8 minute read
Feature
by Vicki Wood
Just as gardening season is winding down, so are most area farmers’ markets. But this is the perfect time to hit all of them, and we have quite a few in the lake area.
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Visiting the variety in different towns helps, and that shouldn’t be hard since there is so much available on varying week nights and weekends.
One of the smallest and most underrated is one of the greatest markets the lake has to offer.
The Roach Farm Market is so much more than your typical vendors at other locations. It happens every Sunday afternoon from 12 noon to 4 p.m. next door to Quiet Side Quick Stop on Hwy. AA. Approximately 10 vendors line up to serve some unique items as well as listen to live music on the small-event stage.
Bring your lawn chair and kick back to the sounds of various local artists singing and playing acoustic guitar. There is some surprising talent that shows up to entertain market shoppers.
Fresh cheesecake made by local sisters Freddie and Gena, who are also the market organizers, is sometimes available in keto variety and sells out fast. Fresh, authentic handmade Mexican is offered at one booth, with beans and rice. On this visit, pork street tacos were on the menu. Freddie and Gena say to come back when tamales are made. They are the real deal.
Barista Go mobile coffee trailer offering frappes, smoothies and lattes which have become a hit with the crowds at Ozark Amphitheater this season. Of course, there is a small but beautiful variety of flowers, plants, produce, and baked goods presented by local farmers. These are the items that make a market visit a must at the end of the season. Get ready to load your freezers for winter.
For the best variety of end-of-the-season harvest shopping opportunities, Camdenton Square Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings is the place to be. Get there early before the crowds which usually peak from 9-10 a.m. Extra-large farm operations set up at Camdenton Farmers Market in the square in front of the courthouse, some opening as early as 6 a.m., although the official shopping time is 7 a.m.-12 p.m. Many vendors start disassembling between 11 and 11:30 a.m.
Lebanon’s Sun and Bloom Farms and the Tunas Mennonite Community booths join about four other vendors offering fresh homegrown produce at low prices. Both farms offer fresh cut flower bouquets that have seasonal additions.
A coffee vendor/baker from Linn Creek Museum, two pasture-farmed meat producers sell at the market. There are goodies to eat on site like The Hot Dog Maestro with Jacob, who plays piano at area piano lounges, selling hotdogs out of a cart on Saturdays, and sometimes he wears his performing coat of tails and bow tie. He makes incredible cherry lemonade too. He is a hit with the kids. Troy’s Flavored Pecans offers Missouri grown and harvested pecans that are coated and roasted in Stover, and a good supply of raw pecans for fall and winter cooking and baking. The Licorice Guy has five flavors of old fashioned licorice from their family recipe dating way back. Many vendors offer free samples; one can get full just strolling the aisles.
Osage Beach Farmers Market is on Saturday mornings as well. Some of the vendors at the Camdenton Market have a second booth at Osage Beach such as The Licorice Guy. There is a beautiful harvest of fall produce, juicy red peaches, fat pears, and a bounty of bell peppers in every color. The fun comes in with a henna tattoo artist and a hot dog truck.
Osage Beach Farmers Market is located in the Outlet Mall parking lot in Osage Beach every Saturday from 9am to 1pm.
Fall Harvest
The flavors of fall are coming out at area markets. You’ll be able to pick up fall plants and other seasonal food.
Laurie Hillbilly Fairground Farmers Market takes place on Friday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. But some vendors are open by 2 p.m. There are always early shoppers there. The Hot Dog Maestro, Troy’s Flavored Pecans, The Licorice Guy, and several other Camdenton and Osage Beach Farm market booths set up with Laurie and Sunrise Beach farmers, as well as those from Stover and Versailles. The Hot Dog Maestro sets up a piano at this market and actually plays his gifted classical style.
Coyote Creek Farms has pastureraised meat at this market too, as well as a Lebanon meat producer. The produce is outstanding here, and customers make a bee line for the back stall full of Mennonite Farm raised tomatoes at $10 per box for canning, watermelons, cantaloupe, and canning supplies. The tomatoes were overflowing with this seller and two other tomato vendors. Peppers are full in every box this time of year and at best prices. Herbs to accompany cooking and canning are plentiful and cheap. The Linn Creek Museum Market baker, Kay and her husband Larry are also at this one selling, but they sell out early of baked goods.
Linn Creek Museum Market is open on Wednesday afternoons from 3pm to 7pm. This local market has Webster Farms set up outside the front door with her can’t miss big logoed farm box truck. She has some of the freshest produce and baked bread that can be found in the lake area as well as high quality farm raised beef, poultry, and eggs. Her produce offerings right now run toward fall greens. A small produce market vendor is located beside her with peppers and tomatoes.
Inside the museum, Ron Wilson with Let’s Eat Farms also brings fresh eggs from his chickens, but they sell out quickly. His produce is small batch and home garden raised, fresh every week and seasonal. Last week he brought potatoes and pears. Another vendor pops in occasionally with tomatoes and peppers, which seem to be in abundance in every market right now.
Troy’s Flavored Pecans and Kay’s Market Bakery are also restocked every Wednesday inside the museum market with fresh nuts and pies.
What’s unique about the museum market is the overflowing history of the lake area hanging on the walls and in display cases, our heritage of a bygone era at Lake of the Ozarks from the flooding of the area with the construction of Bagnell Dam to the sixties and seventies heyday of rodeos drawing Clint Eastwood and Patsy Cline for appearances. The other big draw of the Linn Creek Museum Market is the dinner that is served. Miss Kay, the market baker, lets her husband Larry man the baked goods booth while she gets busy in the kitchen cooking a The blue caboose bakery is often homemade dinner for six dollars to seen at the eldon farmers Market selling pretzel buns, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and lemon blueberry scones. shoppers and vendors. Nachos with her homemade queso are available for snacking for three dollars. ProFACEBOOK PHOTO ceeds go to fund the museum, as well as vendor booth fees. Dining tables are set up in the middle of the indoor market for enjoying Kay’s cooking. There is always a choice of two entrees on the menu, like salisbury steak or chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, or corn. A lot of working men just pop in for a quick hot meal on their way home after a hard day. Others come to family gatherings to sit around her comforting table. Much socialization goes on in the middle of the market, with regular diners returning each week.
Eldon Farmers Market is on Friday afternoons from 3pm to 6pm in the Rock Island Park in Eldon. There is always a good supply of produce at this market. Gabrielle’s Garden, one of the market’s biggest farmers, has seasonal supplies of greens and herbs, turning to tomatoes, peppers and squash and zucchini in the late summer months. Her son Tyler is cranking out hot lamb burgers from a grill to eat on site. They also sell their farm raised lamb cuts to take home. The Blue Caboose Bakery is selling fresh oven goodness. Two other produce sellers offer melons, and small garden raised berries and vegetables since the market started in 2012. Sometimes the market has a live band. Out on a Limb, a local favorite, has played at the market.
If you choose to only visit one lake area farmers market, you are missing out. There are a lot of different offerings you’ll find by roaming the various locations, especially at the end of the season. Some sellers just want to get rid of the bounty, and it’s a perfect time to get canning, or fill the freezer.
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