Sunday, May 19, 2013
slide show
On a warm, overcast morning in May, following a night of rain, the Dupont Circle Farmers Market was in full swing. It is early in the growing season around here. At the peak of summer, there will be several dozen produce vendors packing this space. Today, I counted about 15, with another 10 or so vendors of meats, fish, eggs and cheese, a couple of bakeries and a smattering of other vendors selling soap, ice pops, gelato, wood-fired pizza and the like. I was happy to score a trifecta of early spring specialties today – garlic scapes, rhubarb and ramps (on the last day of the year for them, according to a display sign).
This market is managed by FRESHFARM Market, a nonprofit organization that sponsors 11 farmers markets in the Chesapeake Bay region. According to the group’s web site, the markets are “producer-only, which means that farmers and producers must grow, raise, catch, produce and hand-craft what they bring to market.” They also must be from the Chesapeake Bay watershed region and within a 200-mile radius of Washington, DC.
I lasted visited this market on July 11, 2010.
– Mark Thompson
What I Bought
garlic scapes
Price: $3/bunch
ramps
Price: $5/bunch
asparagus and rhubarb
Price: $5/bundle of asparagus
$6/lb. for rhubarb
rutabaga and celeriac
Price: $2/lb. rutabaga
$2.80/lb. celeriac
I picked these up as a farewell gesture to hardy winter produce.
cheese