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End of season nears for farm fresh produce
By Jim Bloch
Hungering for local farm-fresh fruits and vegetables?
With the St. Clair Farmers Market closed since the Wednesday before Halloween and Vantage Point Farmer Market rolling up its tents on Oct. 26, it’s still possible buy local produce from some of your favorite farmers.
A brisk 28 miles from St. Clair and 36 miles from downtown Port Huron, the Mount Clemens Farmers Market is open for two more Saturdays, Nov. 16 and Nov. 23.
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Located at 135 North River Road, the market was busy on Nov. 9 despite temperatures near freezing and a stiff wind out of the west. The market typically features nearly two dozen vendors, including a fishmonger and bakery.
Weigand’s Orchard was on hand with a dozen varieties of apples grown in Yale and a Crockpot of hot stew to keep the apple sellers warm.
Apples from Wiegand Orchard. The R Bee Honey stand at the Mount Clemens Farmers Market. Brussel sprouts on the stalk at the Mount Clemens Farmers Market.
“The darker the honey the better it’s supposed to be for you,” said John Robertson of R Bee Honey. Robertson and his wife Lucy were selling raw honey, honeycomb and spun honey from their base in Columbus Township. “And there’s nothing darker than buckwheat honey.”
This late in the year, the main staples at the farm tables were eggs, Brussel sprouts on the stalk, red and orange beets, acorn and spaghetti squash, carrots, celery, onions, kale, cabbage, green peppers, radishes, eggplant, rutabagas, turnip, gourds, Indian corn, bulbs of garlic, a tiny bit of lettuce, the last of the cherry tomatoes and romanesco, a pale green vegetable that looks like a some kind of bizarre deep-sea coral with its nodule-covered cone-shaped protrusions.
The cute little Farmers Market barn on the north side of River Road marks the location of the market. Onions and beets from the Braeckevelt Farm in Romeo.
“It’s a member of the broccoli family that tastes more like cauliflower,” explained the seller at the Clark Farms table out of Riley Township.
The red tents of King Farms were missing from the lineup.
“We lost all of our lettuce and spinach to the frost,” said Cyndi Brandt from her farm in Armada, which she runs with her husband Mark. The couple also has a Christmas lighting decorating business which suddenly has kicked into high gear. “We’ll see you next spring!”
Jim Bloch is an award-winning freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. He writes about the environment, local politics, art, music, history and culture. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
