Bruce Blunk grew up in Northern Perry County. His family settled there in the early 1800s in what is now known as the Rickenbaugh House, a museum nestled in the middle of Hoosier National Forest. Many of his family heirlooms are on display there, including looms once used by his father, grandmother, great-grandmother, and so on, but he never had the desire to do so himself, at least not until he was in his mid-20s.

By that time, his grandmother had died, but his father looked in on him from time to time as he worked to teach himself to use a loom. Just a few years later, his father died in a construction accident, an event that instilled in him a greater desire to master his family’s art.

He uses a 115-year-old loom to weave his thick, colorful rugs. The “shaggy looking rugs”  are made from waste products from blanket companies, while the “real colorful ones” are made from Solmate Socks, a popular mis-matched sock company in Vermont. The owners send him “seconds” or defective products.

He sells them at Head to Toe Day Spa, 300 W. Jennings St. Ste. 103 in Newburgh, a business he and his wife own together, the Bitterman Mini Shoppes & Farmer’s Market, 204 Main St., and he attends the weekend farmer’s markets in Evansville and Newburgh during the spring and summer months.

He also ships them to interior decorators all over the nation who admire and respect his work.

You can read the rest of Bruce’s bio in the Evansville Living article about him.

Each week at the market you can always expect to see the smiling faces of Karen (the farmer’s daughter) and her family from their Darmstadt farm set up with lots of beautiful produce. They grow a variety of tomatoes, grape tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, okra, onions, green beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, and more!

Karen’s father, Jim, started raising strawberries and had several “U-PICK” strawberry patches when she was young. She and her two sisters worked in the fields and helped sell while growing up.

Once they were all grown up and had families of their own, their dad decided to expand his strawberry business to include fresh vegetables. He also added a farm stand at their home. While they no longer have the strawberry fields around town, some of you may remember the farm stand they had across the road from the Homestead Restaurant in Newburgh.

Karen’s sisters moved away, but she stayed close. Her kids started helping at the farm just like she and her sister’s did from a very young age. They helped Papa (Jim) with planting, pulling weeds, picking vegetables, and even driving the tractors!
In 2007 they started taking extra produce to the markets as a family. Now they’re a standard at all the markets in our area. They love meeting new customers and seeing old friends at the market each week.

This week’s vendor of the week is Todd Lawler of Lawler Farms. As a 4th generation Illinois family farm, The Lawler Family has operated in Ridgeway, Illinois since 1860. The current operations were re-established by Todd Lawler who’s mission is to provide teaching a new way of life through community Supported Agriculture.

This week at the market, Chef Adam made a delicious banh mi sandwich using fresh, local ingredients he got from market vendors.

Vietnamese Banh Mi

This Vietnamese sandwich is a delicious way to utilize seasonal vegetables, blending Asian flavors with French bread!

This recipe is enough to make one sandwich with a large French bread baguette (which I got from Edgewater Grill)

Beef filling:

1 lb Stonewall Farms Chopped Steak

1 TBSP Soy Sauce

1 TBSP Fish Sauce

1 TBSP Granulated Sugar

1 each Garlic Clove (minced)

Method of preparation

1. In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and garlic. Set aside for later use.
2. Slice the chopped steaks thinly and toss with the soy marinade.
3. Allow the mixture at least 30 minutes to marinate before using.

Marinated Vegetables:

2 each Turnips (medium sized from Reimann’s)

2 each Cucumbers (small sized from Lawler Farms)

1/2 each Red onion

1 ounce Radish Sprouts (from Sprout Farms)

To taste Basil leaves (from Lawler Farms)

To taste Cilantro

To taste Fresh Jalapeño

2 TBSP Lemon Balsamic Vinegar (from Drizzle)

Method of preparation

1. Thinly slice the turnips, cucumbers, onion, basil, cilantro and jalapeño and place in a bowl with the radish sprouts.
2. Toss the vegetables with the vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
3. Set aside for later use.

To assemble

1. In a large sauté pan heated on high, add a small amount of oil and the marinated beef and toss until the beef is fully cooked.
2. With a knife, split the baguette open and fill with the cooked beef and top with the marinated vegetables.
3. Slice into portions and enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe.

Chef Adam Edwards

www.chefadamedwards.com

Yesterday at the market Chef Adam Edwards took a long walk through the market and picked out some of the most delicious vegetables he found to make a vegetable carpaccio. Did you get a chance to try a sample? If you did, you were promised the recipe – here it is!

All items used for this recipe were purchased from market vendors!

Fresh Vegetable Carpaccio with Honey Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves 4

1 each     zucchini

2 each     red radish (larger in size)

2 each     white radish (larger in size)

1/2 each  white onion

1/2 each  red onion

1 ounce   pea sprouts

1/4 cup   Lemon Balsamic

1/4 cup   Honey

1/2 cup  Olive Oil

Method of preparation

1. With a mandolin, slice all the vegetables as thinly as possible without falling apart. Arrange the sliced vegetables on a plate, shingling them so they are in a repeating pattern (squash, radish, onion, squash, etc). Set aside for later use.

Dressing

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and whisk until fully mixed.

To serve

Drizzle the dressing over the sliced vegetables and then sprinkle the pea sprouts over the completed dish. Correct season with salt and pepper.

Chef Adam Edwards

www.chefadamedwards.com