It's Time for the Casey County Produce Auction!

Just a note that the Casey County Produce Auction will begin its regular 2012 auction season on Wednesday, April 4 at their location on South Fork Creek in Liberty, Kentucky. Here you can buy local Casey County produce, eggs, plants and flowers at their freshest availability and often at wholesale prices (or even less and sometimes more: it's an auction, after all).

Click here for a full 2012 schedule of regular plant, flower and produce auctions, as well as special auctions, held mostly three times a week from April through mid-October.

Stay tuned for auction highlights throughout the season! And if you ever want a market report of how specific items sold, you can always call 1-606-787-0570 for a recorded message of the last auction results.

And remember that everyone in the region is welcome to sell their locally grown produce, eggs and plants (no matter how small the volume). If you wish to sell, contact Milton Brubacker or Paul Hoover at 1-606-787-5158 for particulars.

See you at the auction!

Fall is In Full Season at Hillside Greenhouse and Produce

Hillside Greenhouse and Produce, in the large red-roofed log cabin tucked up on the hill behind Sunny Valley Country Store, is now bustling with visitors from around the state and county––and even tourists from further away.

Paul and Verna Hoover built the log cabin showroom several years ago and now offer produce year round––much of it locally grown––in addition to their other plants and greenhouse items in season. 

Currently there are many local pumpkins, squash and gourds available and over fourteen varieties of apples (mostly imported from New York state) including Cameo, Cortland, Fuji, Gala, Golden Supreme, Granny Smith, Jonagold, MacIntosh, Mutzu, Red Delicious, Rome, Stayman Winesap, Wolf River and Yellow Delicious. Verna told us today that another large shipment of apples is due into the store on Saturday, October 1st.

The Stayman Winesap apple is one of the very best apples for anything and also a good keeping apple.

There is always a changing array of colorful––and affordable––mums outside of the store. Big pots of vibrant mums are a sure sign of fall and the lingering colors that they offer, 
long after seasonal frosts, are a delight to many.

Local Jack-be-Little pumpkins, 2 for $1 (any size): you can stuff them to eat or decorate with them!

You can't beat local sugar "pie" pumpkins for baking, canning and decorations, especially at that price.

Hillside Greenhouse and Produce is open year round, Monday-Saturday, from 8am-5pm, and is located on South Fork Creek Road, within three miles from route 910 in southern Casey County. [606-787-4509]

Hillside Greenhouse is conveniently located on the hill above Sunny Valley Country Store, also open Monday-Saturday, featuring an in-store deli and bakery, many locally made items and an extensive offering of bulk foods.

September Song

Tomorrow is the first official day of autumn and it seems to have arrived here in south-central Kentucky with all of its delights and offerings. This following was shared by Joberta Wells, a regular columnist for The Casey County News and a regular 'hoot.' She returned to Casey County in 1994 after being away for over three decades. It's a great place to come back to, or to move to, that's for certain. Joberta writes:

'Years ago every little community in Casey County, Kentucky had a correspondent for The Casey County News. They collected tidbits of happenings from their areas and submitted these news items. You knew who got married, who had a baby, who died, who went to Lexington to see a specialist (a doctor with more training and education than the local general practitioner), whose cow broke through the fence into a neighbor's corn field, etc.


The correspondents for Yosemite, KY were sisters named **Wauda Coffey and Jesse Anderson. These ladies engaged in rather florid prose but occasionally they got it just right. In the September 22, 1949 edition of The Casey County News they reported the following':
   

The countryside is taking on the richness of autumn. Almost all the tobacco is in the barns where one sees the long leaves turning to pale gold. September has been perfect for curing the crop and for making the fall hay. Mowing machines are busy and fields are dotted with green bales, or bordered with stacks, and barns are being filled. Cornfields are brown and look a month later than the calendar says. Nature's flower garden is bright with goldenrod, purple ironweed, and many other blossoms. Buds of the summer farewell are opening instead of waiting for October to call them on the stage. It's a lovely time to be living.'

**Yes, she really was a woman named 'Wauda' –– I had changed it to Wanda, thinking it a type-o and Joberta nicely reminded me not to do that!

Smile! It's Still Summer!

From the beautiful row of sunflowers growing along the roadside at the edge
of the Shirk's vegetable garden on South Fork Creek Road, near Goldenrod Feeds.

Even though the summer heat and humidity seem relentless, in less than four months we'll likely be complaining about the cold while missing the fruits of summer. Already on the roadsides the Joe Pye Weed and Ironweed are emerging––these are the beautiful weeds of late summer. It's coming.

So enjoy the flowers while you can. Did you know that sunflowers follow the sun throughout the day and turn their faces towards it? I always thought they were named for the way a child might draw a sun. Either way they're smiley, happy flowers. In the fall if you leave some or all of your flower heads out, the birds will enjoy them. What they don't take will drop and self-sow for the next year. Next spring, after the ground has warmed, if you don't like your 'volunteers,' just wait until they are a few inches tall and move them where you want them. They transplant well when small.

It might not even be too late to plant some sunflower seeds in pots or in the ground for late fall blooming. They look great with pumpkins and hay bales and there are so many varieties for cutting or just enjoying in the garden. Stop over at Hillside Greenhouse on South Fork Creek (behind Sunny Valley Country Store) for some local Burkholder seeds and other offerings.