Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fresh fruits, vegetables and baked goods are available at the market every Saturday
NEW GARDEN » Few experiences can inspire healthy eating as mush as a trip to the local farmers market. And with the arrival of the growing season, food, produce and flowers from nearby farms and shops are abundant on Saturday mornings in New Garden.
Already the salad greens, onions, peppers, squash, berries and cauliflower are ready to take home for a nutritious dinner, but at Henry Stoltzfus’ farm station, the fresh, soft, cling peaches have even arrived.
The farmers who staffed the stations on Saturday agreed that in spite of one nasty intrusion of frost in the spring, it has been a good year for growing so far.
“The only thing that suffered were the plums and apricots, but we made up for it in
cherries and raspberries. The trees are loaded with cherries,” Daniel Zook of Lancaster said.
For those who think that vegetables are the only products they can pick up on this destination along Route 41, a pleasant surprise is in store.
There is an abundance of baked products from whoopee pies to artisan breads.
Daniel Zook Jr. stood behind his showcase of pies, cookies and fresh baked cinnamon buns, with Patrick O’Neill of Big Sky Bread Company of Wilmington, Delaware.
O’Neill said he has two large ovens: one for hard crust breads and the other for soft crust. He had a sea of tempting fresh breads sitting in front of him.
But wait: Just when it appeared that still another table had more baked goods for sale, those goodies turned out to be dog treats produced to look amazingly like desserts that humans would consume.
Abbey Varga of Honey and Penny’s Homemade Dog Treats (Honey and Penny are her dogs), has crafted healthy dog food into dog delights that look like cupcakes, waffles and cookies. She said her dogs love them.
At a very colorful stand cross the sidewalk, Danny Rosazza had a splendid showcase of fresh-picked flower bouquets, which he said were doing well this year.
Two of the stands presented not only products for sale, but vendors with a lot of information to share.
One of them is Ray Drejka of Newark, Delaware, who returns every year with honey and wax items. He is a beekeeper and an expert on their care and raising.
He said that about 50 percent of his bees don’t live through the winter, but that he is still doing OK at a time when scientists and environmentalists are worried about the diminishing bee population.
He said his bees must be well cared for, with their hives kept clean and mites – which eat the bee larva – kept at bay. He also said that the bees make different flavors of homey through the summer, depending what flowers are in bloom at the time. Dandelions, poplar, goldenrod and white aster were some of the plants he mentioned.
His stand was visited by Bob and Ginny Morrow, who also raise bees. Bob said he had always been interested in bees and got into raising them when he retired. It’s a hobby that can be done anywhere, he said, even in the city. “The bees know where to find the flowers, even on city rooftops,” he said.
Another interesting vendor was Jack Hill, who, when he’s not selling his jellies, is cooking them up. The fascinating thing about Hill’s jellies is that many of them have a “kick” — they are hot with some added hot pepper extract. He told the story of growing up with his father who dealt in some way with dynamite and for whom “there’s a fire in the hole” had some meaning. So now, many of his jellies have a little “fire” themselves, his most popular being apricot plus pepper.
For shoppers in search of a little protein, Brian Sarkissian from Maiale Deli in Delaware brings in freshly made varieties of pork sausage, which he cooks samples of for shoppers to taste.
And if customers are looking for some catering, Nancy Rico and Jose Cisneros from Taste of Pueblo were offering crackers and bruschetta at the stand, but also let it be know that they can cater entire Mexicanthemed banquets.
The New Garden Growers Market is open every Saturday through the summer from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is located along southbound Route 41, just north of the Penn Green Road intersection.