The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There are 3 reasons to wait till Saturday to visit Milton

Find fresh flowers, fresh produce, high-quality beef at Farmers Market.

- By C.W. Cameron

The Milton Farmers Market is open 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 26 at the Milton City Hall Plaza, located at 2006 Heritage Walk. The market is pet-friendly, and it has ample parking and convenient restrooms. For more informatio­n, go to miltonfarm­ersmarketc­rabapple.com. Here are three examples of what you can find there.

Local flowers

Visitors to the Milton market often stop in their tracks when they see the beautiful flowers at Little Flora Farm’s booth. Jill Bowden left her job in health care in 2020 to become a fulltime flower farmer. She cultivates two acres of flowers in Woodstock and sells at local farmers markets, as well as through a weekly subscripti­on service. Spring flowers include ranunculus, anemones and peonies, and summer flowers will include lisianthus, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers and celosia. Arrangemen­ts come in a vase and bouquets come wrapped in brown kraft paper. The farm is a family business, with Bowden’s father making deliveries, her mother helping with arrangemen­ts and staffing the booth at farmers markets, and her husband helping with farm logistics and maintenanc­e.

■ $15-$30 for arrangemen­ts and bouquets. Flower subscripti­ons $100-$125 per month. Deliveries on Thursdays in Canton, Hickory Flat, Woodstock, Milton and Alpharetta. Also available at the Woodstock Fresh farmers market on Saturdays. littleflor­afarm.com

Produce

Each week Song Kue stands behind the Her Garden and Produce table, which is overflowin­g with a bounty of vegetables and herbs grown on her family’s 4-acre farm in Nicholson, just north of Athens. The family has been farming and selling at farmers markets since 2016. In May and June, you’ll find a combinatio­n of late-spring and early-summer vegetables, such

as red and golden beets, carrots, broccolini, baby bok choy, radishes, snow peas, sugar snap peas, spinach, kale, collard greens and cucumbers, as well as fresh garlic, mint, basil and dill. Later in the season, they’ll have fresh ginger and loofahs, which can be eaten like zucchini when they’re young, or left to dry on the vine to make great natural sponges. Come at the right time, and there might be strawberri­es or other fruits and fresh-cut flowers.

■ $3 for herbs, $4-$5 for vegetables. Also available at the Alpharetta farmers market on Saturdays and the La Vaquita Market in Pendergras­s. facebook.com/hergardena­ndproduce

Beef

Steven Simms of the Rural Urban Connection said the name of his business reflects his goal to bring high-quality, grass-fed beef directly from farms to homes in metro Atlanta. Simms is the fourth generation of his family to raise cattle, and he works with his father, Dale Simms, to produce grass-fed beef for sale to the public. He and his family live in Dunwoody, but the cattle are raised on the family’s farm in Culloden. The cattle are processed just 5 miles from the farm, and the beef is delivered to customers in the Atlanta area. Online customers can order individual cuts, such as sirloin steaks, brisket and chuck roast by the pound; buy steaks and ground beef in a bundle; or invest in a half or whole cow. The most popular items at the Milton market are ground beef and filet mignon.

■ Prices range from $9 per pound for ground beef to $75 for a package of two rib-eye steaks and 2 pounds of ground beef.

 ?? COURTESY OF WORTH WELLS ?? Beef from the Rural Urban Connection.
COURTESY OF WORTH WELLS Beef from the Rural Urban Connection.
 ?? COURTESY OF SONG KUE ?? Produce from Her Garden and Produce.
COURTESY OF SONG KUE Produce from Her Garden and Produce.
 ?? COURTESY OF JILL BOWDEN ?? Local flowers from Little Flora Farm.
COURTESY OF JILL BOWDEN Local flowers from Little Flora Farm.

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