In Charlottesville, April through October (last year, through December), Matt and I had a weekly ritual of waking up early on Saturday and going to the farmers' market. The market was fantastic: it was huge, there was no shortage of organic or sustainable farmers, and there was 100% grassfed beef, forest-raised pork, and all the poultry and eggs you could want. Each week, the farmers' market was an event with wonderful local food vendors and musicians. It was outside in open air and it was a good chance to catch up with friends outside of law school. I wrote about my love for the market in the Virginia Law Weekly here.
I am sorry to say that Baltimore's main farmers' market is not as picturesque as Charlottesville's. The market here is a Leviathan that seems to be more of a commodity for susceptible Baltimorians (did I just make that up?) in search of healthy food options. Unfortunately, I believe that the Baltimore market is a false idol for them. I found one organic produce vendor under the dark overpass where the market takes place. I'm not saying that organic is everything-- surely if you're going to buy nonorganic, buying local is infinitely better than buying from a supermarket. But variety is the spice of life and there seemed to be none of this particular spice at the market.
Similarly, I found no good meat vendors. What do I mean by "good," you may wonder. I'm interested in meat that has been farmed in a sustainable system. That means, any potential waste gets put to good use on the farm through a symbiotic relationship between the animals and the crops. I'm also interested in meat from animals that have been fed the food they are evolutionarily conditioned to eat. Last and least, I'm interested in decent prices. There was a lamb vendor at the market, but I didn't even ask the vendor questions about how he raises the lambs because the prices were over twice that of what I paid in Charlottesville for good lamb.
I also had problems with the other meat products I was in the market for, but I had the biggest problem while looking for beef. I asked a beef vendor what she raised her cattle on, and her immediate answer was “they're pastured.” I found this hard to believe because the beef they were selling was such a light color, and so marbled. I waited for a little while longer, playing the staring game with her, and she finally choked out that “they're pastured, but then we bring them in and feed them our own corn that we grow on the farm.” She tried to continue to tell me why her beef was so excellent (which is not a question I asked), but I told her thanks and I wasn't interested in it. Well, that's when she started to yell at me, insisting that I didn't know what it was I wanted and that I'd better figure it out.
Well, I went back once more after that to give the market another chance. But I decided that I just don't like it. It's under a major highway, so it's dark. The musicians seem to be playing for money, not for fun. There seems to be a good mix of prepared-food vendors, but that's not enough to keep me going back. The only reason I would ever go back is the apple\peach\nectarine\plum\tomato vendor that's located in the overflow area of the market because they have the best peaches I've had in years. And I'm from Georgia.
So, I was in search of a better farmers' market, or at least a farm that we could visit and buy meat from in bulk. As far as produce goes, I'm easy to please so long as it's fresh and local. Organic would be nice, but isn't absolutely necessary. It's meat that I'm most concerned about.
Well, I did some research and I found Ferguson Family Farms to have a pretty great and informative website and a location close enough to drive to once a month or so. But I thought I'd call Lynne Ferguson's cell phone just to see if she would be in the area anytime soon. It turns out this was a great idea and Lynne is very easily accessible on the phone. She's at the Lauraville farmers' market every Tuesday from 5-8pm. So, I went to the market in Lauraville about 3 Tuesdays ago, and that's where I found Lynne, along with Dru Peters of Sunny Side Farms. It's really remarkable to find two farmers that practice sustainable farming at this market because the market probably has about 5 or 6 vendors total. We have been to this market twice in the last 3 weeks, and we are very pleased with the quality of the meat. So far we've bought from Ferguson Family Farm: chip beef (paper-thin sliced porterhouse), porkchops, Italian sausage, bacon, and a whole chicken with innards. From Sunny Side Farm, we've gotten: a whole chicken (no innards, but they are sold separately for cheap), a gigantic bag of chicken feet for $4 (for making stock and gravy). It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but for two people it's enough to last us more than the month. From that, we haven't even used a whole chicken yet, or the chicken feet, or the bacon, or most of the chip beef. We are still going through our leftovers of the first chicken and the porkchops. We ate the sausage while camping this past weekend and it was enormous and delicious. Can't wait to get more.
So, if you've made it this far in the post, I'm glad. If not, the bottom line is that good meat in the Baltimore area can be found at the Lauraville farmers' market sold by Ferguson Family Farm and Sunny Side Farm.
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