August 27, 2003
Growing great goods
Farmers toil before dawn to bring products to downtown market
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Long before dawn's early light, even at the height of summer, some area farmers are setting up tables, polishing vegetables and arranging baskets of produce.
The much-loved Farmers Market downtown that provides fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers and honey to area residents takes many hours of preparation by farmers long before the first shopper arrives.
With an official 8 a.m. starting time, they know that early shoppers get the jump on parking and crowds and begin arriving by 6:30 a.m. Having everything ready is crucial to a successful day for the 65 farmers who come on Saturday and the 40 who attend on Wednesday.
Marvin Blackford, owner of Marvin's Gardens, is one of the earlier arrivals at the bi-weekly market. He leaves his Lake Ann farm at 2:30 a.m., driving trucks packed with items he and his wife, Marcia, and various children, grandchildren and employees have spent hours picking, sorting, washing, labeling and packaging the day before. Not to mention the loading, which starts around 10 p.m. on Friday or Tuesday night and continues often until midnight.
This arduous routine every Tuesday and Friday has been the family's focus for the past 18 years. All done around their myriad other farm chores, of course.
"There's no way you'd do this if you didn't enjoy it," said Marvin Blackford as he packaged onions late Friday afternoon at his farm.
The Blackfords farm five acres of land, planting a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers; they also have apple trees and raspberry bushes on their property. Farming since the early 1970s, they often get three crops each season out of their land. They attend their first farmers market each year just before the National Cherry Festival, bringing new potatoes and peas. As the summer progresses they gradually have more and more produce to sell.
"I've always liked to work with vegetables since I was a child and it gradually developed into this monster," Blackford said.
Dan Hall is the corn guy. The Long Lake Township farmer sells some of the earliest corn at the market, a plan created with the strategizing of a military campaign. He also tarps the corn fields in the early spring, which acts like a greenhouse and warms the ground - giving his corn an additional head start.
"To begin with, you can't haul enough corn down there," said Hall, who brings 250 dozen ears at the beginning of the season. "The early bird gets the worm in the sweet corn sales and if you're the first on the market you can sell everything."
Hall plants 12 varieties of sweet corn on 30 acres of his 80-acre farm, each variety having only a three- or four-day harvest range. Every week, he brings wagonloads to eager consumers, who descend like locusts the first few weeks of the season when he has the corner on the market. Hall's wife, Doris, and son and daughter help with the farm stand and at the farmers market.
"Harvesting corn, normally what we do is pick in the morning, when the dew is on and you have a nice, fresh product," said Hall, who also operates a produce stand at his farm. "For the farmers market, we pick just before dark the day before to have the freshest corn for sale."
Keeping the farmers and customers happy is the sometimes thankless job of Betty Boswell. A farmer herself, selling cut flowers during the peak season, Boswell decides who can attend (they must sell their own produce), where they will set up and collects the weekly rent of $15.
Boswell works nights as a hotel auditor and on farmers market mornings she heads straight for the market from her job. For the past nine years she wears two hats at each market, running the show as well as her stand.
"I just make sure that everyone gets a place and that they like their place and that everything runs smoothly," said Boswell, who begins fielding calls from vendors after the first of the year. "I always screen what people are selling."
"Every vendor has their own way that works for them to set up," she added. "Some come early and get everything set up just so and some fly in just before 8 a.m."
Jealousy or disgruntlement sometimes rear its head about stall placement but Boswell said everything always smoothes out in the long run. She gives farmers who come for most of the season priority in stall assignments. The occasional vendor with just one or two products get tucked in where she can fit them.
"Everybody knows everybody really well and they all get along really well," she said, adding darkly: "Most of the time."