Kansas Visitor's Guide 2007/2008 - (Page 66) FRUIT I hadn’t expected to find a produce market on the dry, windswept Kansas plains. It’s possible because the farm’s aquifer is the floodplain of the Republican River. Fresh From the Fields TODAY I ’M CRUISING A ROUN D two fertile north-central Kansas river valleys: the Republican and Smoky Hill. (For the record: the Republican in the Republican River Valley was taken from the Native American Pawnee Republic once based here.) I speed past some huge beef feedlots on my way to Courtland (population 350), where I stop for lunch at Pinky’s Bar & Grill, almost in the shadow of the local grain elevator. A legend in these parts, Pinky’s serves its locally renowned chicken-fried steak only on Wednesdays—and it’s Wednesday! The restaurant usually sells out of its star menu item by 12:30 p.m., which explains why an army of ranchers and farmers already are seated when I arrive just before noon. JoAnne Kenyon, the current owner and cook, doesn’t have much time to talk. When my hand-breaded chicken-fried steak arrives, I understand what the fuss is all about. It’s thick, juicy-tender and served with mashed potatoes and white gravy, plus spinach (my choice) and a dinner roll on the side! My post-lunch meandering takes me about a mile north of Courtland on US-36 to the Depot Market, operated by the enterprising Dan Kuhn. This vintage blue-and-white structure resembles a country store inside, packed with fresh fruits and vegetables from Dan’s fields and other area growers, plus locally made candy, salsa, honey, jam, jelly and whole wheat flour. The building is Courtland’s centuryold former train station, which Dan purchased for $3,500 and moved to this site in 1989. I hadn’t expected to find a produce farm on the dry, windswept Kansas plains, but Dan explains that it’s possible because they farm in the floodplain of the Republican River. In season, Depot Market bins overflow with Kansas bounty: Apples. Twenty-five varieties of pumpkins. Gourds. Tomatoes. Potatoes. Green beans. Sweet corn. Onions. Cucumbers. Zucchini. Cantaloupe. And watermelon. Dan and I hop into a truck for a visit to his 12-acre watermelon patch. A shirtless cadre of migrant workers and strapping college students, including several of Dan’s own children, are heaving huge melons to a coworker standing atop a slow-moving truck. The melons are a variety known as Sangria and weigh about 17 pounds on average, some 66 Official Kansas Visitors Guide PHOTOGRAPHS: BOB STEFKO
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