It’s summer, the bountiful season. Blueberries, cucumbers, fennel, garlic, onions, potatoes, raspberries, squash, tomatoes — there’s an offering for nearly every letter of the alphabet at area farmers markets right now. Don’t just take our word for it … here’s what administrators of several Asheville tailgates had to say:
Carly Esslinger, Oakley Farmers Market (Thursdays): “We are a new market, and our first summer is going well. We’ve recently changed our hours to 3:30 until 6:30 p.m. to better accommodate the afterwork crowd, and the Oakley community is happy to have a place to gather and buy local products, especially goodies from vendor Fletcher Village Bakery; their rye bread always sells out! A community dinner is in the making, featuring foods from our vendors, so stay tuned…”
Shay Amber, North Asheville Tailgate Market (Saturdays): “We have a vast variety of local foods, from fresh mountain trout to culinary mushrooms as beautiful as a bouquet of flowers now. Our plant vendors are selling orchids, exotic carnivorous plants and unusual food-producing varieties, such as asparagus and artichokes. But that’s not all. We have broom and basket-makers and fiber artists leading demos on how their crafts are made. Miki and Greg of Homegrown will be out to market soon to discuss their program and entice us with some fabulous cooking demos. We also have a vendor from Mark Rosenstein's program, Go Kitchen-Ready, selling sticky buns. All the profits from the sales of these sticky buns go back into the program.”
Kelly Fain, French Broad Food Co-op Wednesday Tailgate Market: “From quail eggs and goat milk to fresh veggies, we've got a bountiful and beautiful market now. We are especially excited to welcome the Pisgah View Peace Garden and Home Free Bagels this year as we care for our community with good food and good folks.”
— Maggie Cramer is ASAPs communications manager; she can be reached at maggie@asapconnections.org.
