table talk / By Bob Doran

Farmers’ Market Turns 30

“There were more areas opening up to agriculture,” said Kelly. “Most of what’s going on in Orleans now was getting started — aside from some peach growers and a melon farm, there wasn’t much up there in the beginning. A lot of the agriculture was in south county [around Shively and Phillipsville] but as people read the reports from the other group, more crops were grown inland and elsewhere.”

Kelly couldn’t recall all of the original batch of farmers from the first year, but she remembers Chuck Dwelly, who grew artichokes; Howard Rockwood and the Sarvinskis, all from the Shively/Phillipsville area; and Vernon Young of Young’s Orchard in Willow Creek. The Saturday I asked around the market, the consensus was that Denis Potter is the last of the originals.

“Our first commercial crop was snow peas. That was in 1977,” Potter recalled. “We don’t do those any more. That was the year I learned two important things: patience and diversification. Snow peas were pretty much all we had. We had a customer who told us they could take 200 pounds a week, but by the time they got to around 50, that was it. We ended up with a whole lot of snow peas we didn’t know what to do with.”

After that Potter’s Produce expanded its line to include much of what they sell today: squashes, beans and cucumbers of different varieties. “At one point we were up to around 21 acres. Our primary market then was stores and restaurants. We tried to keep it so that no customer was more than 10 percent of our business, and that’s what the Farmers’ Market was. It’s been a great venue and it’s fun to deal directly with the customers and not just stores.”

As if on cue, a dreadlocked woman interrupted us asking if Potter’s lemon cucumbers are organic. “These are,” he told her. “I can’t say they’re organic because I’m not certified, but nothing unusual has been done — no pesticides at all.”

As their conversation continued (and a sale was made) I thought back to something food activist/author Raj Patel told me when I spoke with him in the spring. (See “Why Does Food Cost More?” April 27.)

“One of the best ways to make a connection with your food is by talking to the people who grew it. You can only do that in a farmers’ market … How was this grown? Where was it grown? … Those are questions you can’t ask at the supermarket check-out.”

My suggestion: After you ask your questions, tell the farmers thanks for the work they do. And this Saturday at the Arcata Farmers’ Market, stop by Seaside Herbs and thank Marilyn for the work she did getting the whole thing rolling.

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