jeanne Dillon, Betty Taylor, Ruth Overholser, Meier and Nielson are current volunteer farmers market managers.
The SCEC Board will be selling hamburgers, hot dogs and conducting membership drives for the Selma Center on the first and third Sundays through September.
SCEC membership fees are $5 per person, $10 per family, or $50 lifetime dues. The center offers computers with Internet and wi-fi available for donations.
Once the site of Selma Elementary School, the gymnasium and basketball court, classrooms, children’s room, and dining room are available for minimum hourly rentals for gatherings including birthday parties and wedding receptions. SCEC can easily accommodate 60 people.
Registered with the Farmers Market Association (FMA) of Oregon, SCEC provides a site for locally grown, produced, and crafted items.
“We encourage local gardeners who grow more produce than they can use, to bring it in and sell to neighbors,” said Nielson.
The $25 seasonal market membership dues pay for advertising and signage. Booth rentals are $5 per day for members, or $10 per day for occasional space rentals. Selma Farmers Market is open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Sept. 28 at 18255 Redwood Hwy. a short distance north of Ray’s Food Place. For more information, phone 415-1000, or contact Meier at 597-2522.
