I’m writing about a big weekly summer event. Clue Number One: It happens every Thursday (nearly half who read this and live here have already guessed with that clue alone). Clue Number Two: it happens on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre. Everyone else just guessed. It’s the Farmer’s Market! Opening day is usually during the first week of the summer and closing is sometime after the fall harvest. There is no grocery store offering the fare that you will find from our local farmers.
This year’s Farmers’ Market will feature goods from the following farmers: Harold Golomb, Brace’s Orchard, Albert Broyan, Robert Ciravolo, Norman Darling and Sons, Dymond’s Farm and Farm Markets; Dunn’s Fruit Farm, Lori Yost Cotrone, Kessler’s, Larry O’Malia, Martin J. O’Malia, Art Ryman, Wendy Seymour, Tom Strzelecki and Covered Wagon, Zimmerman Farms and Lent’s Organics. This isn’t industrial agriculture, either. Practically every farm in Luzerne County is owned by a family or an individual (91%).

Once a week, my lunch hour (and my grocery budget) is spent “on the square”. Nothing beats the taste of these fruits and vegetables. If you don’t believe me, try this test: Buy a tomato, any tomato, at Wal-Mart. Slice it and eat it on white bread with mayonnaise. Then, buy a tomato at the Farmer’s Market. Make yourself the same tomato sandwich (or “sam-ich” if you’re from Nanticoke). No comparison. Night and day. I could eat three fresh tomato sandwiches-with cheese- at a single sitting. Our tomatoes should be about ready for picking sometime in July.

The good corn comes out a little later in the season. I have to believe that every resident of Northeastern Pennsylvania links a summer memory with corn on the cob. I love it! I don’t even mind if I get the thick yellow corn that gets stuck in your teeth! That’s why God made dental floss. I like shucking it outside and wrapping the shuckings in newspaper, pulling as much of the silk off as possible. While cooking, add some sugar to the boiling water if you want your corn sweeter. I don’t even use corn holders when I eat it; I just roll it in a half-stick of butter on a plate and sprinkle with salt. I could be a vegetarian if this stuff was available all year long.

The Farmer’s Market is not completely about the fruits and vegetables. There are plenty of flowers available to purchase. All throughout, craft vendors display unusual and custom products. There are food vendors available for the lunch crowd. Every week, a different type of entertainment is on-hand to provide for a festive atmosphere. It’s a great thing for downtown Wilkes-Barre.

You don’t have to wait for the farmer’s market, though. On the website www.visitpa.com, 43 farms/orchards are listed. It’s totally worth it to take a visit to one. Many of these will even sell their goods from roadside stands. It’s another part of living here that I just love. From the summer throughout autumn, these stands pop up here and there. Nearly every commuter passes one stand or another. In the fall, I only purchase my pumpkins and apple cider directly from these stands. Like I said before, it’s just not the same at Wal-Mart (no offense, Mr. Walton).

Some of the working farms open themselves to the public and offer tours. Two that are most worthy: Quiet Valley Living Historical Farms (http://www.quietvalley.org) and the Lands at Hillside Farms (http://www.thelandsathillsidefarms.org/contact/contact.php). If you are looking for a nice way to spend the day (or if you are charged with arranging a group tour), these are two perfect choices for any age group. Both farms both provide education and history about maintaining a life that is consistent with the harmony of nature.

Northeastern Pennsylvania is a beautiful area punctuated by much greenery in the summer months. Luzerne County alone comprises 570,000 acres of land; crops and farmland account for 83,000 of those acres. A whopping 375,300 acres is forest land, so we haven’t really gone to development extremes (yet). The numbers are surprising. The farmland is really a hidden treasure, often unsung as a line item in the list of benefits about living here. According to county statistics, there are 376 farms and corn is the primary crop. Of these farms, 50 are dairy. Again, all this information was surprising to me. I didn’t realize there were still so many. Support our farmers while you do yourself a favor: buy some Pennsylvania home-grown produce, eat your vegetables, and sit up straight!