MOUNT VERNON — In a year when skyrocketing fuel costs are driving retail prices to new heights, homegrown goods are more competitive than ever.
In the past, some members of the public have been slow to buy local, as the goods were often more expensive than mass-produced produce and baked goods, despite the superior nutritional qualities of fresh foods. But with the oil crisis making even giant retailers raise prices sharply, suddenly local foods are a good buy. At the first session of this year’s farmers market on Public Square, Saturday, a large number of vendors catered to a large crowd of buyers who wiped out many booths before the event ended at noon.
“We have 124 vendors signed up to participate this summer,” said Pam Leonard, “so we don’t even have them all here yet.”
She said that many area farmers were subject to late planting or replanting, thanks to the up and down weather this spring. But many vendors have confirmed participation, and Leonard said the number of vendors may make Mount Vernon’s farmers market the largest in the state. Leonard is the volunteer coordinator of the market, working in conjunction with Troy Cooper of the OSU Knox County Extension Agency.
Andrew Reinert of Crazy Cat Farm in Mount Vernon was selling fresh eggs and artisan breads made with his eggs. He said he has been fighting rising costs in the last year, with the retail price of flour doubling in the last 15 months. He said he’d love to use fresh-ground flour, but he hasn’t been able to find an Ohio source.
He joked that even chicken feed, once synonymous with “cheap,” was now pricey, thanks to the corn in it, which has become a hot commodity because of the ethanol plants coming online in Ohio this year.
Reinert also noted that a new regulation pertaining to eggs was challenging. He said past guidelines required that eggs be kept lower than 45 degrees Fahrenheit for selling at farmers markets. Reinert said new handouts from the Ohio Department of Agriculture now cite a figure of 41 degrees.
“That’s a difficult temperature to maintain with only ice in a cooler,” Reinert said, “and I can’t find a source for dry ice around here.”
Other vendors had a range of goods from nut butters, baked goods, coffee beans and maple syrup to strawberries, lettuce, onions and potted plants. The market will return June 14 from 9 a.m. to noon. It will run every Saturday through October on the Square in Mount Vernon.
