Market Buzz
Markets offer a wealth of fresh produce
Originally published in the San Antonio Express-News
[TO ALL RISE AND SHINE READERS.. The Austin Farmers' Market does not allow any reselling of any kind. All farmers MUST grow what they sell, they cannot supplement with bought produce.]
By Karen Haram
San Antonion Express-News Food Editor
Web Posted : 06/18/2003 12:00 AM
Baskets of tiny new potatoes. Bunches of Swiss chard tied with string. Plump red tomatoes in regular and mini sizes. Garlands of oversized garlic.
B. Woods puts out his onions early one morning at the farmers market on Jackson Keller. Andy Vidavre Jr. picks out tomatoes at the farmers market on Southeast Military Drive.
"Anything you want, they have it here," says Angela Ortiz, who visits a local farmers market three to four times a month.
On this particular day, Ortiz is putting tomatoes, okra and onions into a mesh bag she takes to the market with her each time she visits. She'll take the ingredients home and use them to make a spicy okra blend that's a favorite of her family.
"I like to come here because you know what you're getting is fresh and good," she says.
Ortiz isn't alone in her belief. Lots of shoppers consider San Antonio farmers markets must-visit places during the six months of the year they're open.
The markets are now in full swing, offering fresh fruits and vegetables to consumers six days a week at locations scattered throughout the city. Some loyal shoppers visit multiple times a month; others go once or twice a season to buy watermelon for their Fourth of July picnic or small cucumbers for pickling.
The local markets -- set up in diverse places such as Wal-Mart parking lots, church grounds and the Olmos Basin Park (see accompanying list) -- are certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Farmers pay a small fee to join the organization and are approved by a board of directors, which checks that members run an active farm. As part of the process, farmers agree to abide by rules, one of which is that all the produce they sell is grown in Texas.
Although it comes as a surprise to some shoppers, farmers market purveyors are allowed to sell some produce that they don't grow on their own farms. Many take advantage of that rule, while others sell only what they grow.
Robert Maggiani, chief marketing specialist in the San Antonio regional office of the Texas Department of Agriculture, says it's important to make sure the produce you're buying is from Texas since in the past, a few sellers have put out non-Texas produce for sale.
"It's not a huge problem, but (farmers) try to sell what their customers want. If they don't have it and can't find it in Texas, clearly there's that pressure to sell it from somewhere else," he says.
"It doesn't happen often but I can't say it never happens. (Usually it's with) things that a grower would have that got rained out or ruined. They have a lot of established clientele who expect them to have produce A, B and C. If they can't find it from their neighbors, there's that temptation to go down to the produce terminal and buy it. They're competing with the H-E-Bs that have everything," he says.
Manuela and Horatio Zamudio, who farm 10 acres in Natalia, sell only what they produce themselves. "Everything we have is all home grown. We've been selling 10 years now," Manuela says at the Rittiman Road location she goes to each Monday, explaining that they work the markets for six months and spend the rest of the year preparing the land for new crops.
Okra is her big seller right now, she says, although she notes their stall ran out of fresh tomatoes by 10 that morning.
Prices are as reasonable as the produce is fresh. A generous bunch of carrots, brushed free of dirt and with leafy green tops still attached, are priced at $1. Boxes of walnut-sized red and white new potatoes, onions with white, red and yellow skins, and fat squash also are $1. Tomatoes, when available, sell for a bit more.
Later this summer, they'll add eggplant, peppers, corn, pears and, her favorite, fresh figs, to the stall.
Next door to the Zamudios, Paul Montgomery, manager of the Monday Rittiman Road market, sells an assortment of fresh produce, most of which is from his farm.
"We're not allowed to be peddlers, but we are allowed to buy some things," he says.
On this particular day, the sweet corn, squash, cucumbers, onions, peppers, okra and blackberries come from his 40-acre Devine farm. He bought the tomatoes, cantaloupes and watermelons he's selling at his stall.
"We have cantaloupes and tomatoes, but mine aren't ripe yet," he says.
Montgomery considers farmers markets a win-win situation, explaining he can get three times as much selling his produce at the market as he can selling the items wholesale. And it "lets people get fresh fruits and vegetables. We sell only unprocessed produce straight off the farm," he says.
