Susana Lein (right) sells her locally grown produce under
the name of Susana's Organics at the Berea Farmer's Market, a venue that
is becoming an increasingly popular retail alternative for health-conscious
residents.
Berea Farmer’s Market is a thriving summer tradition
It is one of the welcome signs that summer has come to Berea. While local youths splash in the nearby pool and play in Berea Community Park, a faithful contingent of Berea gardeners sell their homegrown produce in the shade of the Duerson Stadium bleachers.
The opening of the Berea Farmer’s Market has heralded the beginning of summer for the last 32 years, and its popularity shows no signs of waning, according to agricultural researcher and farmer Bill Best.
“Kentucky is getting more farmer’s markets every year and more people are growing for them,” says Best. “The advantage of the farmer’s market is there’s a good chance you’re going to get both flavor and texture, unlike something that’s been shipped thousands of miles.”
Having grown tomatoes, beans and other produce on his farm near Berea, Best says he notices a vast difference between the quality of locally grown fruits and vegetables and produce that can be purchased in major supermarket chains. Best recalled trying to eat a tomato bought from a major retailer in town, but when he couldn’t finish the waxy, flavorless fruit, he tossed it into the chicken coop. But surprisingly, the birds turned their beaks up at the factory-ripened tomato. “Even the chickens wouldn’t eat it,” Best says. “When I toss one of mine in, they’ll usually fight for it.” Best suggests many consumers seem to be learning a lesson the chickens already knew – produce sold at major supermarket chains is often less flavorful and nutritious because it is grown specifically for its ability to survive the long journey from the field to the market. Tomatoes, for example, are picked green, sent to warehouses, then gassed to artificially ripen them for stores, according to Best. They also have to be tougher to survive the journey from processing to the store shelves. |
 Mark Huguely, 11, was at the Berea Farmer's Market Friday to help his grandmother sell an assortment of homemade products, which included a colorful collection of painted gourds. |
Farmer Susan Lein is another local producer who has noticed an increased interest in locally grown and organic foods. Under her own brand of Susana’s Organics, produced at Salamander Springs Farm just south of Berea, Lein grows and markets an eclectic variety of vegetables and other organic products that tend to sell very quickly.
“I sold out of broccoli in the first fifteen minutes,” says Lein. “I feel good that I’ve sold a lot, but I’m sorry I won’t have much left today for the people who are still coming.” Lein’s produce is about as organic as it gets, grown without herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. That may account for its popularity among health minded folks in town. “I don’t believe it putting anything on [my crops],” Lein said. “I pretty much work with what I’ve got.” The Berea Farmer’s Market is open every Monday and Friday from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. from June until the first frost of the fall. Best says the first year of the market featured just five producers, but last year that number reached 22, offering a variety of homegrown and homemade products including corn, beans, honey, crafts, preserves, salsa, painted gourds in addition to a wide assortment of other produce. |
 Agricultural researcher/farmer Bill Best thinks the popularity of farmer's markets will only grow as more people come to appreciate the flavor and nutritional value of homegrown produce. |
In the larger scheme of things, Best expresses hope that more small farmers in Kentucky, particularly those affected by the diminishing tobacco market, will turn to new opportunities in selling homegrown produce in local farmer’s markets. Those opportunities will only become brighter, Best says, as consumers grow tired of the quality of fruits and vegetables offered by major retailers.
“The farmer’s market movement is really growing, and of course with the decline of tobacco, people have to grow something,” says Best. “There’s no reason small farmers can’t make a jump to growing produce.”
Written by Andy McDonald - BereaOnline.com Contributing Editor
