Snellville Farmer's Market

^{S. is “a buzz” with interest over bee-keeping}

Snellville is doing its first farmer’s market this year. The city launched it concept this past June, and will have it run until October. It is open every Saturday from 8-12 and is located in a large open field across the street from the city hall. Booth space is $10 and there are as many as 50 vendors. No one is requied to be a “producer”, nor organic, but all that is encouraged, as is sustainabilty and green practices. Local vendors are the focus.

S. and I went out there and walked around on a misty gray Saturday morning and saw many of the same things I have seen at the other markets: Flimsy white tents, folding tables stacked with rough-looking fruit, people with that farm-fresh, folksy charm letting people sample and taste, and explaining with knowledge and passion (such a rare combination!) about what they are selling, how it was created, and why what they are doing is important. I saw my biscotti guy, and he gave us samples of his chocolate mousse biscotti which was very good.

We talked for quite a while with a couple who own a 45-acre farm on the other side of Monroe. She is taking orders for holiday turkeys but is almost at her limit because predatory hawks have been grabbing the chicks. Right now at twenty pounds the turkeys are just about too heavy for fly off with. Also they told us the trouble they are having with racoons and possums getting into the henhouse and killing the new chicks. Rather than trap or poison they are doing what I suspect people have been doing for thousands of years to protect their livestock: they are using predators of their own, their big family of dogs who run down and run off assorted intruders.

I talked with a young man who was selling organic, fresh, natural chicken for $20 each. $10 for two thighs. $15 for two breasts. I asked him about the prices to be certain I was reading them correctly and he verified that yes, he was selling his chicken for around $10 a pound.

“Chicken…” I said.

“Organic chicken,” he corrected me. He then told me he still had a cooler full, and last week he had some left over, too.

“Why do you think that is?” I asked him. He said he really didn’t know, maybe the market just had too many vegetarian customers. I agreed that must be it, wished him success, and moved on, thinking about how I bought organic natural chicken for about $3.50/pound in the grocery store. I’m sure it wasn’t local, and I was supporting an evil corporate giant with my dollars, and thought it was unfortunate that is took less money to support something I wanted to get away from than it did to support something I was in favor of.

There was a woman selling flowers in arrangements with stalks of fresh herbs worked in. More people selling bread than the other places I have been to. We stopped and had a very detailed conversation with a man who turned out to live only a couple of miles from us who raises bees and collects their honey. He has been doing it for four years now and this year he collected over 80 pounds of honey. He gave my wife a very thorough lesson in starting a hive and keeping it healthy. She came away excited about being a beekeeper. She’s always been a fan of bees, even as a child. She doesn’t relish working in the garden, planting, weeding, harvesting… but she thinks if she raises bees that woud be a good contribution. We bought some wildflower honey.

We met a woman who makes wine jellies and we bought some of these, my favorite being the pommegranate-zinfindel. She doesn’t really have a “product line”, she just takes a few sips of the wine in question and makes a jelly based on how that wine resonates with her. She has some sugar free jellies made with Splenda, but we did not buy any of these.

On our way out we passed a family that had pumpkin plants for sale. She was selling them one pot for a dollar. I bought two and since it was so close to closing time she told me to just go ahead and take them all so now I have eight pumpkin plants.

I liked the layout of the market and the variety of vendors, but I can imagine in the open fiels with no trees or buildings to block the sun it can get quite hot. I think it will be a pleasant stroll in late September, but I don’t know what the vegetable and fruit selection will look like. But I would say this market is worth going back to and supporting, and I hope they have a really good first year.