MARKET DAY THIS FRIDAY --COME ONE, COME ALL!

This coming Friday July 16th will be our first Friday Afternoon Market from 2-7pm. Please come visit us on your way home from work and stock up on vegetables for the weekend. Or stop in at our regular Monday Market from 10am-5pm. The Market accepts WIC, Senior WIC, SNAP (formerly EBT) and Debit cards. Each Market Day, children can select a free book at our Kids Book Exchange or customers can purchase a dollar raffle ticket for our Monthly Free Bag of Produce. We also have a colorful selection of Market aprons, tee shirts or post cards and issues of A Farming Chapbook from previous Market seasons. Come visit us! Every Market Monday & every Market Friday is a special event!

A new horno is being constructed at the Espanola Farmers’ Market in the Wildflower Garden area, thanks to a grant from Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area(NRGHA)and support from New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF). Work started on July 5th and will continue each Monday Market through August 23rd. Dexter Trujillo from Abiquiu is constructing the horno with the assistance of four students and interested volunteers. Dexter helped build an horno with a delegation of Abiquenos ten years ago at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. The horno builders are making the adobes on site and will continue each Monday with laying a stone base, laying adobes, mud plastering the horno, making the first firing and finally cooking in the completed clay oven. We invite customers to the Market to visit with the horno builders and watch as the oven grows.

Visitors may also notice that both flowers and small signs are sprouting in the Wildflower Garden. Last season, students created fourteen oval beds and paths around these beds. This year, the Market is inviting customers and farmers to Adopt an Oval and cultivate flowers and native plants for all to enjoy. Ten of the ovals have already been adopted; you can read the signs with the names of the gardeners inside the adopted ovals. There are still four ovals available for adoption. Consult Sabra, the Market Manager, if you want to adopt any of the remaining ovals.

FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND BRINGS HORNO TO MARKET

From July 5th through August 23rd, a new horno will be in the process of construction at the Espanola Farmers Market. Dexter Trujillo will build the horno with four local students. When completed, it will be used to bring a taste of tradition to the market. A horno is a small squat oval hollowed mound that was once part of every household for cooking outdoors. Today an horno is commonly used for making chicos and bread. Horno-baked bread is available at some farmers' markets. Watch this blog for how hornos have been used in the Espanola Valley.

The farmers' market was off to a slow start this year because of the late spring and cool weather. This week is a turning point. Come for a wider selection of vegetables. And if you love locally-grown greens, come early. The greens are sold out quickly in the morning starting at 10 a.m.

It's not too late to adopt an oval for planting flowers at the market. Join those who have already signed up: Sepaphine and Elefio Montoya (two ovals), Glenna Dean (two ovals), Cindy Manzanares, Susie Lucero, Lucia Sanchez. Five ovals are still available.

Grass-fed beef (USDA Scottish cattle) is another extra this summer from the Soaring Eagle Ranch in Los Ojos.