Celebrate Farmers Market Week August 6-12 At Upper Cumberland Markets

It is Farmers Market Week and the Upper Cumberland has many locations to buy the freshest produce available.

White County Farmers Market Coordinator Glenice (sounds like Glenn-iss) Richards said the tomatoes, green beans, peppers, cucumbers, melons, corn, and yellow squash are plentiful. Richards said everything is picked at peak ripeness and you can rely on them to provide the perfect cantaloupe.

“If it’s ripe it will just pop off the stem,” Richards said. “The little net, the netting look on a cantaloupe, underneath that will change from green to a more straw color. We don’t pick them until we get those signs.”

Richards said all the farmers at the Sparta White County Market pick about every other day.  She said if they do not sell their produce, they preserve it to use for their own families. She said no one minds whether your buy your tomatoes from their booth or the adjacent one.

Richards said in contrast your fruits and vegetables at the local grocer may have come across country or even across the ocean. She said that shipping requires crops that get picked prior to ripeness. She said you do not get to talk to the grower about how their product was grown.

“Most of us don’t use chemical pesticides,” Richards said. “We use organic approved pest control.  And you can ask your seller if that’s important to you.”

Roy Phipps is the Parks and Recreation Director over Algood’s Farmers Market.  He said he buys his tomatoes exclusively from the local market. He said the Algood market is set up so that licensed farmers can sell as they harvest and corn is coming soon.

“You’re not only buying good, healthy produce,” Phipps said. “But you’re also supporting your neighbors and your friends who worked hard. And all that stays right here in the community. It’s not going across the country to some giant producer somewhere.”

The Sparta White County Farmers Market is located in the parking lot west of the American Legion Building behind Sparta Grill. The market is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 6 – 11 a.m. or until the farmers sell out. At this time corn is generally available on Saturdays and they sell out fast.

The Algood Farmers Market is located across from City Hall and has no set hours. Farmers notify the public of produce availability through social media.