View Full Version : My local farmer's markets are awful!
Warning! Rant ahead!
I've now been to three local farmers markets (out of, I think, four...and the fourth one is run by the same people as two of the others), and they are terrible! They aren't so much farmer's markets as places for people to sell expensive prepared food to local yuppies who don't want to make their own but want to think they're being green or frugal, or something. (Okay, that's not fair, I have no idea who buys this stuff or what kind of people they are). The market I went to yesterday had two, TWO!, produce booths--one of which sold only cherries and apricots--plus a place that sold grass fed beef and lamb. I go to farmer's markets to find reasonable prices on fresh produce so that I can prepare meals myself, not to buy expensive homemade t-shirts and snacks that I could make in my home dehydrator!
Rant over!
Okay, so now I have an actual serious question. Can anybody suggest other ideas for finding fresh local produce besides Whole Foods or our overpriced organic delivery service? (I'm actuallly pretty attached to our overpriced organic delivery service, but I'm not about to spend $40 for 11lbs of tomatoes to make tomato sauce). Gardening is probably not a serious option. We rent and our landlords appear to be attached to their lawn (grr! It's a huge expanse of sunny, south facing land!), so except for a few pots, we won't be able to grow much. We're going to try going berry picking this weekend, and I think I found a farm with u-pick tomatoes and apples, which will do for tomato sauce and applesauce. I'm at a loss for what to do the rest of the year though.
Clearly growing up in Oregon has left me spoiled rotten when it comes to food!
I've always found these directories to be helpful in finding what I want: http://www.pickyourown.org/canadabc.htm
Community garden's a good idea. Or if you have a neighbor who'd allow you to use some of their unused sunny yard space in exchange for part of the harvest, that's been working for me too. I don't have much space here, but I "sharecrop" a neighbor's garden and get another few hundred square feet that way :)
I'm fairly certain our community garden has a several year waiting list, but I finally contacted them to find out. Won't do me any good for this year, but good down the road. Thanks for kicking my butt into gear!
CSA? (community supported agriculture... you buy a crop share in a farm)
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
We were members of one for several years and my sister is a member of one up in her neck of the woods.
Sadly localharvest.org doesn't work here in Canada, but I found another local resource that lists CSAs in our area. There are a ton of CSAs in the are, but there is exactly one, as far as I can tell, that delivers to within a half hour drive of here. I'll have to contact them and see if I can get a share for next summer.
IshbelRobertson
8-5-11, 5:06pm
We have a number of local markets - 'farmers' might be stretching it in light of the produce some stall holders sell! I can get really good organic veg and fruit, local cheeses etc. However, I always buy my meat from my local, organic butcher.
I'm not sure about the local markets in Canada - but sounds like they aren't as authentic as ours!
In good news, I went back to our local not-quite-so-lame farmer's market today. It's small, but we did find two produce stands with very nice produce--one's certified organic and the other is uncertified organic. I also noticed a picture of some apples on the sign of the guy selling cherries and apricots (and really nice looking garlic), so I talked to him and he told me their apples are late this year (*everything* is late this year), but that he'd sell me a 40lb box for $50 when they are ready. Applesauce, here I come!
The ones around Boston have gotten progressively better over time. In Roslindale (my Boston neighborhood), the farmer's market looked more like a flea market 3-4 years ago. Now it really looks like a farmer's market.
CSA might be an option - I volunteered helping handing out stuff at a CSA I was subscribed to a few years ago, I hit the jackpot that way a couple times (we got to grab whatever we wanted out of what was left).
Our farmer's market looks more like a flea market UNTIL our local produce is ripe. Maybe what you were seeing was simply the fact that everything is late, and there was nothing to sell yet. And in the fall there's all the preserved foods....cider....pumpkin butter....roasted green chiles.....mmmmmm.
Sart a food buying club so you can source your own stuff from growers. If there's a food cooperative in your area, they can help.
I feel your pain! The farmer's market here in Flagstaff AZ was one of the worst but in the group of too little produce. Mostly made stuff that is so expensive who would ever in their right mind want to buy it?
We found a store that is called "The Farmer's Market" that has excellent produce and we shop there instead. Living in the Grand Canyon National Park means no CSAs are delivering to us, we have to "garden" in pots and we only go into town once every three weeks. I think I need to go back to doing sprouting again. Great amount of food, lots of varieties and easy to grow and eat.
Mrs. Hermit
8-11-11, 8:54am
Our local farmer's market doesn't seem to carry the vegs I use and includes a lot of "made" stuff too. I shop at a couple of local farmstands. I'm still supporting the local farmers, but just not at the market.
I've been keeping an eye out for farmstands. Where we live is basically the foothills of the mountains...There are about 30 or 40 blocks of houses marching up the hill from the water, and then mountains for the next thousand miles. Most of the farms (and hence farm stands) are at the other end of town where there is actual farmland. We don't go there often, but I suppose if I found out where the farm stands were, I could make a special trip just to buy produce.
We've fairly good farmer's markets here. And one almost every day if you want to travel 10-20 miles to get there. There is one about 5 miles from our home. There is a mix of true small-farmer grown very fresh produce, and guys who buy produce and sell it. Also things like sprouts, eggs, dried fruits, olive oil, flowers, plants, even cheese. Our markets, esp the downtown one on Saturday morning, are very active.
I don't go very often nor buy too much however since I both keep a veg garden, as well as their prices being extremely high. I don't mind them making a profit and do wish them well, but my frugality runs very deep so it won't be from me. I do like them being there.
Are there just farms in the area? I have to admit I am spoiled. I've been a CSA member for 11 years. Our local farmer's markets are great. They are very hard to get into and have strict requirements that you grow the ingredients or that they be local. If you want to sell salsa, the ingredients need to be fairly local or at least fresh. If you want to sell bread...the one bread place grows their own wheat, for example.
Very little processed food. One cheese place. I hear there's a raw milk place now. A few chicken and meat places. A bunch of egg sellers. But the egg, meat, and cheese places were non-existant even just 8 or 9 years ago.
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