Locally grown food is more flavorful and nutritious, easier on the environment and better for the local economy. Last year, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley declared “Buy Local Week,” the General Assembly established a farm-to-school program for cafeteria food and 78 percent of Maryland residents surveyed by the University of Baltimore indicated a preference for locally produced food. Could that be why so many people are flocking to area farmers markets?
If you’re ready to join the “locavore” movement, here are some of our favorite markets, where you can indulge in the freshest locally produced foods in our area.
Bethesda Farmers’ Market
Right in the middle of the busy Woodmont Triangle in Bethesda sits one of the best lunch spots in town. And it’s not a restaurant. It’s the farmers market in Veterans Park at the corner of Norfolk and Woodmont avenues. Brown-bag it and sit amid bright displays of juicy berries and peaches, piles of squashes and peppers and fragrant potted herbs at one of the park’s small café tables. Or perch on the edge of the splashing fountain while enjoying carryout from a myriad of restaurants on the block.
There’s even free Wi-Fi if you want to extend your lunch hour and get some work done. And you’ll find plenty of inspiration for dinner among tables loaded with organic fruits and vegetables and baked goods. Everything is local—vendor Avian Mead Organics is based in Montgomery County’s Brookville, where the Riser family cultivates 11/2 acres of all sorts of organic vegetables, including rhubarb, asparagus, tomatoes, potatoes and green beans. Howard County’s Jasmine Farm sells veggies ranging from arugula to zucchini. Once you’ve filled your market bag with the freshest produce, take it to the most local of all eateries: your own kitchen.
Where: Veterans Park, corner of Woodmont and Norfolk avenues, Bethesda
May through October
Tuesdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
301-215-6660
www.bethesda.org/bethesda/farmers/ Bethfarmers.htm
Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative Market
Open year-round, the Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative Market began in 1932 when 19 farmers’ wives set up card tables in a vacant storefront in the 6700 block of Wisconsin Avenue and sold their own goods: meats, cakes, pies, cookies, canned fruits, vegetables, jellies and jams. The market, founded as a way for farming families to make enough money to survive during the Great Depression, grew and incorporated.
Today, the festive market has more than 75 vendors inside and out, some of whom have been selling food and wares at the co-op for decades. Inside, vendors sell jewelry, antiques and handbags as well as prepared food like biscuits and casseroles alongside an array of ethnic cuisine: Indian, Turkish and Chinese. Outside is a popular flea market where visitors can purchase silver jewelry, handmade blankets and sweaters, artwork and rugs. You can still find locally grown tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, apples and peaches and plums, plus other local produce and loads of fresh flowers. The rule that everything must be from local farms was lifted years ago, though, so you will find shipped produce as well.
Where: 7155 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda
Open year-round: Indoors, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Outdoors, weather permitting, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
301-652-2291
www.farmwomensmarket.com/index.htm
Rockville Farmers’ Market
Downtown Rockville gives nearby office workers and residents another reason to gather at its farmers market— live music. The market, known as Out to Lunch Wednesdays, features a different band each week, and organizers envision patrons spending a lunch hour or two tapping their feet to tunes ranging from jazz, bluegrass, rock ’n’ roll or country to blues, swing and Latin jazz. Last year, Cajun band Squeeze Bayou played such lively tunes that some folks got up and danced.
The Rockville market vendors—eight to 10 in all—sell freshly picked fruits and vegetables, including specialty items like heirloom tomatoes, purple potatoes and summer salad greens. The market has live plants, cut flowers, orchids, artisan cheeses, baked goods and even a pickle stand with selections such as sour garlic pickles and horseradish pickles, olives and pickled green tomatoes or red peppers. There’s a booth where the local library sells used books, and another where you can buy a hat for yourself and a bandana for your dog from the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County.
If the Wednesday market isn’t convenient, some of the same vendors—and many others—show up on Saturdays in the juror parking lot near the Montgomery County Courthouse at Route 28 and Monroe Street, a location that’s been opening every season for 20 years. This market is four times the size of the Wednesday affair (though it doesn’t have music), and more than 2,000 visitors show up each weekend. Shoppers also have the opportunity to buy a little extra food and donate it to Manna Food Center food bank.
Where: Rockville Town Center, East Montgomery Avenue at Maryland Avenue (in front of the Regal Theatre)
June through October Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Route 28 and Monroe Street in the juror parking lot
Mid-May through October, Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
240-314-8620
www.rockvillemd.gov/events/farmers.htm
Kensington Farmers’ Market
Set at the historic train station near a long row of antique shops, the Kensington Farmer’s Market feels like a step back in time. Vendors offer produce they’ve grown themselves, or in the case of Clan Stewart Farm from Huntingdon, Pa., sell meat they’ve raised: nitrate-free pork as well as pastured beef and lamb. The flavor of these meats is much fuller than the factory-raised, shrink-wrapped, antibiotic-infused product at the grocery store.
