Sunday, October 8, 2017

From The Farm to The People: Clinton Bailey Farmers Market

$7.00 Hardy Mum sold by Jane and Produce and Garden Center
          On Saturday October 7, 2017, I went to the Clinton Bailey Farmers Market with my roommate and two other friends. When we entered the farmers market, we were greeted with a variety of colors. All the vegetables, fruits, flowers, and pumpkins were shining vibrantly in contrast to the dull grey sky, the aftermath of the rain shower this morning. The Hardy Mum flowers, yes they are actually called Hardy Mum,  stood out to me the most. They were being sold by Jane and Produce and Garden Center for $7.00 or 3 for $20.00.

JANE AND PRODUCE AND GARDEN CENTER
Vividly Red tomatoes and other produce  from Jane and Produce and Garden Center
          The first vendor I visited was Sarah from Jane and Produce and Garden Center. Jane and Produce and Garden Center is a local business which currently doesn't have any involvement with the local restaurants.  At Jane and Produce and Garden Center, all the produce and fruits are bought from local farmers through out Erie County and Eric County. Sarah's parents have been participating in farmers markets since 1980 and she's been helping them out since she was a kid. To Sarah, the best and worst parts of her job at the farmers market is woking with her family. Monday through Friday, Sarah is a regular worker at Key Bank but on Saturdays she come out to help with the farmers market. In the future, Sarah hopes for Jane Produce and Garden Center to expand and with that said, one word that she lives by in this business is "family".

JANE AND PRODUCE AND GARDEN CENTER PT.2 

          The second vendor I visited was Debby from Jane and Produce and Garden Center as well. There isn't much to say due to the fact that everything was already explained previously. Debby is a really nice lady and I loved her stall. Almost as much as I loved the next vendor that I visited. She has been working in the farmers market for about 14 years now, and I could tell that she enjoys what she does. Some of my favorite items from her stall include the white pumpkins and the huge red apples. I was honestly amazed when I saw them because I've never seen white pumpkins before and Ive never seen apple as large as the ones there.
Doughlicious Small Batch Bakery
          The third vendor I visited was Kelly Gates from Doughlicious Small Batch Bakery. A fun fact about Kelly is that she graduated from UB this past May with a degree in business management. Doughlicious Small Batch Bakery is fairly new to the farmers market scene, Kelly has been participating for little over a month now. Despite being new to the whole process, I can tell how dedicated she is to put in work for this business to grow. Whilst having a job and working full time, at 5pm when she comes home she immediately starts to bake in preparation for the farmers market that will take place the next day. Kelly uses all natural ingredients that are available at the local stores (Wegmans, Tops Friendly Markets, etc) to make her products.  She is working very hard towards the success of her business and her future goals for Doughlicious Small Batch Bakery is to expand out to other farmers markets in the area. My friends and I bought her cookies to try them and it was amazing. We bought the chocolate chip cookies and it was worth every dollar we spent on it. It was just a chocolate chip cookie, but for some reason hearing her story and how much effort she put into baking made it taste even better.

OTHER VENDORS

Pleasant Valley Green House
    -Grows and sells flowers at the Clinton Bailey Farmers Market
    -Ran by Dan Evans
    -He has been involved with farmers markets with produce his whole life due to his parents but switched over to flower growing and selling in the last 32 years.
    -Dan's favorite part of his job is getting to meet people at the farmers markets and his least favorite part is the office work.
    -When asked about overcoming difficulties in his business, he shared that during the times they don't make as much as they projected, they will try to spend less but there are also some times when they would have to go to the bank and borrow money.










MORE PICTURES




This is my favorite picture
Jane and Produce and Garden Center
Jane and Produce and Garden Center

No comments:

Post a Comment