It’s Day 70 of 365 Things to do in Cincinnati and today we are highlighting the wonderful local produce that we can find at our neighborhood Farmers’ Markets.
Did you know that a lot of the fruits and vegetables we buy at the grocery are picked before they ripen, transported and then run through a chemical process to induce ripening before they go to the shelves? THAT is why I love to buy local. Well, that and I do like to support our local growers.
Today I visited the Farmers’ Market in Springdale. This one is held on Thursdays from 3pm-7pm in the parking lot of the Springdale Town Center (corner of Kemper Road and Springfield Pike). I love to shop for fresh produce at the Farmers’ Markets and this one had plenty.
At this time of year (mid-June), the local produce is just a bit limited. We’re just starting to see a larger variety of locally grown veggies and it won’t be long before the Ohio farmers have lots to sell. Today I was able to find lots of locally grown squash, peppers and some awesome onions.
I also found a local farmer who has a large peach tree grove and he actually had some peaches. I bought those right up. They smelled heavenly. He also had pints of fresh raspberries, blueberries, and cherries.
But a farmer’s market isn’t all about produce. You can also get fresh cut flowers, herbs and perennials. The market had fresh honey, baked goods, Amish pies, and a variety of jarred sauces and pickled vegetables. But what really caught my eye were these ladies…
These gals are from “Wake up Your Butter” a new company that makes gourmet flavored butters. I sampled (and bought) their cinnamon-sugar butter. It was amazing. It will be wonderful on apple muffins, pancakes, toast… you name it. They also make a honey butter and a maple butter. They sell their butters at the Springdale Farmers’ Market, at Country Fresh Produce and at Madison’s in Findlay Market.
We are blessed to have numerous Farmers’ Markets all over town. I recently found a site that lists a lot of the local Farmers’ Markets and has them categorized by location, day, county, etc. (http://www.cincinnatifarmersmarkets.com/)
Which Farmers’ Market is your favorite?
I love Farmers Markets! I frequent three different sites, depending on the day of the week–Finneytown on Friday, Northside on Wednesday, and College Hill on Thursday. Fun people, fresh food, interesting non-food stuff! For instance, during this past winter the Northside market met in North Pres. Church’s auditorium, and they had crocheted items, djembe drums, jewelry–I didn’t get to go every week, so I missed some really great stuff!
If those were pics taken last night at the market then those people are being misslead. The produce in the pics is not ready yet in this area so therefore it has been trucked in across country so that defeats the purpose of the market. I wish customers and market managers were more educated on what is growing and what is ripe this time of year.
The pictures were actually taken on Thursday at the Springdale Farmers’ Market. I do actually go to everything that I post about.
We do have fresh local produce ready to be harvested here in Ohio. I did mention that there’s not a lot of fresh local produce to choose from at this time of the year. But there was plenty of squash, peppers, green onions, lettuces, berries, etc. grown right here in the southern Ohio area and that is definitely in season here.
With that said, yes, some of the food in the pictures was not local and I hope I didn’t imply that. I think most people do realize there’s no Ohio corn to had in June. At this particular market, what was local was marked as such and there was plenty of stuff marked “South Carolina” or “Tennessee”. I do agree with you in what I think you’re getting at though- eat what’s readily available in your area and that means eating what’s in season. All of the farmers I talked to were very honest about where their produce came from so if you’re looking for local and don’t know what’s in season – just ask.
Springdale Farmers’ Market has stuff from SOUTH CAROLINA? Good grief. That’s not a farmers’ market. That’s a produce store.
Perhaps Janell is wiser than I am.
Yep, they all have produce from outside of our area at this time of the year. But they also have lots of local produce. You’re never going to find corn on the cob from Ohio in June and you’d be lucky to find an Ohio tomato before July. We’re just not hot enough early enough for those crops. If you’re looking for fresh produce from Ohio, ask the farmer if it is local.
I know I am very late responding to this… but I wanted to offer a plug for the University of Cincinnati’s “UC Markets.” It was started as a class project, then taken on by a student group at UC. It has now been going strong every spring and fall for about 3 years now. We do not have the fall schedule ready yet, but feel free to contact me if you want to know more about it!
P.S.: Love the site!
Zachary Schunn
zacharyschunn@gmail.com