Last weekend may have felt like spring or fall, but it’s clearly summertime at area farmers tailgate markets. Beans?
Check. Tomatoes? Check. Peaches and sweet corn? Check, check!
While beans and tomatoes aren’t necessarily newcomers, there’s an impressive—and impressively named—selection available now. With beans, look for Early Contenders, Blue Lakes, Tenderettes, and half runners, all types of green snap beans. When shopping for tomatoes, keep your eye out for heirloom and unusual varieties—from Mortgage Lifters, to Cherokee Purples, to Mr. Stripeys, and more. Smaller, super-sweet cherry tomatoes in ever color of the rainbow abound, too. At Asheville City Market, Foster Creek Farm offers up Egg Yolks, yellow yolk-sized treats. Flying Cloud Farm offers baskets of Stupices; they’re a little larger than cherry tomatoes, but still compact and sweet. Both crops will become even more abundant as August arrives.
McConnell Farms brought their first peaches of the season to Saluda Tailgate Market in Polk County is positively peach-packed. At Weaverville Tailgate Market, Mackey Farms is creating the perfect beat-the-heat treat: peach ice cream. And markets across the region, including the Historic Marion Tailgate Market, say sweet corn is coming in.
Some cooler-season crops can still be found, though; think greens, peas, and beets. And when it comes to fresh-cut flowers, you can find more than the summer-staple sunflower. Haywood’s Historic Famers Market vendor Dahlias by Jack and Cindy Leatherwood offers just that: beautiful dahlias in bold and pastel hues.
On Saturday, July 23, the Jackson County Famers Market in Sylva will offer a scavenger hunt for children shoppers; participants will take home a small prize. The market will also be taking fresh produce donations to increase the amount of produce used in programs of the local nonprofit Community Table. Children’s activities will also be offered Saturday in Asheville at the Kids Corner Market at Asheville City Market. Mission Hospital will lead children in a physical activity they call “Slow, Go, Whoa!” from 9 am until noon. Asheville City Market opens at 8 am and closes at 1 pm.
