The ’09 season in a bushel basket

Farmers”™ markets took the weather in stride this year, despite dreary days and downright downpours.
Apples look good; onions and tomatoes less so. Such are the vagaries of 20-plus inches of rain with little sunshine in between.

For Vivian Graziano of Madura Farms, growing mushrooms in a controlled environment didn”™t hurt production, “but some of our vegetable crop suffered; we all did, but the onion farmers were really hit hard this year.”

Graziano and several other regular vendors at the village of Goshen”™s farmer”™s market like its location and hours, so it draws from around the tri-state area.

“Most markets close at 3 p.m.,” said Haley Gott, who works full time for Panzarella”™s in South Hackensack, N.J. That stand, which sells fresh mozzarella, crab cakes and other delectables, also likes the markets in Kingston, New Paltz and Hastings-on-Hudson, saying she journeys where the customer base is strong.

 

The crowd at S&SO Produce in Goshen picked over lettuce ”“ another vegetable hard hit by the unceasing rain ”“ sizing up zucchini, peppers and potatoes;  there were tomatoes, but not as many as marketers have come to enjoy in past seasons. Between the rain and tomato blight, the crop was hit hard this year. Despite the bad weather, prices, for the most part, stayed on par with 2008”™s.

 

Kasha Bialas of Bialas”™ Farm said, “The season was horrible. We lost a lot of crops and some were wiped out completely.” She had a variety of root vegetables and recipes to go with them for the inexperienced. “We”™re making the best of a bad year,” said Bialas. “Luckily, good weather is predicted all of Labor Day weekend. I hope it sticks, because we draw more customers when the sun is shining, and many of the local venues are counting on the weather to cooperate so the entire summer won”™t be a wash for them.”

Cold Springs”™ Lynn Miller was busy selling homemade Go-Go Pops, “all natural fruits and made with all local fruit,” she exclaimed proudly. “We particularly like the Goshen market; it”™s a great location and draws from all over the county. I think the later hours also help people who usually can”™t get out of work till closer to 5.”

Glenn Miller, who works for Pennings Orchards in Warwick, said the wet weather did not affect the fruit crop. “We had a great season, and apples are ready. We were protected in the Warwick Valley, but the onion farmers got hit hard.”

Miller wasn”™t exaggerating.

Chris Pawelski”™s onion farm in Pine Island, “was devastated. I spoke to the county Legislature to ask the state for disaster aid. We had more than 20 inches of rain with no drying days in between. As far as scope and size, I”™ve never seen the damage so extensive in the Black Dirt area. The dirt is dead.”