Although some local farmers markets have closed the Jasper Farmers Market will be open through the end of October with fall vegetables and crafts for your holiday shopping. The End of the Season Party will be held on October 25 and everyone is invited. The end of the regular season also means the beginning of the Winter Season, which will start on November 8 and continue every other Saturday through December 20. The location will be the same but the hours will be from 8:00am to 12 noon.

Is your sweet potato or pumpkin pie so good that people change their mind about which is is their favorite? Then you need to enter the new event coming up on Saturday, October 18: Pumpkin versus Sweet Potato, a contest to see what is the real favorite among the farmers market family. It is actually two contests; 1) the pumpkin dessert contest and 2) the sweet potato dessert contest. You don’t have to choose because you can enter one or both and it doesn’t have to be a pie. It can be any kind of dessert as long as the main ingredient is either pumpkin or sweet potato. Entries will be judged and also voted on by the public, who will make a dollar donation to taste all of the tasty entries. There will be cash prizes for the judged entries and a gift basket for the people’s choice. No fee to enter, bring your entry and ingredient list to the market by 9: 30. Tasting will begin at 10.

Lauren Bolden is a fairly new vendor who won a prize in the Apple Desserts contest held last month. Pies are her thing so maybe we will see her in this months contest. Lauren was a vendor at last Saturday’s market that was held at Sackett’s on a chilly blustery day, offering her mini apple and pecan pies. Her pies are also available on line at orderpiebar.com where you can order a large (9”), mini (6”) or itty-bitty (2”) with many varieties including three with chocolate in their name.

Kale was available at the market for the first time this fall, both the Poole’s and Donny Hunter had plenty and so it should continue to be available and more winter vegetables, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, spinach and broccoli are on their way.

The Jasper Farmers Market is held on Saturday morning (April through October) from 7:30 am to 12 noon in the Park n Ride lot at Lee Newton Park on Hwy 53 in Jasper and is a project of the Pickens County Master Gardeners. See www.pickensmg.org for more information and complete vendor rules or call the County Extension Office at 706 253 8840.