Kensington also preserves the fishmongers’ tradition that began when lobsterman Mike McConnell began driving his truck from the docks of Maine to the grounds of the National Institutes of Health some 17 years ago. McConnell, who runs Salt River Lobster, now sells seafood from around the world—Alaskan salmon, bluefish, trout, mussels, softshell crabs, bronzini, swordfish, tilapia, tuna, just about anything you’d find at a full-blown fish market. It may not be “local,” but the service is down-home.
Some vendors disappear over winter, but several stalwarts—including Salt River; Clan Stewart; Rabbit Hill Farm, which sells its Pennsylvania produce; and All Things Olive, with locally made, flavored olive oils—stick it out year-round.
Where: MARC Train Station Lot, Howard Avenue
Year-round, fewer winter vendors
Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon
301-949-2424
www.tok.md.gov/e/263/farmer
Garrett Park Farmers’ Market
The Garrett Park Farmers Market is a good excuse to enjoy this hidden village of Victorian charm. Tucked away down Strathmore Avenue off Rockville Pike, quiet little Garrett Park, a designated historic district, is a treasure trove of Queen Anne-style homes with turrets and spires mixed in with “Chevy” homes of the 1920s (these came with a Chevrolet in the garage) and Sears bungalows, all set beneath a canopy of old-growth trees in azalea-bright yards.
The market is held at Penn Place, a porch-lined Victorian built across from the train station in the late 19th century as a combination post office and store. Town residents still pick up their mail there and patronize Black Market Bistro, which operates on the ground floor.
In keeping with the old-timey feel of the place, the farmers market is a family affair, offering fresh fruits and vegetables as well as free-range eggs gathered by the Derstines, a Mennonite family from Hares Valley, Pa. The Derstines’ standard crops— basil, broccoli, tomatoes, kale, spinach, onions, rhubarb, rutabagas and turnips— are supplemented by specialty greenhouse selections like pea shoots and arugula, plus seasonal fruit from neighboring farms and some products from their farm cooperative, Tuscarora Organic Growers.
Almost all the produce is organic; if not, it is marked accordingly. The farmers, like many other market vendors, are friendly enough to be asked for advice on home gardening, too.
Where: 4600 Waverly Ave. at Penn Place
The last Saturday of each month year-round
June through November, every Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact Elizabeth at 301-933-7488
Potomac Farmers’ Market
At this modest little weekday market, set in the yard of the Potomac Presbyterian Church, you may see familiar faces buying produce—and selling it. That’s because at least two of the vendors are from Montgomery County, including market manager Suzanne Hermes.
Hermes sells only organic produce at her Brooksford Garden stand, and she grows it all at her home in Potomac. But she may be best known for her baked goods, which are sold under the name Farm Fresh Chef. The goodies include hand-rolled French baguettes and in-season fruit pies—including the much-heralded peach and blueberry, as well as her popular chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies.
Other local vendors include Plant Masters, based in Gaithersburg. Plant Masters brings a rainbow of cut flowers, annuals and perennials to the market. McCleaf ’s Orchard of Lancaster, Pa., sells apples, pears, berries and other in season fruits.
The Potomac market recently has gone through some changes, with farmers who sold produce there in the past switching from markets to CSAs (community-supported agriculture, an arrangement in which buyers purchase a seasonal share and pick up the produce themselves). But Hermes expects to have at least four or five vendors this year that will cater specifically to Potomac’s taste in organic and locally grown food.
Where: 10301 River Road (Potomac Presbyterian Church)
June through October, Thursdays, 1 to 4:30 p.m.
301-590-2823
Silver Spring Fresh Farm Market
As if the piles of brightly colored produce spilling out of bins aren’t inspiration enough for getting out the pots and pans, Silver Spring’s market, one of eight Washington-area markets in the nonprofit FRESHFARM Markets collaborative, holds occasional cooking demonstrations by well-known chefs and distributes printed recipes for how to cook what’s in season. With some 13 stands spread along Ellsworth Drive in the heart of downtown Silver Spring (closed to traffic on market day), the market offers plenty of ingredients from which to choose.
Try Fire Fly Farms’ artisan goat cheese from Bittinger, Md., with greens from Spring Valley Farm and Orchard in Slanesville, W .Va., and bread from Atwater’s Bakery in Baltimore City. Or you can make Blue Goat Cheese Panzanella Salad, a recipe from renowned restaurateur Ris Lacoste. Or how about gathering up all that eggplant and zucchini to create a grilled summer ratatouille? Recipes are available at the central market table or online at freshfarmmarkets.org. To get really local, check out Charlie Koiner’s stand. Koiner grows his veggies just blocks away on a big lot. You can get herbs, perennials and annuals from Jefferson County’s Four Seasons Nursery near Charles Town, W.Va.; ready-to-eat treats, fruits, vegetables and free-range eggs from Adams County, Pa., at Quaker Valley Orchard’s stand; or grass-raised poultry and beef from Evensong Farm in Sharpsburg, Md.
Where: Ellsworth Drive between Fenton and Georgia
April through December
Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
www.freshfarmmarkets.org/index.html
202-362-8889
Virginia Dodd Myers lives in Takoma Park.
