Greenbelt Farmers Market Season Opens on Mom’s Day

The buzz is palpable, but despite the dreary weather forecast for Sunday, there’s not much that can dampen the growing excitement about this weekend’s trifecta.

No, not the Kentucky Derby — although it has a special place in my heart.

I’m talking about the , Mother’s Day and the season opener of the Greenbelt Farmers Market. It doesn’t get any sweeter than fresh strawberries from Shlagel Farms, fabulous music and perhaps your mom by your side.

Now in it’s fourth year, the Greenbelt Farmers Market has become a destination, according to Joe Gareri, the market’s vice president.

“We’ve stayed true to the original concept — [that] everything grown or produced be grown within 100 miles of Greenbelt or within Maryland,” Gareri said. “We’ve added more prepared food vendors. People might come to attend a chef demo or purchase baked goods.”

A newbie compared to the Takoma Park Farmers Market, which opened in the summer of 1983, or FRESHFARM Markets that launched its first of 11 area markets in 1997 in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., the Greenbelt Farmers Market has proved it can succeed on its own terms.

Case in point: June 8, 2008 marked the official opening day of the first-ever Greenbelt Farmers Market. After nearly a year of groundwork laid, including recruiting board members (e.g., Gareri), incorporating and securing non-profit status, founders Kim Kash and Kim Rush Lynch — with seed money in hand and an invaluable alliance with the — were told to temper their expectations.

“We were told to not expect [no] more than five vendors. We had 13,” Gareri said. “We took that as a big, big success. We were thrilled that a number of farmers were willing to take a risk on an untried market.”

When the Takoma Farmers Market opened in mid-summer 1983, it only featured about half a dozen farmers (vendors), according to its website.

Gareri said that the market used Greenbelt Co-op as an umbrella organization to obtain grants; farmers who could also sell wholesale to the co-op were embraced.

Fast forward to Sunday, May 8: The Greenbelt Farmers Market’s new season will open with 17 vendors offering items such as produce, pasture-raised meats, sustainable seafood, soaps, herbal vinegars, ice cream, breads and baked goods, flowers, bedding plants, vegetable and herb plant starts, honey, coffee and goat cheeses.

Favorite vendors will be returning including Ferguson Family Farms, Glade Link Farms, Mystic Water Soap, Firefly Farms, Stone Hearth Bakery, Gunpowder Bison & Trading Company, as well as four-year market veterans’ Calvert Farm, Pat Hochmuth Farm, Shlagel Farms, Simple Pleasures Ice Café, Thanksgiving Farms, Three Springs Fruit Farm, Two Oceans True Food/Carriage House Farms and Zeke's Coffee.

Patty’s Garden, new this season, is a 15-acre farm in Mardela Springs, Md., and is certified organic. Farmers Bob and Pat Palmer’s specialty: tomatoes, especially heirlooms.

Gareri said that what’s special about the Greenbelt Farmers Market is supporting city organizations and businesses, offering musical performances, educating market goers, and paying serious attention to the producer-only aspect of the market.

“We do farm inspections. We have an extensive application that farmers do,” he said. They [consumers] can be assured that there’s a high level of integrity of what’s being sold at market.”

But the market doesn’t just happen, he noted. Board members are actively trying to secure funding. Gareri said that the vendors do pay a fee, but that the board does not charge them a lot. Expenses like promotion, marketing, insurance, and permit fees all require funds. Part of the board’s education mission is helping the public understand why, as Gareri said, “we need their money to keep the farmers market going.”

Volunteers who can give their time on Sundays or help with grant writing, press releases, data entry, and distributing flyers are also a big need for the market, he said.

“We’re always looking for volunteers — need 10 every single Sunday.”

A trifecta doesn’t come along every day, so grab your tote bag or basket, put on your dancing shoes — and bring along the mom in your life or carry a remembrance of her (like me) — and sample some of the market’s seasonal delights. And you must try the strawberries; they’re divine.

This story is one in a continuing series about the market this season. See also:  and . The market is open every Sunday, except Labor Day weekend, through Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Old Greenbelt.