PITTSBORO — When Jason Butler arrived at the opening day of the Chatham Mills Farmers’ Market — his sixth year taking part as a vendor — he didn’t have much to display to sell to potential customers.
That doesn’t mean he came empty-handed.
Butler, who owns Red Roots Farm in Silk Hope, arrived on that sunny, chilly morning two Saturdays ago with a couple of large coolers full of salad mix, spinach, radishes, scallions and lots more already bagged and pre-sold from orders made in advance online — a new wrinkle for farmers’ markets in the age of COVID-19.
“It’s already paid for,” he said, pointing to the coolers on the ground behind his booth on the lawn in front of Chatham Mills just north of Pittsboro. “And it’s packaged and waiting for them. All our customers have to do is step right up and get it — and we don’t have to do transactions. No money changes hands. They just come and pick up their stuff.”
For the dozens of local farmers who take part in Chatham County’s farmers’ markets, the chief obstacle to success typically is weather and its impact on growing and attendance at the markets. But thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, with social distancing now the norm, with all vendors and most customers wearing protective (and mostly hand-made) face masks, and with other tight restrictions in place, the weekly gatherings — including the Tuesday afternoon market in Fearrington Village and the Thursday afternoon event at Main Street Station in Pittsboro — definitely have a different look and feel this year. More vendors, like Red Roots Farm, for example, are allowing customers to purchase goods online (see accompanying story) to minimize physical contact.
One thing, though, hasn’t changed: the up-close — in a manner of speaking — opportunity for customers to purchase an array of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats and other offerings directly from the source.
These three markets, two of which observed their opening days in the last two weeks, operate on a regular schedule: Chatham Mills on Saturdays, Fearrington on Tuesdays and the Pittsboro Farmers’ Market on Thursdays which is open year-round. Many local vendors take part in two or more of the three Chatham markets, as well as markets outside Chatham, including Carrboro and Chapel Hill. And as they work the markets and the buyers in attendance, there’s a common theme at each.
Fresh.
“Well, you know, our big advantage is the number of hands that have touched what we have,” Butler said. “I go out and I harvest this stuff. I wash it, I package it. I’ve got one woman who works with me. Two hands have prepared it and it comes right to the market and it goes right to you. It doesn’t go through a big distribution, like everything at the grocery store. We feel really good about our local food sources here and I think a lot of customers are glad to have us.”
Opening day for Chatham Mills was relatively quiet — just five vendors and a trickle of customers in the first couple of hours, most of them regulars checking out the early-season selection. Market administrator Cheryl McNeil said as the season progresses and more vegetables and meat are ready to come to market, the number of vendors and buyers will grow.
That was the case for James Jacobs of Twelve Oaks Farm in the Asbury area of Chatham County, who was selling for the first time at Chatham Mills.
“I try to focus on making a good quality product,” said Jacobs, who was selling jars of incredibly-tasting dill pickles, stewing in a juice that included apple cider vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and whole black peppercorns. “It’s sort of my whole niche. And even on my business card, you can see it’s an old-school house, which is the house I live in. It’s a colonial-style house; it has that sort of ‘yesteryear’ aspect. It’s sort of going back to a time when everybody would get produce and get all their processed foods from local people. And that’s the reason I sell at farmers’ markets.”
Jacobs, who has a commercial kitchen in his home, says he does most of the growing, all of the processing — including salsas that will soon ready for sale — and most of the distribution by himself.
Chatham Mills’ McNeil said that like Jacobs, many vendors there are farming using sustainable or organic practices.
She touted the beautiful location, the accessibility of Chatham Marketplace and the adjacent Pickle Jar restaurant and — despite being one of the smallest, if not the smallest, Saturday market in the Triangle — the variety: vegetables, meat, eggs, plants and even craft vendors on some Saturdays.
A few days later, at the opening day of the Fearrington Village market, the crowd was decidedly larger — more than two dozen vendors and a steady stream of mask-wearing customers honoring the six-foot social-distancing guidelines while vying to figure out who was selling what, and for how much.
Sheila Stevens of Sanford was among them. She frequents farmers’ markets in Lee County, is a member of the Sandhills Farm to Table program in Moore County and has purchased from Chatham farmers before, but on this Tuesday was making her first in-person trip to Fearrington.
Her foray there was a positive one.
“I was very impressed with the variety of veggies this early in the season,” she said. “And most of the farmers and bakers let you order and pay ahead of time. I really like that.”
Stevens purchased butterhead lettuce and spinach from Ben Shields at In Good Heart Farm of Pittsboro — ordering and paying in advance — and reported later that they were “delicious!”
“The prices were fair, similar to grocery store, but much better products,” she said. “I also bought flowers and plants that are lovely and priced exactly what I thought I should pay, especially since two were brand new colors.”
Another Fearrington vendor, Noah Thompson — who works 40 acres at T-5 Farms with his father Randy in southern Alamance County — was offering beef, pork, strawberries, a variety of sweet potatoes, eggs and lots more.
The family has taken part in the market there for a decade. Thompson called the family’s farmers’ market operation “a small scale-type deal.” Their strawberries are “always a big hit, anywhere we go,” he says. On this Tuesday afternoon, many potential customers come looking for chicken.
“Which we don’t [have] today,” he says. “I’ve heard people having a hard time finding chicken at grocery stores. I’ve had at least five people already ask about chicken. I told them we’ll have plenty of chicken next week. And come summer growing season we’ll have tables full of obtained varieties and produce.”
Across the way, Cathy Jones and Mike Perry of Perry-Winkle Farm in North Chatham were scurrying about filling orders and helping a steady stream of customers. They were present at Fearrington’s very first market back in 1991 and have been there ever since. This opening day, they’re on hand with eggs, arugula, garlic and more.
While many vendors are now marketing online, Perry-Winkle Farm is, in many ways, a throwback. They don’t have a website and their social media presence is scant — “Hey, we’re on Instagram now!” Jones says enthusiastically in between helping customers — and, outside farmers’ markets, their neighbors and regular customers know they can still come to the farm, pick produce from a shelf and leave money behind.
The couple acquired a part of an old dairy farm in the late 1980s and today farm 33 acres, raising “happy chickens” for eggs and plenty of produce, flowers and herbs. They display at farmers’ markets all around the area and — it’s clear from spending any time observing their booth — have their share of fans.
Perry-winkle’s regulars and new customers share a common desire, according to Jones.
“The demand for local food is skyrocketing,” she said.
Still, with the number of COVID-19 cases still growing, she wondered aloud whether their “loyal, loyal customers” would feel safe to come out during a pandemic.
Many have, but there’s definitely a difference this year — something she’s been seeing at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market, where Perry-winkle Farm has a booth each Wednesday and Saturday.
“You know, the shoppers just don’t hang out with us as long as they used to,” she said. “That’s the thing I miss most. I mean, today’s our first time seeing folks for a few months, so I miss being able to hug customers.”
There is no hugging, of course. But fresh food, straight from local farms?
Plenty to go around.