The Benefits of the Farmers Market

Fresh grown flowers, herbs and baked goods fill the air with blissful scents as children and pets frolic around the benches.

While this scene may seem too idyllic to be true, it can be seen every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning at the Blacksburg Farmers Market on the corner of Roanoke Street and Draper Road, in the newly completely Market Square Park.

Established almost 30 years ago, the market allows local farmers and craftspeople to sell their produce and products to the community.

Ellen Stewart, Market Director and member of Friends of the Farmers Market, said, “We’re really interested in educating the community in changing the way that they eat and encouraging people to eat more local food.”

The vendors come in all shapes and sizes. Customers can talk to Ronald Holdren from The Green Market, better known as Farmer Ron, as he shares stories as well as fresh vegetables, fruit and seasonal plants.

Another vendor, the Birdsong Farm, sells soaps, candles, natural cleaner and insect repellant made from beeswax. Patti and Deano Chlepas, the owners of the company, made the business after discovering how healthy honey is. “We were just fascinated with bees,” Deano Chlepas said.

The newest vendor to join the market, Crazy Cakes, is co-owned by Kelly Shushok and her 10-year-old son. “It was my son’s idea in the first place,” Shushok said about the business. “He’s a real entrepreneur.”

“My favorite think about coming to the market is just browsing,” Liza Dobson, a sophomore math major at Virginia Tech and customer to the Farmers Market, said. “I love seeing all the new stuff that vendors keep coming up with. I also love seeing how it changes throughout the seasons. I’ve really enjoyed learning about the different seasonality of food.” Whether they are selling pots, cakes, soaps or produce, all the vendors agreed on one thing: It is better to buy local.

One of the requirements to be a vendor is that they must come from within a 50-mile radius of Blacksburg. Therefore, those that shop at the market are automatically contributing to the local economy.

Holdren outlined another reason to buy local. “Grocery stores do not tell you that their strawberries have been trucked all the way across the country from California. Our strawberries were picked yesterday right off the farm. There’s more nutrition in food that is taken directly from field to table.”

Holdren explained how many advertisements he sees are incredibly misleading. “The thing that amazes me is that Green Giant has a commercial on TV where they say that the nutritional value, the vitamin C content, of green beans is reduced by half after eight days. Well, I’ve never seen or didn’t know that you could keep green beans for eight days, because we pick them and sell them or consume them within 24 hours.”

Deano Chlepas was particularly passionate about this subject. “Think of all the fuel that is wasted from transporting and packaging that food when you can buy food locally,” Deano Chlepas said. “People are paying for the transportation and packaging across the country of an inferior product.”

Dobson described how she started frequenting the market after learning about the industrial food system and realizing how important it is to learn where food comes from. “I figured the best way to do that was to get food from the people who actually produce it,” Dobson said.

Holdren also stressed the value in meeting the vendors. “Coming to the market, people are able to meet the vendors that grow the food and establish a personal relationship with their food.”

Stewart spoke of another reason to buy from local vendors. “A lot of people are thinking about the cost to the planet that is involved in shipping and manufacturing food. There is a lot of energy that is used to do those things,” Stewart said.

Many vendors at the farmers market do not use commercial machinery. Instead most of the work is done by hand which saves fossil fuels. Some vendors, such as Holdren, hire Virginia Tech students to work at their farms in their free time.

While some come to the market to reduce their carbon footprint or to support the local businesses, many people come to the market simply to enjoy the atmosphere.

The new venue, which was completed in December 2009, creates a spacious community space that better accommodates the growing market.

“The old market along Roanoke Street was hanging off the edge of the sidewalk and was functional,” Stewart said. “However, the new venue is more of a space that lends itself to community gatherings.” The increase of space provides room for children and pets to run around in the grass. “Kids can now play in the park, not in the street,” Holdren said. “We were always afraid someone was going to get run over out in the street.”

Stewart has also noticed that when people shop here now, they spend a lot more time here because they just enjoy the space. “It’s got a better feel to it,” Stewart said.

The new venue also accommodates considerably more vendors than the old structure. The market has grown substantially over the past two to three years. According to Stewart, sales in that time have grown by 150 percent.

Stewart is currently trying to reach out more to the student population. “If you think about it, 30,000 students is a huge potential audience,” Stewart said. “If every student at Virginia Tech bought one apple at 50 cents, that would be $15,000.”

There are a growing number of students attending the market due to the growing awareness on campus of the importance of eating healthy foods and eating local foods. The market is currently trying to acquire the technology so they will be able to accept debit cards, credit cards, the Hokie Passport as well as food stamps.

“Every year when the students first arrive and discover the market the first question they ask is ‘Can we use our Hokie Passport?’” Stewart describes. “You know these vendors are so sad when they have to say no. So we’re hoping this will be another way to get more students to the market.”

Stewart is confident that the market will continue growing and expanding. “I’m just encouraging people that have never been here to make sure they come down and check it out,” Stewart said. “I think once you come down, you’ll be hooked.”