Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Busy, Busy, Busy,

Seems this last week my saying has been "I'll just slip on my cape and tights and take care of that for you". We've been up to our eyeballs in herbs and customers, classes and cooking, tours and geocachers, weeds and grass.

We've had a lot of fun though. We had an excellent cooking with herbs class last week with a few new faces added to the mix. The food, of course, was wonderful and everyone had great questions and a good time. Today we are preparing for a garden tour and luncheon with more great food made with our own fresh herbs. We've had some rain here lately so the herbs are loving it and they look fabulous! Our customers will be very happy.

The last two weeks at the Grand Forks farmers market have been our busiest ever. It really shows that people are changing the way they cook and eat. The media coverage regarding eating local doesn't hurt either. I saw on the news last night that our new customer, Rhombus Guys in Grand Forks, won first place in a pizza tasting contest - hurray for them! I wonder if our fresh herbs were on their winning pizza? We also saw another of our good customers on TV, Chef Kim Holmes of Sanders 1907 in Grand Forks, as he worked to hold a benefit for violence prevention. The benefit was at his restaurant and featured local celebrities as wait staff working for tips to benefit the CVIB. Congrats to all and we hope you raised a lot of money - again, I hope our fresh basil was in the great pasta that Chef Holmes is known for.

We've had our share of tours lately with two large busses last week and this week we are awaiting the arrival of a family of 6 who are on a learning based vacation. They are coming to us all the way from Florida and will be with us for three days and three nights. We'll have great fun meeting this new family and getting to know them.

I'm also trying to prepare for our annual Produce Party. Be sure to keep watch on the web site as August 30th approaches. We'll post our agenda for the day and hopefully highlight some of our special vendors and presenters. Remember, we're always looking for more produce vendors so if you have a little extra to share - come and join us. Booth space for new vendors is $20 and for returning vendors $10. Last year every vendor was very happy with their sales for the day and definitely made thier money back. In fact, we've become so good at drawing a crowd that this year we will have vendors from farther away than ever. Booths have been reserved for vendors from Grand Forks, Minot, Bottineau, Rugby and of course the local area. Be sure to join us won't you?

That's all that I have time for now - gotta run and put on my cape and tights and take care of our customer orders for Minot - Miracle Mart Dakota Square, Marketplace Foods, Miracle Mart Arrowhead, 10 North Main and a few more orders yet to come in!
Holly