[RP TownTalk] Market

[Alice Ewen Walker]

This year's Riverdale Park Farmer's Market is open May 17 to November 1, 2007.

Please help us spread the word to your friends and colleagues about
the market - it is a festive, friendly experience and is a great way
to support local agriculture and eat more healthy food.

You can sign up for a weekly market email reminder and recipe at:
http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/rpfarmersmarket

Regarding the question about dates of operation:

Each year our farmers set the dates for the market, based on weather,
crops, and other factors. And each year we do a magnet with the dates
(and year) on it.  Unfortunately, the woman who visited was operating
off info on our 2006 magnet. Hopefully she'll give us a try again.

While other markets may open earlier, they have different farmers,
different customer volume, and in some cases are actually buying
produce from outside of the region and reselling it.

If you've seen bananas or oranges at the College Park market, this is
an obvious example of non-local produce. If you can't tell, talk to
the vendor to find out if the vendor is the farmer and where the farm
is located. The farmer will often have photos, a sign w/ their farm
address, and will be clearly knowledgeable about his product.
Riverdale Park is a "producers-only" market -- we require our produce
sellers to be local farmers. We do not allow resellers or non-local
produce.

- Alice