Vine-ripened tomatoes are his biggest seller, he says, explaining shoppers "like the flavor of fresh, homegrown tomatoes."
Overall, sales have been "really good" this year, he says, supporting the three farmers who showed up that day. "We may have five or six later in the season," he says. "We're kind of independent sellers."
Montgomery says he picks his produce the day before and is at the market by 7 a.m. He starts selling at 7:30 a.m.
His prices "pretty much stay the same throughout the season" -- generally $1 for a basket of two to three cucumbers, and potatoes, okra, peppers and squash. Tomatoes and other fruit usually sell for $2 a basket.
Although Fredericksburg peaches are virtually nonexistent this year, Montgomery will "have a few peaches for sale. In Medina County, we'll have some, but not a lot," he says.
On this particular day, his 15-year-old granddaughter Tara Hildenbrand, who lives in Castroville, is helping him out. Her favorite pick of her grandfather's selections? "The blackberries. They taste best," she says.
Shopper Priscilla Araiza was buying "a little bit of everything" on Monday for her dinner of pork chops cooked with corn and squash and flavored with onion. She planned to fry the small pods of fresh okra and oven-roast the tiny potatoes she selected.
Jess Greathouse says he visits the market each week looking for tomatoes and cantaloupe. "I usually buy the same thing," he says. "It's cheaper and fresher, supposedly." His plan was to use the tomatoes for bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. The cantaloupe would be served as simply as possible ˜ sliced and eaten.
At the Monday market at St. Leonard's Church, Maria and Pedro Pena were fielding a brisk business as well. Their produce was grown on their 10-acre farm in Devine, with the exception of the watermelons they were offering.
"We're getting ready for our crop. We have to maintain the market so that's why we buy them. Everything else is ours," she says.
Maria says growing and selling produce is "a lot of work." They've been coming to farmers markets for 10 years, getting up at 5 a.m. to make the trek into the city. She'll use the vegetables they don't sell, turning the tomatoes, hot peppers, onions and garlic into salsa and freezing it for months when fresh produce isn't available.
There was once a rule that, for every two items you grew and sold, you could carry one Texas-grown item not from your farm, says Elizabeth Hodnett. Her husband, Robert, is president of the San Antonio Farmers Market, one of three associations that sell in San Antonio.
Those items not grown on the purveyor's farm are "supposed to be marked on the table, but they're not always marked," she says.
"The only thing we bought are cantaloupes and watermelons from the Valley," she says. The rest of their fruit and vegetables, including black pearl and red and yellow pear tomatoes, are grown on their 22-acre farm in Devine, which includes some 200 fruit trees.
Making a special trip to the farmers market may not be for everyone. But if your idea of shopping is getting a whiff of ripe cantaloupes mixed with the heady aroma of garlic and seeing bright red tomatoes contrasting with the deep green of Swiss chard, it just may be for you.
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kharam@express-news.net
posted June 26, 2003 | permanent link to this article
Heavy, cool, never, always. A few words from our shoppers
"This is the heaviest bread I have ever had," one shopper said to the baker at Sweetish Hill as they left, happily, with their purchase.
"You gotta hear the band, they are real cool," a friend said to another as they met at the Market. (Texas Eastside Kings played June 14th).
"I never tasted blueberries so sweet before," a shopper said amazedly as they popped a whole, organic blueberry from McDade into their mouth.
"We always come here on Saturdays, just to make time for ourselves and have a special thing to do every week," said one couple as they rode off in tandem on their bikes after a morning at the market.
posted June 21, 2003 | permanent link to this article
Tomato Festival!
Dozens of people ran, walked, created, splatted their way through the Tomato Festival! The Tomato Festival held last week was a great success for market goers as they got to participate in zany events to mark the beginning of the tomato season (which is late, by the way, because of many weather variances). They also received prizes such as pounds of tomatoes, market shopping bags, t-shirts and the very fine mesquite hand-carved spoon from Isaac Alexander of Alexander Family Farm.
Because it's the beginning of tomato season, there are many more weeks for tomato lovers to come back! (Use your market card too, in order to be eligible for prizes beginning July 26).
Get your skills ready for the Watermelon Festival at the market July 12th. Juggling, spitting seeds, and much more ahead!
posted June 14, 2003 | permanent link to this article
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