Blowing Rock Honey is proudly selling honey at Watauga County Farmers' Market for the first time in the fall of 2008. We're biased of course but we feel ours is the best honey in the state! But don't take our word for it... drop by our spot at the market and try a free sample. Our honey is fresh from the 2008 season. Our Sourwood is as pure as can be... never mixed or cut with other types of honey. This year was a tough year for honey producers but we were blessed. We have Locust, Poplar and Sourwood and they are all outstanding. We look forward to seeing you!

Robert Church farms in North Wilkesboro near Miller's Creek. He has developed techniques for providing early, great tasting crops by working with the climate and local conditions.

One of Robert's specialty crops is watermelons. He starts the seeds in quart pots in the greenhouse early in March. By the time the transplants are ready to be set out in April the plants are starting to run and bloom. Robert focuses on growing a flavorful melon that is easy for one person to carry and does not need to push the plants by adding fertilizer. He uses weed growth to his advantage, allowing taller plants to shade the watermelons during the hot weather. He also finds it unnecessary to spray for pests. Robert grows several different varieties of watermelons including Royal Sweets, Crimson Sweets, Jubilee and Sangria.

Once the watermelons start to play out, the pumpkins begin to take center stage. Robert grows many different varieties of pumpkins including unusual and rare types. Some of the favorites are Cinderella, Long Island Cheesecake, and Hawaiian Peanut pumpkins. Robert also starts the pumpkin seeds in the greenhouse and sets out the plants around the end of May. Robert plants out 12 acres of pupmkins every year as well as 12 acres of watermelons.

Robert also grows boxwoods which he digs and sells in the fall. He digs them after they have grown fairly large, averaging around two and a half to three and a half feet tall, and twenty eight to thirty two inches around. He spaces them in the four feet apart fields to permit mowing between the shrubs, and this easy maintenance allows a large number of plants. Robert has about 35,000 boxwoods planted, and plans for a couple of thousand more. Cuttings from existing boxwoods are rooted and planted for planting in the future.

We sell Hot Sauces, Salsa, and BBQ Sauce made from our home grown peppers, we also sell eggs, vegetables, herbs and blueberries.
Visit the Fire From The Mountain website.

Zydeco Moon Farm is fully certified organic and owners Sally Thiel and Joe Martin raise a variety of vegetables including tomatoes, lettuce, sugar snap peas, peppers, snow peas, and squash.

Fog Likely Farm

James Wilkes owns Faith Mountain Farm in Creston, NC.

He can be reached at:

• 489 Big Laurel Road
• Creston, NC, 28615
• 336-385-3510

David, Kathy, Anna and Autumn Blackburn live in Ashe County in North Carolina and can be found at Watauga County Farmers' Market with their fresh Kandy Korn and a variety of heirloom vegetables. David grows the plants from seed that he saves from the best selections of the previous year's crop, enabeling customers to enjoy the full flavors of time-honored favorites.

David also grows flowering trees and shrubs and wholesales them to nurseries. He plans to bring flowering shrubs to the market nest year, including his specialty, Wigelia. Look for cut flowers next year, too.

Much of David's farming efforts are directed toward growing Fraser firs for sales as Christmas trees. He is able to ship the trees individually in sizes from table top up to six feet in height. Customers can also mail order Fraser fir wreathes, these are shipped one per box and are available either decorated or undecorated and make excellent gifts. The deadline for orders of trees and wreathes is November 10.

David uses various techniques for growing vegetables in our sometimes difficult climate. He avoids blossom-end rot in tomatoes by adding calcium to the soil around the plants. Beans are grown on wire supports to improve air circulation, and also to speed up picking.

Some of the heirloom varieties that David has success with and brings to the market are:

Tomatoes

• Brandywine
• German Johnson
• Mortgage Lifter

Snap Beans

• Frost Beans
• Doubleback Beans
• Big Red
• Greasyback
• Pink Tips
• Half-runners

Contact the Blackburns at (336) 846-5249 or send an e-mail.

Jon Bost owns Grandfather Mountain Apple Orchard, a pick-your-own orchard since WWII.
Now, you can pick your own woodworking design too!

What you are seeing today is off-season work, crafted from local maple and cherry wood cut down for the construction of the new Highway 421.

Jon also does custom work from descriptions.
Call him at (828) 963-8489.

Coming soon, blueberries and apples!

The Greenes have been a special part of the Watauga County Farmers' Market since 1995. Each week they present an abundant display of fresh produce, garden plants, and domestic items. Shoppers are quick to buy up their supply of fresh farm eggs each week, knowing the unrivaled quality of fresh farm eggs.

Gene's boundless garden yields a variety of vegetables throughout the growing season. Lettuce and other greens, strawberries, and broccoli usher in the season. An amazing variety of beans follow, Tenderette, White Half Runner, Pink Tip, Peanut, and October Bean are some of the choices.

Mid-July is the time to anticipate the sweet corn harvest, and home grown popcorn will also be available. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, blueberries, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and other staples are popular in season. Ultimately, pumpkins steal the show, and the Greenes have a large selection.

Reba and Fred Greene have been coming to Watauga County Farmers' Market since 1975, the second year the market was open. Daughter Cindy grows many of the watermelons, pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumbers for the Greenes, and granddaughter Ashley grows flowers for cutting.

The Greene's have a vegetable garden of around 2 acres. Because different corn varieties will cross-pollinate if grown too closely together, the field corn is grown at Reba's dad's house, about 3 miles away. The Indian corn is grown in yet another field. Early sweet corn is very popular at Watauga County Farmers' Market and the Greenes often sell between 50 and 60 dozen ears before 9AM.

Reba prefers to grow white sweet potatoes because of their different texture. She and Fred regularly fix them for breakfast, with gravy. The Greenes also grow 8 varieties of blueberries, which in a year with normal rainfall will provide fresh blueberries from June to October.

Other vegetables to look for in season are okra, squash, beans, greens, and rhubarb that tastes like apples. Ask a week in advance and the Greenes will bring you a 50 pound bag of potatoes for storage. They also have field corn to feed to the squirrels over the winter.