Canned Goods and the Covington Farmer's Market

The other day I had to go to the dentist.  I got yelled at for not going to see an endodontist like he wanted me to last February.  I have a badly infected tooth (with a previous root canal, and a crown).  I've had it since Christmas.  It doesn't hurt much - or it didn't, until he reached in my mouth and squeezed the tooth. Yowch!  Another round of antibiotics (sigh).



 I'm digressing.  What I really wanted to tell you is that while I was out I decided to check out the Covington, Tennessee farmer's market.  It's, almost literally, "Under the Water Tower" just off the town square.

 
I popped over to the Chamber of Commerce where I met the nicest fellow:  Lee Johnston, Executive Director of the Covington-Tipton County Chamber of Commerce.

Lee also wears other hats in his volunteering efforts, I don't know how he has time for all of them.  But he made time to sit down and talk with me about the market.

And he managed to sell me a 10 pound bag of Vidalia onions, to benefit the Shriners.  I love Vidalias so it was an easy sell.  Also because it was for the Shriners. But I really love Vidalias, too.

Anyway, it's a small market, with fourteen 10'x14' stalls under an insulated roof with ceiling fans.  Absolutely crucial for comfort when we're trying to sell in 100F+ weather.  There's water & electricity too.  (Here I was prepared to rough it with a pickup truck and tarps for shade!) I signed up for June. Lee says they'll kick off around mid-month because of our cool, wet spring.

The rules of the market are what you'd expect, except for one exciting thing. But ssssshhhhh. It's a secret.  (I'm pretty sure.)  We can sell pretty much anything we can make in our kitchens, without a commercial, state-inspected facility.  Now, this isn't strictly legal because the Tennessee Code hasn't been amended.  And like I said, it's a secret.

We could legally sell eggs and baked goods without a commercial kitchen, but nothing else.  Lots of people did/do it anyway.  But now if we do want to sell other things we can; we just have to display a sign in our booth that says something like "This stuff was made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected."  Meh.  No problem!

I'm SO excited.  This means I can sell my homemade jam, jelly, Sweet Carrot Marmalade, fig preserves, organic chicken broth, Elemental Fire Salsa...whatever I have time to make from the bounty of our land.

And nobody has to worry about getting sick from my foods - I pressure-can everything according to USDA standards!