This was a cool summer — gardens grew slower than normal, many gardeners have expressed frustration. But somehow, there is a ton of food down at the Homer Farmers Market.
Bob has his zucchinis the size of small cars. Dan and Luba have crisp, sweet romaine for colorful salads. Lori has buckets of garlic. Paul has beautiful cabbage without a single slug bite. (I never have figured that out. He doesn’t use pesticides so he must be magic).
Talking to Al Poindexter of Anchor Point Greenhouse a while back he told me he has sold 11,000 pounds of produce off his place this year: 3,500 pounds of tomatoes, 3,500 pounds of cucumbers, 640 pounds of cabbage.
What do you do with so much food? More importantly, what do you do when this weekend is the last official Farmers Market and the fields still have tons of food?
You share. This Saturday is the Harvest Dinner Potluck and customer appreciation party down at the Market. Bring a dish and share a meal with your Farmers Market community. The Market will provide the traditional pot of soup of local ingredients.
The sharing continues with a little bit of gambling too. The Turkey Raffle drawing happens at the Harvest Dinner so someone gets to win a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving supplied with generous donations of Market vendors. And even if you don’t win, you are sharing too since all proceeds go to improving the Market and Market programs.
Farmers will still be selling at the Market location even after all the Market is closed, but it will feel very different. After this weekend there won’t be any more music or kids activities. You won’t be able to buy Farmers Market T-shirts, totes or posters. It’s nice to know that the veggies are still coming, but this is the last weekend to get the full experience of community.
So head on down to the Market this Saturday at 10 a.m. to stock up on as many veggies as you can hold and then stay from noon-2 p.m. for the Harvest Meal. It’s the best way to share the best of what Homer has to offer.
Kyra Wagner is the coordinator of Sustainable Homer and the Homer Farmers Market’s biggest fan.
