Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993 TAG: 9307310166
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOANNE ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Freshly picked produce - some still damp with dew - spills out of baskets. Fresh flowers vie for your eye, their colors complementing multiple shades of vegetable greens and yellows.
There's corn, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, apples, peaches, potatoes and, as the garage sale ads say, much, much more.
Lynn Chipkin brings vegetables and fresh eggs from Indian Valley Farms. Chipkin and her husband, Randy Cohen, made a major lifestyle change four years ago, moving from Long Island, N.Y., to Floyd County, where she raises organic vegetables and 70 or so free-range, laying hens.
"Those are chickens that see daylight and scratch real dirt," she said with a smile.
The most abundant variety of produce is brought in by John and Delia Booth and any combination of their four children. On one recent Saturday morning, 5-year old Sara Booth told how she'd picked the string beans.
Delia Booth prepares applesauce, relishes and preserves for sale.
Annuals, perennials and herb plants are available from several vendors. Nancy Trivette says her presence represents a hobby-turned-farmers-market-venture. Her plants, including bee balm, chives, thyme, daisies and hollyhocks, are started in her small greenhouse or outdoor garden in Riner.
Partnerships are an attractive arrangement, as Chrys Bason of Floyd and Perky Deighan of Blacksburg have discovered over three years.
Bason sells vegetables and Deighan sells flowers. The two share a space; one handles the booth on Wednesdays and the other on Saturdays.
Deighan was the first vendor at the Blacksburg Farmers Market late in the summer of 1990.
The Hillsville duo of Barbara Rotenberry and Terri Merrion sells fresh flower bouquets and house and herb plants.
Rotenberry comes on Saturdays and Merrion on Wednesdays. Merrion is in another partnership with her 9-year-old son Kristofer - the lad wears a money belt for making change, helps customers with flower selections and wraps bouquets in florist green tissue, chatting all the while.
Another son, 5-year-old Lee, occasionally sells lemonade he makes and serves himself.
Gilda Caines, owner of the Sycamore Tree Bed and Breakfast, frequents the Farmers Market.
"I try to get in every week to buy fresh flowers for the inn and fruits and vegetables to eat and to serve. The prices are competitive and everything is as fresh as you can get."
The diligence and commitment of the vendors have been positive for downtown. Nancyne Willoughby of the Fringe Benefit store, president of the Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg, thinks the Farmers Market is good for everyone.
"The downtown merchants organization, which pays for weekly newspaper ads for the farmers market, has pledged some of the proceeds of this year's Steppin' Out Festival to contribute to building a shelter for the market."
"This year is especially exciting," said Assistant Town Manager Bonnie Svrcek, "because the farmers market spaces are all taken and plans are beginning for the shelter. The town and the downtown merchants organization will provide around $4,500 for the project. And long-range plans for downtown Blacksburg include a permanent farmers market."
Selling at the market makes a great summer occupation. Deighan, who calls her involvement "indulging a hobby," is a preschool teacher.
Shannon Alkins, Virginia Tech student and Floyd County native, and Mark O'Farrell, a horticulture teacher at Giles High School, are selling for the third consecutive summer.
Alkins sells heirloom vegetables, very special produce that is "not as predictable as the hybrids. Hybrids are created to enhance specific characteristics," she said. "Heirloom vegetables are grown for outstanding taste and treated only with synthetic, water-soluble fertilizers."
O'Farrell, who is returning to college for a master's degree in agricultural education, farms in Snowville and has the first corn of the season at the market. He also peddles elephant garlic, fresh basil and gladiolas.
It's a tossup as to who likes to mingle with whom the most. Farmers selling produce say one reason for being involved is the people who come to buy. The people who come to buy say they go because of the farmers.
The produce changes throughout the season, with corn, pumpkins, tomatoes, dried flower arrangements, apples and more squash and fruit yet to come. The market at Draper Road and Roanoke Street is open Wednesdays and Saturdays, around 8 a.m. to mid-afternoon, and lasts into early November.
by CNB