Cape Riverfront Market offers fresh variety

Even before the bell sounds indicating the start of transactions, Cape Riverfront Market veteran Ross Peterson said people are in line anticipating his organically grown vegetables.

Peterson and his wife, Emily Scifers, of Cape Girardeau were one of the first vendors during the market’s inception, Old Town Cape event coordinator Emily Vines said Friday.

He and Scifers’ business, Laughing Stalk Farmstead, offers homegrown salad mix, basil, kale, garlic, okra and green peppers.

“Some people get here early just so we can bag things up and get it ready,” Peterson said early Saturday. “Salad mix and certain things go really fast. Gotta get it early.”

He said Scifers was part of the original group that spearheaded the Cape Riverfront Market eight years ago. And over the years, Peterson said he’s seen the market grow, offering more variety.

“It’s really taken off,” he said. “It’s so great to see.”

But that’s also caused he and Scifers to “ramp up production” to accommodate the growing demand.

Peterson said the inventory is picked the day before and hydro-cooled to ensure freshness for Saturday.

New to the market this year is Juanni’s Microgreens, offering homegrown superfoods in the form of baby plants. Customers are even provided with decomposable packaging and bags made of corn oil.

Jeff Ward said he and his wife, Juanni, from “across the creek and up the road” in Murphysboro, Illinois, decided to participate this year after inspiration from family and friends.

The couple originally created the microgreens project “for us to get healthy,” he said.

Ward said they have constructed a humidity- and temperature-controlled room specifically for the sprouts.

“We just had extra, so we started handing them out to friends,” he said. “And then our friends were like, ‘This stuff is great.’”

With several types of sprouts — broccoli, sunflower and “spicy salad” — he said they provide the body with the ability to process natural enzymes and minerals.

The spicy salad sold by the Wards contains broccoli, kale, purple kohlrabi, arugula, red acre cabbage and southern giant mustard. But Juanni’s Choice salad mix, which contains all those same ingredients — except southern giant mustard, plus amaranth — is the most popular.

“It’s already gone,” Ward said at 10:20 a.m. “People come when they want their favorites.”

Vines said Juanni’s Microgreens is filling the void for “health-kick” people who consume smoothies and salads.

“Those weren’t as readily available in previous seasons as they are right now,” she said.

Lorie Robert of Scott City and her mother, Terry Sanders purchased nearly two bags of corn on the cob, potatoes, green peppers, homemade breads “and one of those German pork burgers.”

Robert said even though the farmers market Thursday at West Park Mall is closer to where she works, she prefers Cape Riverfront Market for the “different atmosphere.”

Cape Riverfront Market continues 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays through October.

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