Some of My Favorite People pt. 2

Late summer and it's time for lots of beautiful fruit at the Athens Farmer's Market! There are many folks doing fruit well here, and one of them happens to be Cherry Orchards.

My restaurant has been working with Cherry for years. The owner, Neil, is one of the sweetest, kindest, most gentle people I have ever met and he has a beautiful passion for fruit. I love all the different varieties of everything that he grows, and he is so knowledgeable and ready to give out samples! Gary and Tina, who work for him, are also some of the nicest people around. I always have admired how they vend, rain or shine, with NO TENT! They'll be standing in the rain selling apples and peaches, and always with smiles on their faces. For years, Casa has gotten beautiful fruit baskets from Cherry, overflowing with bunches of grapes, plums, peaches and apples, and they are admired by everyone who comes to our stall. Their fruit is incredibly delicious! You can find them at the end of the east side of the market near the Market on State sign, across from Harmony Hollow (and his TOKENS HERE sign!).

Some of my other favorite fruit people are Pete and Marjie Shew of Shew's Orchard. Again, Casa has been working with the Shew's for many years; we get a whole slew of different varieties of apples from them, as well as apple cider vinegar, apple butter and lamb cuts. And again, some of the nicest folks I've ever met. Sometimes Marjie brings wool from her lambs to spin into yarn (that she then sells), which is very cool to watch! Pete is in the Back Porch Swing Band, and occasionally they play at Casa, which is a huge treat. Bruno and I are happy to call Shew's Orchard our neighbors at the market because it's not so far to haul bushels of apples when we're picking up for the restaurant, and they are great company. You can find them at the east corner of the T on the main aisle. Additionally, Marjie makes tasty jams and mustards, and if you love cherries like I do, you MUST try her cherry jam!



I'm gonna take this paragraph to inform you all that unfortunately, Casa's high aspirations to be at the Farmer's Market this Wednesday, August 5 and Saturday, August 8 are in vain. We are getting new flooring in our kitchens and prep areas and it looks like it will be impossible for us to be in there to bring you anything. So please accept our apology and look for us on Saturday, August 15! We look forward to seeing you then!