Your source for fruit and vegetable news
Slow week at local markets; fresh produce still coming in
By Bobbie Whitehead
Despite the availability of locally-grown collards, kale, cabbage, sweet potatoes and broccoli (at some markets), some markets say they had fewer customers, but fresh produce continues to come in.
“It’s been a very slow week,” said Howard Piland, B&H Produce owner and vendor at the Suffolk market. “Even the downtown businesses have noticed a slow down in sales this week.”
Still, Piland said he has the fresh vegetables he’s grown such as mesclun salad, collards, cabbage, sweet potatoes, mustard spinach and turnip salad.
In Capron in Southampton County, even though Davis Lane Farm Market had a slower week, customers, though, are looking for fresh-picked collards as well as cooked, frozen collards that Randy and Elizabeth Cobb, owners of the market, prepare.
Despite the availability of locally-grown collards, kale, cabbage, sweet potatoes and broccoli (at some markets), some markets say they had fewer customers, but fresh produce continues to come in.
“It’s been a very slow week,” said Howard Piland, B&H Produce owner and vendor at the Suffolk market. “Even the downtown businesses have noticed a slow down in sales this week.”
Still, Piland said he has the fresh vegetables he’s grown such as mesclun salad, collards, cabbage, sweet potatoes, mustard spinach and turnip salad.
In Capron in Southampton County, even though Davis Lane Farm Market had a slower week, customers, though, are looking for fresh-picked collards as well as cooked, frozen collards that Randy and Elizabeth Cobb, owners of the market, prepare.
“Things have been slow this week,” Cobb said. “We still have a few pumpkins left, and people are looking for collards.”
Davis Lane Farm Market also has cabbage and peanuts, along with many other products and gift items, and Cobb said they’ll have fresh, local pecans soon.
Evans Farms, another Suffolk market that operates next door to Bunny’s Restaurant on Wilroy Road, has sold out of its pumpkins but says the dry weather has held up the growth of some crops, even though the market has collards, broccoli, kale, and North Carolina sweet potatoes.
“We expect to have cabbage in several weeks,” said Willie Evans. “It’s been dry for a while, which has slowed things up somewhat.”
A month ago, some growers said they anticipated a slow couple of weeks after school began but predicted that sales would pick up shortly before Thanksgiving.
Grayson and Emma’s Garden Spot in Courtland reports that it still has pumpkins and has fresh cabbage, collards, apples, sweet potatoes, peanuts as well as some of the non-produce items like apple, sweet potato and peach jacks, hams and other canned items.
As far as retail sales go, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its advanced estimates for “U.S. retail and food services sales for October, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes,” were down 2.8 percent from September sales. October sales were also down 4.1 percent from sales in October 2007.
“Total sales for the August through October 2008 period were down 1.3 percent from the same period a year ago,” the Census Bureau reported.
Growers in the area will have fresh broccoli and cabbage in the upcoming weeks.
Davis Lane Farm Market also has cabbage and peanuts, along with many other products and gift items, and Cobb said they’ll have fresh, local pecans soon.
Evans Farms, another Suffolk market that operates next door to Bunny’s Restaurant on Wilroy Road, has sold out of its pumpkins but says the dry weather has held up the growth of some crops, even though the market has collards, broccoli, kale, and North Carolina sweet potatoes.
“We expect to have cabbage in several weeks,” said Willie Evans. “It’s been dry for a while, which has slowed things up somewhat.”
A month ago, some growers said they anticipated a slow couple of weeks after school began but predicted that sales would pick up shortly before Thanksgiving.
Grayson and Emma’s Garden Spot in Courtland reports that it still has pumpkins and has fresh cabbage, collards, apples, sweet potatoes, peanuts as well as some of the non-produce items like apple, sweet potato and peach jacks, hams and other canned items.
As far as retail sales go, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its advanced estimates for “U.S. retail and food services sales for October, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes,” were down 2.8 percent from September sales. October sales were also down 4.1 percent from sales in October 2007.
“Total sales for the August through October 2008 period were down 1.3 percent from the same period a year ago,” the Census Bureau reported.
Growers in the area will have fresh broccoli and cabbage in the upcoming weeks.
Howard Piland of B&H Produce at the Suffolk City Market has fresh collards, sweet potatoes, leaf lettuces, and a mesclun lettuce mix pictured left.