The Farmers Markets

I have been going to a Farmers Market ever since I was a child and would go with my mother on Saturday mornings. My mother often shopped there for a variety of vegetables —butterbeans and string beans and corn and tomatoes. There is nothing quite so delicious as fresh vegetables cooked just right as my mother was a wonderful Southern cook.

At that time the large NC Farmers Market was very close to our house. It has since moved to a much, much larger space not too far off Interstate 40 on Lake Wheeler Road in Raleigh. The current NC Farmers Market also has a restaurant where we have eaten numerous times, usually breakfast. My mother and I used to go there when I would come to Raleigh to visit. I also have a sweet and funny memory of eating there with our niece Liberty who was a bit miffed because she thought she was going to be eating with her Uncle Tim but it was Uncle Tom that showed up!

Tom and I went there last year when we were on our across-the-State-anniversary tour. It is pretty standard Southern fare: eggs, country ham, great biscuits and yes, of course, grits.

Tom doesn’t think it is all that special but I guess I do simply because I have very fond memories of past visits dining there with family who are no longer on this side of the Great Divide. It will always be a place where I will stop for a meal if I am in the area or just passing through.

We have a very fine large Farmers Market here in Western North Carolina that we visit almost weekly starting in the Spring. This morning we went to buy a bucket of strawberries. I believe they came from South Carolina but not certain. It is too early for NC strawberries but they will come later I hope.

As we move more fully into summer we will enjoy tomatoes and cantaloupe and sometimes zucchini as well as, most notably, peaches. Oh, those peaches!!

Most people who go to the Farmers Market find they have a few favorites vendors that they return to over and over. Our favorites are not at the Market yet but we look forward to the return of Ivan, Adam and their cousin, and sometimes their mother.

There are quite a number of very fine small Farmers Markets in the area. When we lived in Black Mountain we loved the one there. Downtown Asheville has one on Saturday mornings, too. It is true gift to be able to shop local and eat local.

Farmers Markets have a rich history in the United States, beginning in the 1600’s. When European settlers arrived, the early Farmers’ Markets were a way for people living in the cities to have access to fresh produce, dairy and meats. The first official record of a Farmers Market was in Boston in 1634.

Others followed in Hartford, New York City and Philadelphia. In 1730, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, city planners very intentionally designed a market right in the center of town. That market, Lancaster Central Market, is still in operation today. Tom and I always try to visit whenever we return to his hometown of Lancaster. We love their homemade horseradish, their Lebanon bologna and their pretzels. Because we are traveling we usually don’t buy vegetables or meat but we have no problem filling our bag with delicious local foods. Both Amish and Mennonite families as well as many others have stalls at this Market. In Lancaster you don’t go “to Market”, you go “on Market”.

The Depression and the Dust Bowl had harmful effects on agriculture and Farmers Markets in the 1930’s and many farmers were not able to keep their farms. Then along came modernization in the 1950’s with large grocery stores and refrigeration and Farmers Markets declined in popularity. Though some still survived and many shoppers, like my mother, preferred to shop for produce at the Farmers Market rather than the A& P or Winn-Dixie.

The 1970’s brought a resurgence as people became interested in higher quality, fresher and healthier produce and other foods.

Today, the USDA reports that there are over 8600 Farmers Markets operating in the United States. My guess is that there are even more than that as I imagine some of the smaller ones are overlooked by those keeping government statistics.

Why not take a trip to your closest Farmers Market—or even one that is not so close—and enjoy fresh, seasonal produce and other products?