Nobody Wants Organic Strawberries
I’ve come to this conclusion over the past several weeks. Not only are there no organic strawberries available amongst the many sellers at the Raleigh Farmers Market (which is not surprising considering there are no sellers of organic anything there), but not a single stand set up around the greater city area will bother to sell organic strawberries. Here’s the real kicker: I found an organic you-pick strawberry farm about 20 miles away from where I work. Even better, they’ve set up convenient satellite stands at various locations where they sell pre-picked berries, and one of these happens to be within biking distance from work.
This sounds like a great find, just what I’ve been looking for, right? So I made a trip out to their local booth today at lunch. Surprise of all surprises, they don’t bring any organic strawberries to the stands. Except, that is, for one. “So just ask which one and determine if it’s closer than a trip to the farm,” I think. But the woman running the stand doesn’t know what the name of the stand is or where it is located. She finally narrowed it down to “Bedford something down there near the Restaurant X on Street Y.” Well, Restaurant X isn’t on Street Y, it’s on Street Z. I also asked how much cheaper the pre-picked organics are at the farm as opposed to the stand. She had no idea. Well how much are they pre-picked at the farm? No idea, but the “normal” strawberries are $8 a bucket if you pick them. So how much more than that are the organic you-pick? No idea, maybe the same price? Wow, thanks for all the help.
Scanning Vollmer Farm’s website revealed that the name is actually Bedford Farmer’s Market, and they even have a little newsletter telling all about the market and who will be selling there, what kind of events they’ll be having, etc. But there’s one minor omission … the location of the market. Even a web search didn’t reveal the address. The only description of the location that the woman running the stand could provide was, “Go right down the main drive into a neighborhood down there that I don’t know the name of and the stand’s just there. Oh, and it’s only open on the weekends.”
So I’ll have to waste gas and make a trip out to the farm since they seem to think that no one wants to buy organic strawberries at their stands. I’ll make it a point to ask them why.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Hi. Tripped across your posting while researching “locavores” in Raleigh.
While you’re probably correct with most produce, there really are a number of folks at the Raleigh Farmers’ Market who grow organically. Understand that most of the produce sellers are simply rolling wholesale product they’ve bought overnight. For produce, you’ll find folks on weekends tend to be the organic growers. Plant growers, like myself, also grow using organic methods (I sell container gardens there on weekends–”The Contained Farmer”).
Do understand: A NUMBER of us use “organic methods” but cannot say “organically grown” simply because it cost a lot of time and money to be certified by the state and US govt. to be approved organically. It’s simply not worth our time or bare profits to pay bureaucrats for this luxury. Feel free to ask each grower what their methods are; if they flinch, you know they don’t what they’re talking about. Likewise, a grower who uses organic methods will crow about their farm, product, and methods. Organic or not, most of the farmers at the State Farmers’ Market love to talk anyway!
May 30th, 2009 at 8:51 am
There is an easy way to get local and organic strawberries in the area with Papa Spud’s. I am a member of an online farmer’s market here in Raleigh and love the service! Like a CSA only customizable and delivered right to your door on a weekly basis.