This Week at the Smart Markets Lorton Farmers' Market

Melons are big and bountiful this week. The cantaloupes at Ignacio’s stand are really sweet, and the watermelon has so much more flavor than those grocery-store varieties that are selected because they can stand the international travel from as far away as South America.

Ask Chester Hess about the freestone peaches. They are not quite so flavorful as the clings, but they are much easier to cut up for cereal, desserts and smoothies.

Here is a little information from the Eating Well website for you, some of which is surprising and good to know:

Watermelon averages 40% more of the cancer-fighter lycopene per serving than tomatoes. Lycopene in watermelon is easily absorbed without cooking, unlike that in tomatoes, and is relatively stable when the fruit is stored and refrigerated. A 1-cup serving of watermelon also provides 10% of the daily value for vitamin A, 12% of the daily value for vitamin C, along with vitamin B6, beta carotene, thiamin and potassium—all for just 46 calories.

Special Events

Please let us know if you would like more of our demos. We have scheduled nutritionist Patty Repko again for August 23, and chef Annie Sidley will be back July 19.

This Week at the Market

Divine Wood Fired Pizza will be with us this week. If you would like to enjoy a pizza at a picnic table in the quad, cold drinks are available in the lobby area of the Workhouse administration building.

From the Market Master

Hats off to our vendors and our shoppers for helping us through the worst weather week in my ten years of managing farmers’ markets. Even when we understand the ravages of several hours in 100-degree temperatures, we feel that we need to keep our markets open for the farmers. They work in the heat whether the markets are open or not. They need to be able to sell what they are picking when they pick it, or it returns as waste or compost back to the fields that produced it. We also need to be there for our regular shoppers who, with or without power, turned out last week and bought what they could eat quickly or safely store at home.

I an particularly grateful for those vendors other than the farmers who came out to support their farming friends and to be there for the shoppers. They knew full well that they were not going to make nearly the money they normally do and also knew that they were going to be pretty miserable in unsheltered parking lots with only Mother Nature’s breeze (and as much water as they could drink) to provide relief. I also want to thank our market managers for service beyond the call of duty and for their wise and cautious management, shutting down markets early when necessary to get our vendors home in good time and good health and ready to return the next day.

It looks as if we will enjoy much more normal summer weather at our markets for the next couple of weeks, and we do have some special events and demos planned, so check our website’s event calendar for Annie’s next visits, music at the market, or a demo by our latest in-house expert, Patricia Repko. Patty will be “touring” our markets over the next couple of months to talk about preventive health care based on diet and exercise.

The cheapest health-care plan incorporates how you eat and how you live. If all you are doing is comparing prices every now and then, it may appear to be more expensive to shop at a farmers’ market. But if buying fresh and local is taken as a seasonal challenge, you will naturally take in more nutrients that can actually prevent disease and discomfort at a lower year-round cost than grocery-store shopping can provide.

We also hope to have a few other demonstrations (such as an olive oil tasting) for you throughout all of our markets. You can stay updated by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, checking our website, and subscribing to our newsletter through our website.

Thank your farmer when you see him or her next. They did not come out last week just to sell but to keep their commitment to you. On the weekend of June 30, we were open when no one else was, and they did it without air conditioning. It was amazing to show up at the Springfield market on the 30th, not having been able to contact any of the vendors, and see all but two come rolling in from a three-state area. The only two who did not make it were home bakers from Springfield who had lost power just as they were planning to bake for you on Friday night. That’s the one downside to offering the freshest of everything — no power the night before means no product for the market.

This Week at the Smart Markets Lorton Farmers' Market 

Thursday 3:30–7 p.m. 
Workhouse Arts Center 
9601 Ox Rd. 
Lorton, VA 22079 
Map

See you at the market!