The market offers many unique items, such as homemade scented soaps, potato breads and organic eggs. Established in 1990 as a Colorado non-profit corporation, 
its purpose is to provide an outlet for local agricultural businesses to sell their products directly to the public.

Longmont Farmers’ Market is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday until Oct. 27, 2001. The web site for the market is www.longmontfarmers.com.

The Freshest Eggs In Town
 
With a table and an umbrella for shade, Judy Gwin sells eggs from a cooler in the back of her car. She only sells her eggs at the Longmont Farmer’s Market. "I’m a farmer’s wife during the week," Gwin said.

On market day, she takes the eggs stacked on flats in three refrigerators and fills her egg cartons. As the eggs sell, she accepts empty egg cartons in return. With no credit to modern day recycling, she said, "I can always use those!"

Regarding her chickens, Gwin said, "I have Black Minorcas and … Barred Rocks." She ordered the chicks from a hatchery in Webster City, Iowa. They mailed the chicks to the Longmont post office. Shortly after their arrival, she received a phone call from the mailman that her birds had arrived.

She has 100 older hens hatched on Oct. 1, 2000 and 100 younger hens hatched May 15, 2001. The older hens are a Rainbow Layer mix, meaning they were purebred but several different breeds were represented. "I have Aricanas that lay blue and green eggs," she said. "They’re from South America. They originated in Chile." Her white board advertises no cages, no hormones, no chemicals and a vegetarian diet with vitamins. Mrs. Gwin called them "happy."

Though the market is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, she stated, "I’m usually sold out by 1 o’clock. I leave anywhere from 10:30 to 12. I think I’ve only been here one time at 1 o’clock and that was in the spring when the birds are especially productive. They slow down in the heat and they slow down in the cold but I have eggs at my farm all winter long."

The eggs are priced from $1.75 for 18 smalls up to $3 for one dozen jumbos. "My eggs are all bigger than the store eggs of that size," assured Gwin. 

The Gwin farm is located at County Road #13, Platteville. The telephone number is 970-535-0720.
 

Vegetables Galore

The Miller Farm is also family owned and operated. Melissa Miller (18) is in charge of the vegetable stand. "I’m the oldest of four," she stated. Though the market was not opened on Tuesdays this year because of construction, Miller said cheerfully, "We’re here every Saturday!"
 
Especially popular are the tomato baskets priced at $3. Each basket clearly weighs over three pounds. "All of the things on our farm are pesticide free," Miller said.
 
A neighbor, Ray Mendez was also busy selling fava and lima beans and lettuce at the stand. Miller said, "He’s worked at the farm since he was a really little kid."  
 
The Miller farm is located in the Platteville area as well. "About 12 miles east of here," Miller said.
 

Potato Bread Fit For A King

Peter Kaiser, European chef from Salzburg, Austria, bakes potato breads. Located at 5741 Arapahoe in Boulder, the Styria, Inc., bakery was the start of a new life in the United States two years ago for Kaiser.

Connie Protze, employee, stated, "It’s in Boulder and we just have a small bakery, so what we do is we just bake out of there and we do farmers’ markets across the state to see where we’ll want to put our retail stores." The Styria sells breads at markets in Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Fort Collins and even Cheyenne.

When Kaiser works the markets himself, he shops for tomatoes and lettuces at other booths. He sliced open a round of rye bread and, using balsamic vinegar dressing with the vegetables, made himself a fresh sandwich.

After training in European schools and then moving to the U.S., Kaiser began formulating new recipes, including potato jalapeno bread made with Monterey jack cheese and hot peppers. One of his favorites is the Asiago cheese bread from Italy. Sigofredo coffee is recommended to complement this bread.

Protze quickly identified the different breads. "The Jewish rye has caraway seeds and the German doesn’t," she explained. "Try our samples!"

Lemon sage bread is made with 45 percent mashed potatoes, lemon and sage. The lemon and sage flavors do not stand out when they were blended together with the potatoes. "That makes a great French toast," Ms. Protze said. The sample actually tasted more like a sweet bread. "When they do 45 percent of the mashed potatoes," Protze mentioned, "that makes it a softer bread." Walnut cranberry, foccacia, sourdough, whole wheat, and rye breads filled out the table. 

"I’m actually a teacher," Protze said, "and when we grow the business, I’m going to retire in about a year when we do the stores." 

For more information about the Syria bakery call 303-579-4555. The bakery is located at 5741 Arapahoe St., Boulder, CO, 80303.
 

Soap And Soft Skin

Diana Saunders has a booth toward the end of the rows. She offers homemade soaps in addition to her husband Bruce Kelsch’s bee products. The soaps contain honey, oatmeal, chamomile, and other natural ingredients.
 
Regarding the soap, she said, "Please use it! I make a lot. I don’t put any preservatives in, so the scent will dissipate over several months. I’ve had people put them in their linen closets, but I say no. Use them and enjoy them."
 
"Every soap has to have lye in it," she said. "Soap has to have lye to become soap. But what happens is when it goes through the saponification process, lye attaches to the oil and it changes. It becomes soap. There is no more oil and no more lye. It is soap…. You can’t find lye in soap when it’s done properly."
 
Actually, Saunders credits her homemade soap with being good for the skin as well. As she explains, "Homemade soaps have glycerin in them. Commercial soaps draw the glycerin out and (it is sold) separately because they can make more money for it on the market that way," she said, "but homemade soaps are much more moisturizing for the skin."

Until a year ago, Saunders was director of sales with Career Track. After 20 years in the corporate world, she decided she wanted more of a family life. She took time away from the corporate world and became a personal life coach from her home. Soap making and beekeeping were viewed as hobbies and creative endeavors.
 
"I started this as a result of Bruce’s business. Bruce has been a beekeeper for over 25 years as a hobby. So we had wax and honey and lots of it. And I just started experimenting."
 
"We also sell the actual granules of pollen," Saunders said. "My husband traps it. He has screens that the bees crawl through, (which) knocks it off their legs, then it’s in a tray. He sells that alone and he also mixes it." 
 
The bee pollen was so popular that it sold out by 10 a.m. The pollen is valued for its nutrition and medicinal effects. It contains high amounts of iron and B vitamins. According to Saunders, pollen has been shown to protect against the adverse effects of x-rays in experiments with mice and also was reported to work in the treatment of chronic prostatitis.
 
Bee pollen contains propolis, which is a source of flavinoids. These molecules are thought to have anti-bacterial properties. Other pollen components are touted to inhibit tumors, strengthen blood vessels and heal gastric ulcers.
 
"The bee pollen is great for allergies," said Saunders. "People … who live in this area ought to be using local honey. A lot of the pollen is left in the honey. And we don’t process our honey so that the benefit of the pollen is in there."

Diana Saunders and her husband, Bruce Kelsch, can be reached at brucendiana@mbusa.net. Their phone number is 303-682-5978.