The market's final month features a great event every Saturday. Here's the schedule:

Master Pieman Alfonso Bastidas from Bisbee's Best Pie Company shows off his technique for getting crust off the board and onto the pie pan by rolling it up on the rolling pin during a pie making demonstration last Saturday at the Bisbee Farmers Market. Bisbee's Best Pies are also sold at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market every Thursday.

€ Oct. 6 - 15th Annual Bisbee Fiber Arts Festival. Put on by the Bisbee Fiber Arts Guild it will feature alpacas, a Churro sheep and an angora goat for petting, demos of weaving, spinning and dyeing with a hands-on tent for children and adults. Watch how raw fleece is turned into a shawl to be raffled at 1 p.m. Clothing, hangings, bags and other fine creations will be for sale by fiber artists as well as handmade wooden tools, yarn and fleece. Strolling fashion show of hand dyed fashions. Music by Vince Robel & Friends.

Annual Animal Blessing at the Market - This Saturday bring animals to be blessed by Rev. Seth Polley of St. John's Episcopal Church from 8 a.m. to noon next to Border Animal Rescue. The Feast of St. Francis (Oct. 4) is an ancient tradition with animals brought to church and blessed on that day.

€ Oct. 13 - Plein Air Contest. Calling all artists to paint the market with its fall kaleidoscope of colors including chile strings, pumpkins and other photogenic produce and fascinating visitors and vendors. It's fun to watch the artists at work and prizes will include a People's Choice. The winning art work will become next year's market poster. For more information call 234-8039. Music by Nancy Weaver.

€ Oct. 20 - 2nd Annual Mesquite Milling & free Mesquite Pancake Breakfast. Transform dry mesquite pods into a year's supply of nutritious and flavorful meal via Desert Harvester's hammermill. Try mesquite pancakes with prickly pear syrup for a healthy southwestern breakfast. Desert foods vendors. Music by Amy Ross.

€ Oct. 27 - Holiday Harvest Festival - Market finale will include a Halloween Costume Contest with prizes for kids of all ages. Healthy Holiday Baking with pie crust making demo by Alfonso Bastidas whose flying fingers kneaded, rolled and crimped perfect crusts seemingly effortlessly last Saturday. Learn some new and simple techniques and bring your kids so they can learn too. Find out how to substitute agave nectar for other sweetners (it's low on the glycemic index and good for diabetics and weight watchers.) Help the market raise funds at the Grand Finale Raffle with lots of wonderful products from market vendors. Music by the Jones Gang Family Band.

Welcome new Mexican food vendor, La Carreta with Carlos and Francisca Sanchez of Douglas. Special this week is their shrimp burrito. I tried their shrimp tacos with shredded cabbage, rice, beans, salsa and lime plate last week and it was outstanding. They offer an extensive menu including breakfast and lunch burritos (steak a la Mexicana, carne asada, chile verde, chile rojo, chicken fajitas) as well as tacos (Michoacanos, shrimp, carne asada as well as carmelos, quesadillas and "tortas" or toasted sandwiches with carne asada, jamon(ham) or pescado (fish or shrimp.)

Welcome back to Michael Alexander of Kid's Orchard in Elfrida who will bring a cornucopia of apples to market.

The Elfrida Community Garden is doing a great job with its produce. It won lots of blue ribbons for its 30 pound calabasa or Mexican squash and other exhibited vegetables at the County Fair. Stop by for flower bouquets, green onions, lettuce, arugala, yellow and zucchini summer squash, tomatoes, fresh herbs (parsley, basil, sorrel), flower bouquets, butternut and acorn squash and lots of mixed baby lettuce.

The annual Pie Baking Contest was won by John Greenough with a "Snow the Relatives" apple creation adapted from a pioneer recipe. Recipes for all the pies will be available at the market's information booth. Honorable mention goes to Brianna Watkin's for the diabetic-friendly pecan pie, (see recipe below), that won her Grand Champion in Baking at the Cochise County Fair this year.

Sierra Vista Farmers Market

Note the market will open one hour earlier through the month of October at 1 p.m. and close at 5 p.m. so that vendors can pack up in day light.

The good news is the market will run weekly through the winter from November through April due to popular demand and vendor commitment. During the winter season, starting in November, the market will be open from noon to 4 p.m.

The Garden of Eat'n will offer tons of Willcox grown winter squash (regular and orange acorn, banana, spaghetti and butternut), apples and pears as well as their own tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers, farm eggs and lots of whole grain and sweet breads at both markets.

New Vendor: Audrey Eskue small orchardist from Sierra Vista will bring Asian and Barlett pears.

Check out the gorgeous French heirloom sweet pumpkins and miniature pumpkins at Leo Dunaetz' booth from his small farm off Dragoon Road.

Max McCarty will be back with Frozen Alaska salmon and halibut along with his booth partner the Mama Llama empanada lady with all her take and bake meat, veggie and dessert pocket pies.

In Season: Pomegranates are available from several vendors so here's your chance to stock up on this health promoting fruit that stores well.

Unusual fruit: Quince will be offered by Frank Vega of Hereford along with tomatoes and hot chile peppers (serranos and jalapenos). This will be the last week for roasted chile peppers.

Market Bargain: A Sierra Vista back yard orchardist will offer 6 pounds of his sweet Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples for $5. The Beattys sell the organically grown apples from their family's orchard in the Huachucas for $1 a pound at both markets.

New Product: New vendor Aubrey Gillespie is making great fruit leather from fruit in her backyard (pomegranates, pears and apples).

Health Promoting Product: Substitute dark or regular agave nectar for the sugar or corn syrup in any recipe. You can even try using a little less as it's sweeter. Available from Katherine Zellerback in small or gallon sizes.

Rancher Anya Owens will join the San Ysidro Farm booth this week with grass-fed beef from her San Simon A Bar H Farm. Ask her about grass fed cookbooks. Josh's Foraging Fowl has great pasture-raised chickens as well as turkeys for the holidays from Nathan Watkins at both markets.

Recipes

Brianna Watkins' Diabetic-Friendly Pecan Pie

Pastry for a one-crust pie 3 Eggs

Dash of Salt 1 cup Agave Nectar

1/3 cup Butter, melted 1 cup Pecan halves

In a bowl beat the eggs slightly; add the salt. Stir in the agave nectar and the butter. Add the pecans to the mixture. Pour the mixture into the pie shell, cover the edges of the shell with foil and bake at 350º for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 25 minutes.

Valerie's Pork Roast with Quince

Fresh pork roast, grass-fed preferably

3 or 4 fresh quince fruit

1 tblsp mesquite flour

1 tblsp whole wheat flour

6 or more garlic cloves, smashed & chopped

Herbes of Provence

Garlic salt & pepper to taste

Trim fat off roast. Mix flours and spices on large plate. Rub garlic over roast. Dredge roast in flour mixture to coat. Brown all sides in olive oil. Place in crock pot or cast iron pot and top with cored and quartered quince fruit that has been cored. Cook until meat is tender.