Farmer’s markets misconceptions

My original image of a farmer’s market was one of baskets upon baskets of fresh, plump, organic produce. The farmers would be selling their quality products closer to cost than what I could get in the grocery store because they would cut out the middleman. In turn, I would have to drive 40 minutes out to their farm and not 2 minutes down the road to the Waldbaum’s. Well today I went to two such farms and came away with handfuls of groceries, a lighter wallet, and a puzzled look on my face.

There really isn’t a farmer’s market in my area, so I went farm-to-farm in this case today. The first farm I went to was Young’s Farm. When I walked into their farm-front store I did see small baskets of good-looking produce. Everything looked plump and firm. I ended up picking up some produce and then went to tour their soups, pies, and baked goods. That was where I realized that my impression of farms selling cheap goods disappeared.

Their soups, which were no bigger than your standard juice tin (maybe 1L in volume?), were going for about $10. Their pies? Large ones were almost $20. And then there were their baked goods. A little bag of cookies – no more than 5-6 in a bag – were $6 each. Now I know that a lot of hard work went into growing the ingredients, but if you’re going to sell me the raw ingredients at a fraction of the price, how can you justify 1,000% mark-ups for the finished goods? I know I’m supposed to be buying quality, but it’s hard to justify when 2-3 cans of soup at less than $1 each can be bought, or $4 apple pies, or $5 packages of cookies! Money spent: $23.34.

The second farm that I went to was a little more reasonable… I thought. This was Jericho’s Cider Mill. They’re pretty much an apple farm, so their apples were cheaper than the first farm, $1.69 a pound versus $2.00 a pound. They also had apple cider reasonably priced ($2.35 a pint I believe or $4-something for a gallon…) and expensive pies again. I left with some apples, some pumpkin bread, and a cup of cider. To be honest, I don’t taste any pumpkin in the pumpkin bread. Money spent: $13.01.

On the way home I realized I needed some protein to go with all the produce that I picked up so I stopped off at a grocery store close to my house. I stepped in and realized how much of a rip off these farms are. This particular grocery store had $0.88 per pound apples (vs. $1.69+ per pound), $3 10-pound bags of onions (versus $1.00 per pound), $1.89 per pound shallots (vs. $2.59 per pound), and so on and so forth.

I will admit the apples that I got from the farm were crisper than what I remember of store-bought apples and they were noticeably larger and firmer than the shipped from Washington state, store-bought ones, but does that justify more than double the cost? And the shallots, onions, and potatoes – cheap vegetables to farm – were so much more expensive at the farms. I know that you’re helping a local farm by purchasing their expensive goods, but I’m also supporting a big farm in Washington when I buy their apples. Someone’s making money along the way and everyone has mouths they need to feed.

I guess I’m not the type of person that these farms cater towards. I’m the type of person that will "sacrifice" quality for price, though I don’t think I’m sacrificing anything. I was raised on non-"organic" produce, mass produced for the grocery stores, and I came out strong and healthy. Am I missing something when they’re charging on average 200-300% more than what grocery stores charge?

P.S. If anyone knows how to cook parsnips I would gladly accept any tips besides cubing, boiling, and pan-frying. I’ve just seen far too many episodes of Top Chef where they include a cauliflower or parsnip puree and figured I might give it a try as well.