A gripe about "farmer's markets"

melissa-dallas

Well-known member
They have gotten so dang foo foo and precious that all they have is their stupid little $4 pints of anything. I want to buy big quantities (at an appropriate price) for canning and jam. I want to buy the big baskets of imperfect & overripe tomatoes & fruit at a reduced price that they used to set under the table. I quit yesterday at $8 worth, about a quart, of small wild plums for jam. I would have bought a LOT if they weren't so damn "hipster." I got news for you. It takes a lot of green beans to make a pot's worth. They grow like weeds and your farmers market ones are in no way superior to the ones I can buy at the grocery store. Same goes for squash. If you raise and sell okra you should actually EAT it sometime to know that if it is as big as my hand it is the equivalent of wood pulp and I'm not giving you $5 for a handful of an inedible veggie. Frozen would be far superior.

 
Have you tried going back at the end of the day?

I found this *sometimes* works; but I know what you mean about FMs I pretty much don't go anymore. I can go to Whole Foods a few blocks away and get the same thing, for the same price and not have people trying to run over me with strollers. In fact I've left the FM and gone there instead because I knew prices were cheaper.

 
Yesterday I paid 10.00 for 2 lbs of beautiful dark red cherries. The flavor and sweetness is

outstanding. When I arrive at her booth early in the am, she is busy, with her daughters, making sure that the cherries have no holes or imperfections in them. She does the same with her apricots and peaches. The peaches never have bruises. I did gasp when she told me how much they were. The line at her booth can be a 45-minute wait. Since it is getting hot here, I will not be in that line for long. I can buy peaches at other booths, but they do have some bruising.
I think we are paying for the organic part of the process, it is more costly to raise organic food, plus getting the certified is not cheap.

 
Everything is not organic, and still, they only sell pints and small baskets

"Real" Farmers markets sell pecks and bushels and cases too.

I specifically asked if they sell larger quantities-they don't.

 
Our Farmer's Market will sell lugs of peaches, cherries, apples, apricots, strawberries, etc

you only need to let them know ahead of time. Many folks do canning during the summer and rely on the FM to provide them with the fruits. People ask for the seconds or fruits that many have been damaged in a spring hail storm.

 
at the farmer's market where i'm a vendor, most of the producers will work with customers for bulk

orders, and generally, price accordingly. Did you speak to vendors about the quantity you are looking for?

 
In the city, there are markets on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and one other but I do not know which

day it is. Then there are produce stands in smaller communities all over, usually along the roadside or private farms.

 
Yesterday I did a quick search for prices of fresh cherries. Seems it is not unusual for

one pound to be close to $5 or even more. The ones we are getting this year at Farmer's are the best red cherries I have ever had. Waiting for the Ranier's to come. I love those too.

 
There are only a few things that come to the market that are "special"

"real" vine ripened tomatoes and local peaches. I'm just saying that the whole point of a true farmers market is to be able to buy in quantity if you want to. You used to buy green beans (not superior to the ones at the grocery store) in big basket cheaper than the grocery store. You used to be able to buy a bushel of unshelled black-eyed peas to cook a big pot and freeaze some. You used to be able to buy a bushel of peaches at a somewhat lower price to freeaze and/or make jam. The only quantity local hipster neighborhood markets sell are "dinner for two" pints. I am not paying $4 for three or four yellow squash when I can buy it that is just as good at the grocery store for 69 cents a poind.

 
Our market had this sign *Farmer's Market is not a synonym for Cheap*

and everything was as Melissa said: in pint containers for multi-dollar amounts: $4, $3, $5 >> a pint. For oranges. That grow here. In groves.

 
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