At the Farmers' Market

The weekly Rensselaer Farmers' Market has been open for about a month and today I finally stopped by to see what was for sale. There were not a lot of fruits and vegetables, though there were some. However, you could buy direct-from-the-farmer beef, pork, and shrimp.

The guy selling shrimp is a farmer from Wheatfield who took up shrimping to add a bit more income to his farm. He started in January and has had a lot of assistance from the the shrimp farm in Benton County. He said that it has been a long learning curve to make to jump from traditional agriculture to aquaculture. I asked to see a shrimp and as he fished around trying to catch one, the shrimp were jumping out of the water--it was quite the sight. You can now buy shrimp as fresh as you can get anywhere along the coast right here in Jasper County. If you want to know more, visit the webpage or the Facebook page of JT Shrimp LLC.

 There were baked goods and some home made craft items available, but the one that caught my attention the most (perhaps because the vendor is an old high school friend of my daughter) was Aunt Bitty's Goat Milk Soap.

She said that she got into the goat soap business because she heard that goat soap was good for eczema and she had plenty of goats and plenty of goat milk. She makes the soap in different flavors (or should that be scents?) and different shapes. Sometimes kids get very excited when they see her soap because they think it is candy. I pointed out to her that that might indicated that there is a bigger market for candy than for goat milk soap.

Aunt Bitty has a Facebook page that tells more.

Now that summer has arrived, more vegetables should be maturing and there will be more available at the market. A visit to the market makes for a fun little shopping trip and you never know what or who you may find there.