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Homegrown flavors found at farmers market

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  • Tara Bozick •
  • Originally published May 24, 2008 at 11:43 p.m., updated May 24, 2008 at 11:43 p.m.

VICTORIA – The secret to delicious cooking? Fresh, homegrown ingredients, residents say.

Sharon Varbrough, a 50-year-old registered nurse, usually grows her own garden, but ran short on time this year. With Memorial Day two days away, she wanted to make sure her recipes would deliver the best flavors. So she went to the Farmers Market in front of the Dr. Pattie Dodson Public Health Center on Saturday.

“A homegrown tomato always tastes better to me than store-bought,” she said.

Market manager Noah Thompson, 77, agreed.

The farmer said store tomatoes are grown for shipping purposes.

“They don’t have the taste a homegrown variety does,” Thompson said.

Thompson arrived at 7 a.m. Saturday to open at 9 a.m. Everything he sold, he dug up from his farm near Thomaston in DeWitt County. His six acres of fruits and vegetables keep him from retiring.

He loves the work, the extra cash and especially tasting fresh cantaloupes, watermelons and peaches. He doesn’t pick them until they’re perfectly ripe.

“Aw, that’s when you get the flavor,” he said.

Thompson estimates 1,500 to 2,000 people come through the market on a busy day. He tries to keep his prices lower than the grocery store, selling yellow squash and tomatoes for $1 a pound.

But the rules for the Farmers Market changed, requiring “some” of the produce sold be homegrown. Thompson noted a couple of the vendors truck in produce from San Antonio.

Varbrough could tell the difference. She said homegrown tomatoes come in a variety of shades and may have spots.

She left the market with bags of squash, cantaloupes and sweet onions. She plans to fry onion rings to go with her charcoal-grilled hamburgers on Memorial Day.

Besides, she knew her money would help poor farmers making a living. She grew up on a farm herself, excited to dig up her own red potatoes in the summer.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.



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