For me, yesterday was truly a special day at Hudson Farmers Market. It was our annual Tomato Festival and I love tomatoes – good ones, anyway. So, it was wonderful being able to showcase all the great varieties offered by the vendors at the market. It was really nice to be able to tip our hats to some great home gardeners, as well.

The day started with me labeling all the tomatoes entered into our tomato contest, followed by me chopping the more than 20 varieties for tasting by market visitors and our judges, John Altomare of Hudson's Restaurant, Catherine St. John of The Western Reserve School of Cooking, and Liz Murphy of Destination Hudson.

There was definitely a lot going on at the market – a cooking demonstration by Chef Derek Finnel from Nosh Eatery and Catering, who filled in for Chef Rick Carson, plus two contests. What was really neat though, was feeling all the positive energy among the vendors. There was so much excitement about our tomato and salsa contests. Vendors put in a lot of extra time making the salsa contest possible and market visitors showed a lot of appreciation for their efforts.

I have to say, our customers were tremendous. They not only tasted and voted for their favorite salsa, they also were willing to try tomatoes with names I had never heard before, such as Green Zebra and Berkeley Tie-dye.

Vendors and customers always interact at the market, but the Tomato Festival provided the opportunity for the interaction to reach another level. It was great to see both vendors and customers monitoring the voting and trying to keep abreast of who was in the lead in the salsa contest. Customers were talking to each other about what they had tasted and making sure no one missed out on all the goodies that were available at the market.

I salute all our vendors for making the Tomato Festival a lot of fun, but especially those who added to the flavor of the day by taking the time to prepare special products. I really hope you, too, were able to enjoy the festival. I'm already looking forward to next year.

See you on the green Saturday,
Audrey Hylton, Market Manager
[email protected]

I love babies and I love celebrating.

Today, I have the opportunity to celebrate the first baby born on my watch at the market. Madelyn Layne, who was born to farmer Brian “Tug” Teggart of Nosh Garden on the 4th of July is one month old.

Little Madelyn, who was so kind to her parents as to come with a ready-made birthday theme, is doing well, Tug tells me, although she is not very considerate about her parents' sleep schedule. She has really changed life for Tug and her mom, Cheryl. All I can say is, folks, welcome to the world of parenting.

I was probably more thrilled that Tug and Cheryl about Madelyn's birth on a national holiday. I mean, how great is that … everyone in the country having to celebrate your birthday.


I have an old friend whose birthday is Valentine's Day. She takes great pleasure in explaining that she “comes by being a sweetheart naturally.” I really liked the sound of that and 14 years ago, when my daughter, Nadia, was due to be born in February, I prayed for it to be on Valentine's Day. She had a mind of her own – she still does – and despite days of strenuous exercise and other unusual measures, she was born on February 23 – no national celebration, just a birthday of her own. And, now that I know her well, I believe that suits her just fine.

If my daughter is typical, I know in a few years Madelyn will probably be sleeping way more that her parents can appreciate.

I can't wait for Madelyn's first market appearance.

See you on the green one Saturday soon, Madelyn.
Audrey Hylton, Market Manager
[email protected]