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Morningwood Farms Nursery
Article By Samantha Strong
Photo by Cathy Perry

The Morningwood Farm Nursery, founded by Bob Klebba and David Waugh, is a farm in Mt. Horeb that specializes in bedding plants, perennials, roses, shrubs and trees distinctive to Wisconsin.

The nursery has six full-time staff members who help out at the nursery as well as handle the stands at three different farmers’ markets, one being the Northside Farmers Market.
The nursery, open April through November, also carries items other than plants such as bird baths, pots, fountains and trees.
Klebba said he and Waugh founded the nursery in 2004 after Klebba lost his job working in California. Klebba said they already had the land and figured why not start the business now.

Klebba said a typical day on the farm depends on the weather.
“Often times we’re watering, helping customers determine which plants would work best for their garden, whether it be a vegetable patch or flowers to make the garden look nice,” Klebba said. “In spring we are doing a lot of potting, gardening, watering, and working with perennials.”
The staff at the nursery also offer on-site landscaping consultation when buying plants from the two-acres of plants available at Morningwood Farm.

Morningwood Farm has been involved in the Northside Farmers Market since the market began, Klebba said.
“Since the nursery is only 20 minutes from the west side market, which doesn’t allow dogs at the market, make sure to come to the nursery to see our dogs!” Klebba said.
Other than working at the nursery, Klebba said he enjoys working in his ceramic studio in his basement. Klebba said he really likes working on the wheel and making all of his own glazes.

Market Salad with Really Easy Croutons
An Original Recipe by Angela Trentadue

There’s nothing much easier than a big salad for dinner on an early summer evening. Add some fresh, warm, crusty croutons to the buttery, crisp salad greens and it will be truly special.

It’s hard to resist buying fresh loaves of bread from market. However, it can be hard to finish up the loaf before it starts to turn a little too crusty for breakfast toast or sandwiches.

To remedy this, trim down the loaf when you first get it home, while it’s still easy to cut. Cut off a generous portion from each end then cut these ends into 1-inch cubes. Put cubes into a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer to use for salad croutons whenever you want.

Take a handful out of the bag as you begin to prepare your salad and they’ll be thawed enough to cook up as your finishing.

I like to make my croutons right at the end so they’re still warm and just barely crusty. The more these croutons cool, the crunchier they will be.

To make croutons:
Peel and slice 1-2 cloves garlic. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a skillet (if you like the extra-fat version, use half butter, half oil) over medium heat. Add the garlic and lightly brown in the oil, stirring often to brown evenly.

Once the garlic is toasted, remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Add cubed bread, stirring to coat each cube with the garlic oil. As the oil has been soaked up by the bread, allow it to toast in the pan, shaking the pan every once in a while to get even browning. Turn off heat and season with a pinch of salt. Add croutons to salad, along with garlic chips if you like.

Toss warm croutons with chopped herbs or fine grated cheese if you want even more flavor.

Angela, author of these recipes and an NFM supporter, would love feedback on her recipes – too weird, too hard, too simple, just right? Send us an email to: nfmvolunteer@charter.net

Market Update
By Chris Moore

J&R farms is reporting that their corn was tassling last Sunday – which means that if everything goes well, there will be corn at our market in 21 days! At the market next week you will find cucumbers from Flyte Family Farm, Sugar Snap Peas at Paa Vang’s stall, and kohlrabi, beets, and zauvia, an Asian veggie, at Lor Farms stall. Equinox farms has their very special sunflower sprouts, as well as a mild salad mix which changes every week (last week the mix was green salad bowl, red salad bowl, red sails, spinach, beet greens, and baby chard). They are also almost sure they will be bringing broccoli to the market.

Honey Bee Bakery is showing some great cooking through their strawberry pie. Other notables are the new Berry Walnut White Chocolate cookie from Capital City Cookies and the French Toast Muffin & Bacon from Cup Cakes-A-Go-Go.

Juan from “Los Abuelos Family Farm” has some unique veggies including espazote and quelites (like spinach – you stir-fry them in butter). Jimmy Hudson, from Monroe, is bringing peas and kohlrabi as well as his usual chives, romaine lettuce, true lavander, sage, dill, parsley, brocolli and kale.

Keene Organics will be processing more chickens on the 14th of this month, however, they do still have chicken pieces left. In other news, Keene was featured in the “In Business Madison” magazine – check it out here!

You are invited to come down to the market to buy fresh local produce, and, over a cup of coffee, spend some time getting to know the people that grow or process your food.

Keeping the Market Green
Article and photo by Chris Moore

Follow the example of the small tot and bring your own bag to the market – it helps keep our market green! You can also bring your favorite mug to use with our freshly ground Pierce’s French Roast coffee.