I just got back from an evening meeting to find a bit of late-breaking news . . . while Teresa is going to visit her daughter Gabby up at Macalester this weekend, Teresa’s friend Michael, who you’ve seen at many markets this season, will be at the Market, with raspberries, fresh herbs, dry herbs, herb teas, beautiful flowers, and hedge apples for you!

I’ve gotten quite a few emails requesting the Magical Hedge Apples (see notes Teresa wrote on them below) . . . so here you go . . . a little addendum to Food & Farm Notes from Michael . . . but first . . .

I’d like to invite you to a couple of Food & Farm related talks that I’m part of at the fabulous Chicago Humanities Festival. Just click on the links to order tickets. They’re only $5.

Sunday, Oct. 28, 1:15 Notebaert Nature Museum
207 : REGION OF CONCERN 
I will be speaking about the natural alliances among farmers, consumers, and conservationists. All of these constituencies are working to save things of value--biodiversity, water quality, endangered plant varieties and livestock breeds, family farms, agricultural resources, wildlife habitat, healthy local economies, and delicious food. Most importantly, the simple act of eating well can help us re-gain a healthy relationship with our environment.
http://www.chfestival.org/festival/index.cfm?sec=adult&fa=home.program&id=1955

Saturday, Nov. 3, 12:00, First United Methodist Church, 77 W. Washington St.
409 : PANEL
Organic Connection -- Agriculture and Our Food Supply
This promises to be a lively and enlightening discussion with Corby Kummer, senior food editor for The Atlantic Monthly, Terra Brockman, food and farm writer; Ken Meter, food-system analyst and president of Crossroads Resource Center, whose groundbreaking “Finding Food in Farm Country” studies document economic losses suffered in 24 regions across the U.S.; and local organic farmers Dennis and Emily Wettstein.
http://www.chfestival.org/festival/index.cfm?sec=adult&fa=home.program&id=1986

Teresa’s Fruit and Herb News

By Michael Haury

Salutations, market-goers. The season is winding down and I really learned a lot working on Teresa’s farm this season. I love the work, but I’m looking forward to autumn and winter…she’s a bit of a slave driver. J

We didn’t expect to be coming to market, but due to the warm weather (we never got that frost last week), I am coming solo this Saturday while Teresa and her mother, Marlene, visit Teresa’s daughter, Gabby, at college in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Teresa wanted me to write a brief note letting all of you know what will be available this Saturday, but I want to take a minute to write about Teresa. As most of you already know, Teresa is an amazing, hard working woman who really enjoys seeing all of you each weekend. It’s all of you that keep her going through the long, hot hours of summer to the chilly, crisp mornings of autumn. We often talk about how it really wouldn’t be as fun or rewarding if we sold to a store or some other middleman. I know she appreciates all her customers, as I’m sure you all appreciate the quality and variety of organics she brings each week.

Teresa works me under the table day-in and day-out. We harvest part of Thursday and all day Friday for the Evanston Market. Then Teresa is up until 11:30 PM or midnight putting her flower bouquets together every eve of market. If we’re lucky, we get maybe an hour of sleep before we pull out of the driveway at 2 AM. I’m usually dozing off by the time we hit the Interstate. By the time we reach Evanston, we’ve been up for 24 hours with little or no sleep. By the 5^th month of this, you get a little worn out. Take that times 6, the number of years Teresa has been doing this, and you can get an idea of the love and dedication she has for farming organically. A lot of beautiful and romantic writing about the earth and farm goes into these Food and Farm Notes, written by brilliant writers (mainly Terra), so I’m yet again way out of my league, but I wanted to take this opportunity to write about Teresa, and thank her for teaching me many things about farming and life.

I suppose I should mention that I’ll have raspberries, fresh herbs, dry herbs, herb teas, beautiful flowers, and hedge apples (see notes below) this Saturday….all organic of course. I know you’ve all heard this before, but this is absolutely the last market for us, except the Nov. 3^rd one when we’ll be bringing the free-range organic turkeys along with dry herbs and teas and maybe a few surprises. So come out and stock up for the winter months and don’t let my uncanny resemblance to Charles Manson scare you off.

See you Saturday!

Michael

Magical Hedge Apples

“Hedge apples,” “osage orange,” and “monkey balls” are just a few names these lime green, “brainy” textured inedible fruits go by. This year, probably due to the same freeze that knocked out my apples and pears, there is a shortage of hedge apples, and we have had to scour our usual harvest spots for the few we are bringing up this week.

Many people use hedge apples as a fall table decoration by setting several in a bowl or basket. But the reason most people buy hedge apples is because they are a non-toxic bug repellant. I can’t even remember where we first learned this, but someone told us, so we thought, what the heck, we’ll give it a try. My daughter’s bathroom is in the basement and there are always spiders and/or centipedes in the tub and on the floor. We put a little basket on the floor with 3 or 4 hedge apples in it and the bugs disappeared. Many customers have told us it worked for them too. One person said it even worked for mice! I haven’t tested that! They last for several weeks to a few months depending on the humidity in your house.