The PowerPlant Market Place was abuzz with talk of fresh peas on Wednesday.
One vendor who had fresh peas yesterday sold out of all of his peas before 9 a.m.
Pleasant Home eighth grader Hunter Lindsey didn’t bring any peas with him, but said he’d have plenty at next week’s sale.
“This is my first year planting a garden,” he said. “We planted watermelons, peas, corn, peppers and tomatoes. We have two types of peas – Mississippi cream and purple hull peas.”
Lindsey said he has about 10 to 12 rows about 200 yards long.
“They are making good,” he said. “The purple hulls didn’t do as well as our Mississippi creams.”
Slocomb vendor Kevin Battles, who comes to the local farmer’s market every week, said he’s made about half a crop this year.
“We’ve planted purple hull and cream 40 white peas,” he said. “I’ve sold a lot of peas today, but it’s also been a slow day.”
Battles is selling his peas for $23 a bag for purple hull and $25 a bag for the white peas, he said.
As for production, he said he’s making about the same amount of purple hulls as white peas.
“We just planted another crop,” he said. “But it’ll be a while before they come up.”
Other farmers at the market said they’ve had a big problem with deer eating their peas.
Ron Brooks of Libertyville said “his neighbors with white tails” had been eating his peas.
“I’ve thought about shooting them,” he said. “But I have so many neighbors around, I wouldn’t want to do anything to harm them, but those deer have eat up all of my peas.”
Places like Wingard’s Produce have peas, but there’s a waiting list if you want a bushel or more.
“We’ll take orders for bushel bags,” Sharon Wingard said. “And we’ll continue to take orders until the fall of the year. Thank goodness last year, we were able to fill all of our orders and have some left over.”
Wingard said that they have small bags of white peas available all the time for about $3.75 a pound.
An estimated 125 volunteers are needed for the 2011 Babe Ruth 12U Softball World Series next month.
Organizers issued the plea during the group’s biweekly planning meeting Tuesday, because in less than three weeks, 12 softball teams and their families from across the eight geographic regions of the United States will converge at the Andalusia Sports Complex for this year’s World Series.
“It’s going to take a lot of people to make this event a success,” said Mark Ingram, volunteer coordinator. “We’re thinking anywhere between 100 to 125, and we want to remind people this is a countywide event. We welcome civic groups, churches, from Andalusia, Opp, Florala and all parts in between.”
Ingram said volunteers are needed for four and a half hour sessions, twice a day. He said at least three people are needed in the concession stand, two for program sales and another two for ticket sales.
Ingram said there are also countless other areas where volunteers will be needed.
Area hotels are already being booked up as teams earn their right to play. Last week, teams from Alex City, East Brewton and Brewton qualified to play in August. The South Alabama team, which is comprised of girls from Covington County, will serve as the host team. Other teams will be announced in the coming weeks.
Dwight Mikel, the city’s department of leisure services director, said financially, the project is on target to meet the estimated $100,000 needed for the event.
“Still, we could use a few more sponsors,” he said. “So far, we’ve raised nearly $70,000 in cash and are expecting another $30,000 in revenues, so I feel very good about where we are.”
Mikel said about three months ago, fundraising efforts were slow because of the economy.
The World Series will be held Aug. 4-9.
To volunteer, contact Ingram by phone at 334-427-3330 or by email at .
Mail delivery continues to be suspended at the West Haven Apartment Complex more than two weeks after postal officials said it was necessary to protect a letter carrier from an animal attack.
Debra Fetterly, communication program specialist for Alabama and South Florida Districts, confirmed that residents in the apartment complex will have to continue to pick up their mail at the Andalusia post office until the apartment complex complies and installs new cluster boxes.
An incident on June 25 marked the fourth time since November that there was “a threat of injury or attack by dogs roaming loose,” for the local letter carrier, Fetterly said.
After each incident, Andalusia Postmaster Mike Kolmetz spoke to the apartment manager, Lena Boswell.
Post office officials say they are unsure of a time frame of when the cluster boxes will be installed.
Attempts to reach Boswell were unsuccessful, as she is out of town until Monday. A staff member at the housing authority was not sure of the timeframe either.
Until then, residents may continue to pick up their mail from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Wednesday and Friday. On Thursdays and Saturdays, they can pick up mail from 9 a.m. until noon.
University of Alabama president Dr. Robert Witt will be the guest speaker for the Covington County Chapter of the University of Alabama National Alumni Association’s annual scholarship awards dinner this Tues., July 19, at the Andalusia Country Club.
Alumni, fans and friends are invited to attend.
Dr. Witt will talk about many developments on the University of Alabama campus, including enrollment growth and construction.
Tickets are $25 and include a three-course dinner. Tickets are available in advance at Jones and Jones, Attorneys-at- Law (222-3161) and the Bass Agency Real Estate (222-3145).
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