Tag Archives: crops

Farm Hoop Houses providing early Local Farm Produce

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Rocky Glade farm grown strawberries

We saw them too – red, plump and juicy and flying out of the market as fast as cars zooming around a racetrack. The very first local farm strawberries of the spring were at the FFM this past Saturday and some of you could not wait to get your hands on them.  We can’t really blame you. Those beautiful strawberries were grown on Rocky Glade Farm and are a couple of weeks earlier than expected. But remember how we told you that farmers are pretty resourceful, using hoop houses and row covers to protect their crops from bad weather? That’s exactly what they did on Rocky Glade Farm. The Vaughn family raises a lot of good vegetables in the fields. But they also have two large hoop houses, which help to protect early spring crops from those last-minute blasts from winter. It all adds up to delivering delicious local farm produce like those early strawberries. We’re betting you’ll see more of them next Saturday.

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Pilgrims Produce  radishes

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Sweet green onions from Pilgrims Produce

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Beaverdam Creek fresh lettuces and radishes

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Farm fresh spinach, carrots, lettuces and radishes from Paradise Produce

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Just picked romain lettuce from Norton Family Farm

It was one of those everything old is new again days at the FFM this past Saturday. Think about it for a minute. Sometimes it seems like winter drags on forever, with no bright flowers to see and no warm weather fresh veggies to enjoy. So when all the local farm produce of spring finally show back up again, it’s like we’re seeing them for the first time. That’s what it was like at the farmers market. There were new spring veggies to enjoy, like fresh green onions for the perfect salad.

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Lettuces from Pilgrims Produce

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Green Onions from Kirkview Farm

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Celery from Rocky Glade

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Delvin Farms fresh lettuces

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Carrots from Norton Family Farm

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Fresh lettuce mix from Norton Family Farm

Early starter plants, such as squash, tomatoes and cucumbers were going home to be planted by backyard gardeners.

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Vegetable Starter Plants from Paradise Produce

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Blackberry plants from Delvin Farm

Plus all the flowers… beautiful, bright flowers were found all over the market. Spring makes everything new again.

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Beautiful Flowers from Blooming Baskets

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FFM customers heading home with new starter plants for their garden

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Volunteer Day April 26th

Have you ever wondered how the FFM comes together every Saturday, year-round? Sometimes to us, it seems like magic. But it is really the work of our volunteers who play an important role in making the Franklin Farmers Market the best market in Tennessee for local farm produce. We’re always looking for great volunteers.

Next Saturday is FFM’s Volunteer Day. It’s your chance to join the market team and help out in a variety of different ways. If you believe in local food, sustainability and the goodness of Tennessee farms, we’d love for you to be part of our team.

Look for the special farmers market Volunteer booth next Saturday at the front of the market and join the FFM team!

 

Beautiful Spring Day visits Farmers Market

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Vegetable plant starts from Paradise Produce

Allegedly, there is no “perfect” day. But this past Saturday came pretty close to being one a perfect farmers market day. It was a sunny, warm t-shirts and shorts kind of day and there was plenty of good food all around the market. One of the things that make the Franklin Farmers Market a good place to go on any day in the spring is to see what’s new – what’s growing on the farms, what springtime veggies are ready to enjoy. The bright colors of flowers were popping up all over the market, with bedding plants for people to take home and increase that curb appeal. There were the veggie “starter” plants grown by the farmers for those of you that like to do a little back yard gardening. It was a good weekend to grill out too and many of you were getting the best in beef, chicken and pork from our farmers to enjoy. Lots of smiling faces all around as everyone just got outside and enjoyed the day!

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Herbs and Veggie starters from Earth Advocate Research Farm

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Ferns and other hanging baskets from Purple Tree Farm

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Home baked cookies from Dozen

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Fresh Farm Eggs have brilliant yellow yolks and more flavor

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Yum, an Elle’s Donut Fan

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Custom made miniatures by Phillip

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Hand made soaps from Totty’s Bend Goat Farm

Of course, some of you were kind of pushing the season on Saturday, expecting to find such goodies as corn and tomatoes at the market. After all, you’ve see corn showing up in the produce section of the grocery. We’re anxious for corn, tomatoes and other summer goodies to be ripe too, but it’s not the time of the year to find those veggies at the market.

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Fresh picked lettuce mix from Norton Family Farm

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Fresh green onions from Pilgrims Produce

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Beaverdam Creek Farm CSA, sign up today for your farm CSA!

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Newly grown veggies from Kirkview Farm

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Sweet carrots and lettuces from Norton Family Farm

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Hand crafted knives by Antler

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Custom made barn wood signs from Tom the Furniture Guy

And while the weather plays a big role in when crops are ready to harvest, you can get a good idea of when your favorite fresh food will be at the market by stopping at the FFM’s Info Booth at the front of the market and getting what we call the “cheat sheet”. It’s a handy little chart that gives you an idea of when the peak season is for summer produce in Tennessee.

All in all, it was a great Saturday at the market. Lots of smiling faces all around as everyone just got outside and enjoyed day! See for yourself with a visit to our market photo gallery.

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It was all smiles on Saturday with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine as this young Franklin family stops for a quick picture

Heavy Rain visits the Farmers Market and Farms across Middle Tennessee

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Rain can’t keep away CSA customers

Rain, rain go away, come again some other day. We need rain to help the crops grow. However, what fell last week was a little more than we wanted. But it didn’t stop the farmers from getting out there and picking the best in fresh,Tennessee produce. And it didn’t stop the Franklin Farmers Market or our loyal customers either. Thanks to everyone who visited the market this past Saturday.

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The market information booth was rain prepared

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Families seemed to enjoy the rainy day

Despite the downpour, quite a crowd came out to get delicious veggies, such as carrots, cabbage and okra. More ripe and juicy tomatoes were at the market too, plus some unripe ones that were perfect for fried green tomato sandwiches.

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Okra now in supply

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Jones Mill Farm Heirloom tomatoes

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Beaverdam Creek Farm and their CSA baskets

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Blue Honey Farms Blueberries

Blackberries and blueberries were snatched up, along with yummy sweet peaches. And the first ears of corn were spotted at the market too. By the way, all of you corn lovers, take note: Rumor has it that the King family farm will have delicious Silver Queen corn this upcoming Saturday.

Fresh Blackberries from Kirkview Farm

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1st Corn of 2013

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Fresh Eggs from our youngest Farmer

And welcome to a new farmer at the Franklin Farmers Market. The fresh eggs that Zach Whitler brought to market went fast this past Saturday. And even though he’s only 11 years old, Zach already has quite the brood of chickens, such as Silkies, Leghorns and Ameraucanas, producing multi-colored eggs that are almost too pretty to eat. If you missed out on Zach’s eggs, don’t worry. He’ll be back at the market this Saturday, along with the sunshine we’ve been missing!

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Jones Mill Farm Onions and Heirloom tomatoes

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Norton Family Farm cherry tomatoes

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This market visitor is so happy she found just what she was looking for!