by KELLI FONTENOT
Published Aug. 13, 2009 in The Jambalaya News
A familiar sight – juicy green watermelons piled high in the back of a pickup truck – lures shoppers to the end of Bilbo Street at the Charlestown Farmers Market early Saturday morning.
Scotty LeBleu of DeQuincy has been selling these Charleston Grays and Jubilees from Singer for a few months, but he plans to grow his own watermelons next year. It’s a good thing, too. When he came to the market in the spring with his homegrown lettuce, customers couldn’t get enough.
“It stays fresh much longer,” he says. “I picked it like the day before. That’s what’s so good about the market – everything’s fresh.”
Buying natural produce from local vendors is also a simple way to go green. Farmers markets offer products that are not tainted by hormones or pesticides. Unlike a supermarket, a farmers market takes place outdoors and requires a minimal amount of electricity. The vendors live nearby, so they consume less fuel than it would take to transport goods from a farm across the country.
The Charlestown Farmers Market has moved three times since its opening in March of 2005, but it now takes place each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. behind the Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center in Lake Charles. It is one of about 4,800 farmers markets currently operating in America, according to the U.S. Agricultural Marketing Service.
On Aug. 1, just before the start of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 10th annual National Farmers Market Week, people from all walks of life came to the market to form a diverse crowd of local farmers, professionals, retirees and students.
“It’s like a family there,” says Carolyn Smith, president of the market. “You get to know everybody, but they know that they can come to the market and they can shop and just about get everything they need for the week, for their meals.”
Smith tries to select vendors who sell homegrown vegetables, handmade crafts and freshly baked goodies. She also goes to the market every Saturday to observe, catch up with fellow vendors and faithful customers, and sell her own homemade jellies, jams, and soaps.
“You don’t have to go to the grocery store and stand in line, and you can socialize with the vendors, and you can get all of the information you want,” Smith says. “Eventually, these customers get to know us, and you’d be surprised how they come right back to us again.”
For Smith, the market provides a unique cultural experience and a little extra spending money.
For LeBleu, though, it’s a living.
“I always enjoyed farming, and I decided I was going to quit my job and start doing this,” LeBleu says. “You’re your own boss, and you can do what you want to do. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of.”
Other vendors share LeBleu’s sentiment.
Carvert Guidry has been at the farmers market each Saturday for about three years. At the market, he sells crape myrtles , dynamite crape myrtles (the richest red you can get, he says), blueberries, jasmine, and banana plants. He also offers his customers advice on how to care for the plants once they’re in the ground.
Guidry’s love of botany comes from a long-standing family tradition.
“I’ve always had a green thumb. I grew plants all my life, and I got that from my Grandpa and Grandma Guidry. They had beautiful plants in their yard. And that was like, 50 years ago,” he said.
Those days of cultivating fruit trees, flowers, shrubs, citrus plants and fig trees paid off and provided Guidry with a gratifying pastime.
Anyone interested in becoming a vendor at the farmers market can contact President Carolyn Smith at 526-4100. There are some limits to what sellers can bring to the market, but a few vendors offer less traditional farmers market fare.
Candy dolls – made of Jolly Ranchers, Tootsie Rolls and baby doll faces from the craft store – peer out at customers who walk past the table of Margie Davis.
If the customers could eat the chocolate fudge brownie candles at her table, they probably would.
Davis says making these fragrant candles – as well as dolls, barrettes and layered cookie mix in jars – is a fun, productive hobby.
Items like this don’t exactly scream “farmers market,” but that’s part of their appeal. Dozens of vendors set up their tables to prepare for the day’s buyers, and each tent offers something different.
One vendor, Virginia Mathis, brings her homemade sugared pecans, old-fashioned teacakes, sweet potato pies, ginger snaps and gingerbread cookies.
“Sometimes, they’re sold out by 10:30,” Mathis says.
Many of Mathis’ baked goods are made without sugar. Her diabetic customers asked her to bake something for them, and she was happy to oblige.
Like Mathis’ pies, LeBleu’s watermelons are a sweet summertime treat almost anyone can enjoy.
Besides the benefits of buying natural products and supporting local folks, the farmers market offers another obvious plus: flavor. LeBleu’s melons, cucumbers, cauliflower and broccoli have what he calls a “completely different” taste in comparison to the produce at local grocery stores.
“It’s hard to explain,” he says with a smile. “You just have to eat it to see it.”
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