Evie Wittrock, 3, of Lansing, looks at the plants for sale at the Green Eagle Farms booth at the Allen Street Farmers Market, 1619 E. Kalamazoo St. in Lansing on Wednesday. Wittrock and her father visit the weekly market about once a month.
For local farmers, a failing economy, lack of rain in the area and even Tuesday night’s frosty temperatures are not enough to dampen their spirits about the Allen Street Farmers Market’s fifth season.
The market opened last Wednesday and runs from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Wednesday until Oct. 29 at the Allen Neighborhood Center, 1619 E. Kalamazoo St. in Lansing.
Joan Nelson, director of the center, said 517 people attended the market’s opening day last week and up to 600 people are expected to attend the market each day it’s open for the rest of the summer.
The market hasn’t changed much from last year, other than the addition of more vendors, but Nelson said the poor economy could even help the market.
“I think people like the market because it’s direct, farmer to customer,” she said. “It’s high quality for cheaper and no middle man.”
She said the market is lively, and isn’t just for farmers — it also has live music and a craft table.
“The goal of the market is to create an easy accessible and affordability to local grown produce for the east side residents,” Nelson said.
Jane Bush, a vendor from Apple Schram Organic Orchard in Charlotte, said she has sold products like her applesauce, maple syrup, dried cherries, apple butter and eggs since the market opened.
“It’s very well run, very supportive and very community oriented,” she said. “It’s just a fabulous market, I can’t say enough good things.”
She said MSU faculty and graduate students have been among her past customers.
The orchard has been certified organic since 1992, Bush said.
“I bought my farm about 20 years ago from my aunt and uncle,” she said. “That is why it is named Schram Farm, it’s my mom’s maiden name.”
Christine Throop, a vendor from Wildflower Organic Farm in Bath, said she and her husband have had their farm since 2000, and have been coming to the market since it started.
Throop said everything they sell at the market is self produced, ecologically grown, chemical free and sold locally only.
The farm grows some vegetables and fruit, but specializes in heirloom tomatoes, she said.
For this growing season, Throop said the crops haven’t received enough rain, and a frost Tuesday night caused them to lose some potato plants.
“Production is slower this year, but we’re still on top of it,” she said.
As for the current economy, Throop said she doesn’t think the market has been affected negatively.
“When the economy worsens, that is sometimes when people start coming out and supporting their local businesses,” she said.
Throop said once people taste the fresh produce produced locally, they don’t want to go back to the big stores.
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“It’s one of the most thriving markets in the area,” she said. “It’s a social day, as well as a business day.”
