Tuesday, April 29, 2014

THIS Is a "Farmer's Market"??

Our mayor sent emails out the other day telling us that the "farmer's market" they ran last year will be returning May 22nd. I went once last year. Here are the vendors that will be under the handful of tents:

Vendors: (name retracted) Farms, (name retracted) Farms, (name retracted) Farms (This one is a privately owned HFS and not a farm, just a few miles from us, less than a half mile from downtown Manhattan), Gourmet Dried Fruits and Nuts (roasted, salted, candy-coated nuts), Dr. Pickle (sells only those old fashioned dill pickles out of a barrel), Lizzmonade (soft drink/lemonaid vendor), Baker's Bounty (cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cokies, etc.), Paolo's Kitchen (ditto), Green Acres Gourmet Cookie and Muffin Mixes, Excalibur Knife Sharpening, Happy Faces Face Painting, Sparties Mobile Spa, Corny Roasters Fresh Roasted Corn (popcorn, not on-the-cob), The Empanada Lady, Aurora Naturals (cosmetics).

Last year, one of the farms had some moldy looking non-organic produce, the other sold cut flowers. The HFS table had supplements and drink mixes. Since these are the same vendors as last year, I guess I won't be going again this year, either.

This same "farmer's market" group travels to 2 different cities every weekday, so 10 cities 5 days a week, spending 4 hours at each site. We get it on Thursday afternoons. By the time it gets to us, all the good stuff is gone from the only farm-grown produce vendor, leaving us with the moldy and bruised dregs. I visited them one afternoon in another city and it was just as bad as when in my own. None of the morning visited cities is close enough or has parking near the empty lot they set up on so IDK if the one food farm's produce is any better that time of day.

Is this what "farmers markets" are like everywhere, or just here in urban NJ? 

This is just another reason why I prefer to buy my produce frozen.

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