Farm Stand and Deliver

Extra Credit when spelled correctly

One evening when I was in high school and having dinner at the kitchen table with my parents, my mother had prepared what was then a rarity....a meal with no main meat course.  Instead, she served a variety of vegetables that we had just brought home from a visit to my Grandmother's home in the country.  As he ate, my father said he would seriously consider becoming a vegetarian if he could eat like this year-round.  Typically, talking about becoming a vegetarian would be met with smiles and jokes but looking at the array of bowls full of of corn, squash, tomatoes, snap beans and new potatoes, I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

While you could argue that anyone could eat a vegetable based diet all year with the modern transportation of produce enjoyed these days, there really is a "golden window" of truly enjoying local summer vegetables for only about 90 days.  In my area of Virginia, that typically runs from about mid-June to mid-September.  Its during this time that the Farm Stand makes its anticipated annual appearance.

Today, the method that farmers use to sell their crops to the public has morphed from simple roadside stands to landmark conglomerations with dozens of tables selling everything from radishes to crafts.  While you certainly can buy a tomato at one of these events, they aren't my personal preference to buy produce.

After careful thought and study, I'd like to offer my take on the six ways of buying summer vegetables:

6.  The "Historic" Market:  This is a farmer's market where no farmer has stepped foot for at least twenty years.  Historically, there has been a farmer's market here for over a century.  True, produce can be purchased but its from individuals who have bought it from local produce wholesalers for resale.  One clue is if you see oranges or other citrus being sold, then most likely this is an "Historic" Market.  I haven't run into many Virginia orange groves, so I can only imagine where they get their tomatoes from...probably Mexico or a Dutch Hothouse.  The only thing more historic than the market is the age of the produce.  Take a pass on this type.

5. The Roadside Farmer's Market:  These are large farm stands that sell almost every type of produce you can think of.  During the "golden window" much of what they have for sale will have been purchased locally from commercial farms for resale.  These stands are especially great during the tail end of the growing season when you can buy cheap crates of tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. for canning or pickling.  However many of them open in April or May, well before the peak local growing season so you are buying the same produce that is in the local supermarket.  I reserve my visits to these from mid-July to the close of the season.

4. The Hipster Farmer's Market:  This is a relatively new entry in the world of Farm Stands.  With the "back to the land" trend that has nurtured the recent urban chicken and "goats as lawnmowers" obsessions, more and more young urbanites are looking for ways to express their inner farmer.  One of these ways is to organize a local market that is regularly scheduled and held in a parking lot or sidewalk.  While I think this is a great idea, I always notice that the ratio of good produce to craft merchandise is a bit off.  Here's my tip....if there is homemade soap, lotion, candles, goat cheese or anything that has to do with alpacas for sale then vegetables just aren't the priority.

3. The Roadside Farm Stand:  Folks that live in the country will typically keep a decent garden to carry them through the summer and supply canning for the fall and winter.  Regardless of how much a person plans on canning, there will always be a surplus that can be turned into a bit of ready cash.  These folks will then set up a tent or even a scrap lumber shelter to sell what they have in surplus from their garden.  Tip:  these stands can look pretty ramshackle, but its always worth a stop.

2. The "Tailgate" Stand:  When you have the chance to buy produce from the tailgate of a farmer's pickup truck, you aren't going to get much fresher.  These pickup truck produce stands are great to get what is freshest and just out of the garden.  The big drawbacks are typically lack of selection (they usually are selling only one or two items, melons tend to be a favorite) and continuity (you tend to run across them by chance).  These are always worth a stop, especially later in the season when watermelons and cantalopes are plentiful and cheap.  Extra points if the truck has a "Farm Use" plate.


1. The "Honor" Stand:  This is by far my favorite way to buy fresh produce.  These can be difficult to find and sometimes take a little searching but it is worth it.  An "Honor" Stand is where a gardener or farmer puts a table, flat trailer or other small structure in front of their home near the road.  On the table, they display what they picked that morning from the garden along with the price, a scale and a box to drop money in to pay for the goods.  I enjoy these types of stands because they tend to serve two purposes:  first to share their garden with the neighbors and folks who just happen to pass by as well as offering trust that a customer will do what is right.  The best ones are run by the children or grandchildren of the farmer to earn spending money.

Extra Credit when there is a sign to apologize for having to put a lock on the Honor Box

15 feet from garden to market

While it is always best to personally keep a small garden or at least a tomato plant or two, sometimes you just need to go and take full advantage of what the season has to offer.  Who knows, you just may become a vegetarian for the summer.  Could be worse....(to clarify: smoked meat used in cooking the vegetables is expected and counts as a vegetable as well, kind of like Macaroni and Cheese is considered a vegetable choice in many southern restaurants)