The WNC Farmer’s Market freaks me out. When I was a small, cute child with two ponytails, I used to accompany my grandma to her farmer’s market to sell things from her farm. I was forced to talk to people and do math, but it was ok cause everyone said I was adorable. The farmers would all back their trucks in and sell things in huge bushel baskets or small gallon buckets, from strawberries and collards to grapes, sweet potatoes and squash. Everything was in season and nothing had a sticker on it. Nobody had a big, fancy, permanent booth.

So when I go to the WNC farmer’s market, it feels fake. There are things for sale from Peru. There is summer squash in April and October. Everybody is there all the time, regardless of what they actually grow on their farm. It makes me wonder if they have farms. I mean, I know they can things and I guess each store feels like a conglomerate of farms. The booths buy from the farmers as well as the various NC Ag ventures, then resell to the public. That’s why every booth has sorghum syrup from Cumberland Cane, and those big bottles of Carolina Bloody Mary juice.

So my problem is, what if I only want to buy in season local veggies? I mean, I know vaguely what’s in season, but I was shocked (shocked!) to see fresh local tomatoes there today. How do I know? I mean, besides talking to people. I know everything I bought today was local, but that was just apples and sweet potatoes. I would’ve bought other things if they’d been labeled. Is there a website that says what’s for sale? You’d think it would be pretty easy, since what’s for sale never seems to change.

I know that the push for small farms has been to make their stuff seem professional. The labels have to be slicker, the tomatoes have to be square, the apples have to be glossy and perfect. That’s how you get big retail to carry your stuff, and that’s the only way to get buyers. But at a farmer’s market, that doesn’t feel right. I want something with the edges knocked off. I wanna know where stuff came from and when it was picked. That’s why I go to a farmer’s market. If I wanted Peru, I’d go to Ingles.

UPDATE: Asheville City Market has a list of in season availability that appears to be updated weekly on Fridays. Now if only I could get my ass downtown before 1 on Saturdays.