Family Farm Market

By Curtis Robert Tyree
June 6, 2011
264

Summary: The Tuscarawas Valley Family Farm Market kicked off its third year on Wednesday June 1 at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds in Dover. Article: Getting back to the old days of shopping, farmers markets are becoming increasingly popular. It also offers a way for shoppers to meet the person growing their food, be it produce or meat. Markets have also become a popular way for people to shop in an environmentally friendly way, purchasing what they need from local growers, making sure that their food isnt being shipped from across the country, or even further. Being a county in which there are many local growers of produce and meat, Tuscarawas county has many farmers markets from which to choose from, but one of the fastest growing ones has been the Tuscarawas Valley Family Farm Market, currently being held each Wednesday at the county fairgrounds. This is our third year for the market, and it continues to grow in popularity and in size, said Valerie Yoder of the Tuscarawas County Family Farm Market. We had a steady stream of people for our opening day, there really wasnt a large rush, just a continuous flow. This year we had a couple of new vendors joins us, one of which sold handmade wood toys, which just helped to expand what we had to offer. We had vendors selling nearly everything someone could need; from locally grown fruits and vegetables, eggs, meats, including pork, chicken, beef and lamb and baked goods. Continuing this year is our Market Grill, which made fresh food to sell using items from our vendors. We also added a new wood-fired oven for fresh pizzas that could be bought and taken home. The market represented a rare one-stop place, where you could buy fresh produce and meat to take home and cook, or buy already prepared food that was hot and fresh to take home. This coupled with items such as soap, wool products and now toys, made it easy for visitors to purchase local products and help local families and their businesses, all of the vendors came from within a 50-mile radius of the county. One of the family businesses at the market on June 1 was Fox Family Farm from Navarre that provided organic products for customers, ranging from fruits, baked goods, flowers, herbs, free-range chicken eggs and preserves. This was our second year taking part in the Tuscarawas Family Farm Market, said Renae Fox of Fox Family Farm. We really enjoyed coming back, the staff has been really great to work with and the people who came were great; even though it was only the first day I recognized many people who shopped here last year and were regular customers. I came with my son, who is now 15. Hes been working in the fields with us since he was a small, little guy. It was great to see families here today. Our commitment to local families hasnt changed, said Yoder. We had Healthy Tusc on site to give health screenings and help with WIC issues. One of our biggest successes has been our work with the SNAP program with the Ohio Directions Card, we have had many people take advantage of this here, which is great because they families can know that theyre getting quality, healthy items and help other local families. We also have many programs for families and children during the season, again getting everyone involved. The Tuscarawas County Farm Market is the epitome of Buy Local, Eat Fresh. We are a community, supporting a community, which means that were all helping each other purchasing local products and helping our local businesses and families.

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