The Real Costs

This Week at our Oakton Market
Saturday 10 a.m.–2 p.m. 
2854 Hunter Mill Road

Uncle Fred is back! So stop by to pick up whatever you need for that weekend BBQ or the season’s first picnic — or even a graduation party on home turf. Uncle Fred brings great sides too, and he’s even talking about mac ‘n’ cheese baked in his oven!

Look for sweet cherries and strawberries at Tyson Farms and for almost everything you need to make the vegetarian chili recipe at Montoya’s Produce and Heritage Farm. Sweet corn and tomatoes will be here soon! Check out Angelic Beef, Il Bastone and Lothar’s for great choices for the grill this weekend, and we will have new recipes for some great side dishes for your picnic or party.

From the Founder

Thanks for all of the great comments we have received in the early life of this blog. We appreciate all of them, and I try to make sure that the vendors know how you feel, too. Most of them are not going to be checking Patch for feedback, I am afraid — many of the farmers don’t even have computers, and a few don’t have cellphones either, probably because they don’t have service in the fields.

Farmers markets get a bum rap for being more expensive than grocery stores, especially in this area where some markets with organically grown boutique produce skew the prices higher across the board. But at most of the Northern Virginia markets, you are going to find a good selection of produce grown in a variety of ways that compares favorably in cost with what you can purchase at Whole Foods, Harris Teeter or Wegmans. Obviously Giant, Safeway and Food Lion are always going to have some produce at any time of the year that is cheaper than at those other stores, but little of that produce will ever be grown much any closer than New Jersey or Georgia, and you will never know for sure how it was grown, either.

I was at Whole Foods this morning and noticed the cherries that had just come in from California. They were on sale for $4.99 per pound, and at Safeway, they were $7.99 per pound! I can guarantee that once we reach the height of the season in about a week or two, you will be able to find them at any market in this area for less than at Safeway and maybe even for less than at Whole Foods. And you will also be able to buy white cherries and sour cherries for the same price!

The beauty of buying local really is the buying seasonal part of it. If you can learn to eat what is local and in season, you can get the best of everything — flavor, freshness, nutrition and price, and you can ask your farmer how the produce was grown and decide what is most important to you in that area, too. So do some price comparisons yourself this summer and see how your local farmers compare. I bet you they come out smelling like peaches!