Palm Beach Gardens Green Market, FL: Farmers

Finding a real farmer at a Florida open air market can be hard.

All too often, the booths that most look like farmers ones are actually run by resellers who sell produce sourced from around the country or world. Just looking at the boxes under the counter can tell where the produce is actually from.

In Palm Beach County, one of the more impressive markets for farmers presence is the Palm Beach Gardens Green Market, held on Sundays from 8 am to 1 pm.

This year, the number of booths has doubled from last year putting a bit of a strain on parking locations. I landed up parked so far away, I felt I deserved a pastry reward when I finally walked back to the market.


Kai Kai Farm, Indiantown

Diane Cordeau, Owner, Kai Kai Farm

Diane Cordeau, the farmer of Kai Kai Farm said, "I grow organically without being certified and we are proud to be pesticide free farm. I use a lot of companion plantings and beneficial insects to do the work."

Her farm is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, meaning people can buy shares in next season's crop and then get the fresh vegetables. Kai Kia has been attending the Palm Beach Gardens Green Market for two years.

They sell salad greens, herbs,vegetables, and strwberries when in season. "My strawberries grow big and juicy," Cordeau said. I bought some spicy salad mix ($3), a head of romaine and a head of Bibb lettuce (both $3).


D and D Farms, Palm City, NOW CLOSED

Marcus Quirino, Produce Manager, D and D Farms

They also use organic growing methods on their farm. They are a CSA, u-pick, and produce market farm and have been at the Palm Beach Gardens market for three years. They sell regular and specialty vegetables like low-acid chocolate heirloom tomatoes, sweet yellow tomatoes, and white beets.

This past weekend D and D Farms, had a sign up for a free on-farm event titled A Day At A Farm with chef Greg Williamson, for Dec 11th starting at 11 am. I asked Marcus Quirino, produce manager, if this was a new event for the farm. He said, "no, we've had these events every second Sunday of the month for some time." He added that Wednesdays are special too. They are marked Senior Citizens U-Pick Days, where a tram picks them up and takes them to and from the fields, so they don't have to walk as far.

I bought some of their farm-grown vegetables: golden zucchini ($0.70/lb), white beets ($1.50/lb), red heirloom tomatoes ($2.99/lb), and chocolate heirloom tomatoes ($1.75/lb).

My Locally Sourced Dish: Florida Style

I don't just write about sourcing locally for meals, I eat that way too. Here is the first of many locally sourced meal examples I plan to include in my blog.

Florida sourced chicken dish, Copyright 2011 by Helen A Lockey

Includes:
Slow-cooked, free-range, pastured-raised chicken from Cowart Ranch, Sumterville, purchased from Florida Fresh Meat Company at Tequesta Green Market.

Steamed swiss chard from Terra Verde Farms (certified organic), Ft. Pierce, purchased at Tequesta Green Market.

Steamed mustard greens from Seed To Bloom LLC, West Palm Beach, purchased at Wellington Green Market.

Boiled Jackfruit seeds extracted from a jackfruit I bought back in October from Seasons Farm Fresh, Homestead, purchased at South Miami Farmers Market.

I washed it all down with a glass of avocado wine (made with Homestead avocados) purchased from Schnebly Redland's Winery and Brewery in Homestead, Florida.


Updated April 2016

The Fruitful Field Community Garden Transforms Lives in Pompano, Fla.

The birds chirp, the sun blazes, and I weed a garden plot at the Fruitful Field Community Garden in Pompano, Florida. There is the constant chatter of a four year old boy, Ryan, by my side. He's here with his Dad, Glenn Monroe, to give them a chance to bond, and to give his Mom a Saturday morning break. They come to the garden every weekend. I'm here just for the day.

Kevin "Flavio" Sloat and Glenn Monroe

Monroe is a hardware engineer for Blackberry. He likes to build things with his hands and is helping design an irrigation system for the garden. He says drip irrigation is exempt from water restriction laws. So, its the best system to put into the garden. There is also an 1100 gallon cistern system linked up and collecting rain water from the roof Parkway United Methodist Church.

Dee and Sonmia Everette

This garden has transformed families, like Dee Everette and her daughter Sonmia, who share a plot with another family. Before the garden, Everette and her husband, a chef, struggled to get their daughter to eat vegetables. Now, Sonmia eats all her vegetables. "I really feel it has connected my daughter with growing and eating vegetables," Everette says. This year they will be growing broccoli, peas, carrots and lettuce. “After we come here we just feel better. It’s kind of like a spa in a way,” Everette adds.

Food Forest's banana plants

The garden also helps homeless families by setting aside land for food pantry growing. "We like the idea of getting fresh fruits and vegetables into their diet," says Kevin “Flavio” Sloat, Executive Director and Founding Member of the Fruitful Field. He says many homeless children never get access to fresh fruit. The food forest, based on permaculture techniques, helps with this. "We have over 60 tropical fruit trees growing year round in our food forest," Flavio says.