By Meghan Oliver

Sentinel Staff Writer

With the scent of peaches lingering through the balmy July air, the Riverdale Park Farmer's Market began its eighth season of selling locally grown produce to the community last Thursday.

Situated at the parking lot of Riverdale's MARC station off Queensbury Road, farmers throughout Southern Maryland gathered, setting up booths and tents to display their fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, flowers and homemade goods, such as honey, candles and pastries.

As Southern Maryland undergoes more commercial and residential development, farmland is being lost and families who have spent generations in the growing business are at risk of losing their source of income. At grocery chain stores, where apples and cucumbers may look shiny and cute stacked in a pyramid, the produce being sold is likely shipped from areas as far as California and South America. Consumers get food that is less fresh than they would find at a farmer's market, while putting money into the economies of communities thousands of miles away, explained Christine Bergmark, director of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission and Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland.

The commission, currently administering a number of pro-agricultural programs, is promoting So. Maryland, So Good, a "buy local" food campaign. The campaign spotlights farmer's markets, seeks to get locally grown food into area stores and restaurants, and assists tobacco farmers in switching their land to non-tobacco agriculture. She said farmer's markets such as Riverdale Park's stimulate the local economy by supporting farmers within the state, and in turn provide consumers with the freshest food available.

"I think most of us want to hear how we can support local farms, but many don't know how," Bergmark said. The Farmer's Market, she explained, is an easy way for consumers to do just that.

Beyond the low price tags and farm fresh goods, there's something about a farmer's market that cannot be found perusing the aisles of a supermarket.

Mario Bush of Riverdale said he never misses the opportunity to stop by the farmer's market. A chef at his own catering company, Bush said the produce is "much fresher" as many of the items are "picked the day of" the market.

"It's a great place to buy local stuff and the people here are very nice," Bush said. "They look out for each other, and (the market) gives good support to the community."

Jerry Worrell of Ferry Landing Farm and Apiary in Dunkirk stood beaming behind jars of homemade jams and jellies, stacks of brown eggs and beeswax candles – all made at the farm.

When questioned about the benefit in choosing locally grown produce over store-bought, he asked, "Have you ever tasted a really fresh egg?"

Worrell's eggs, which come from cage-free, grain-fed, antibiotic-free hens, "sit up higher in the frying pan," Worrell said.

Jars of golden honey lined his booth, yet he allowed he does not actually make the sweet treat. "I don't make it, the bees do. I just steal it from them."

Having been in farmer's markets for more than 20 years, Worrell said it's important for people to support local growers.

"Do we want to have all of our food imported?" he asked. "A lot of food we get in grocery stores comes from overseas. It's necessary for us to keep our own basic survival needs at home. We are already in trouble with oil – let's not let the same happen with our food."

Across the way, Michael Foley of Green Uprising Farm near Davidson, stood behind a table of basil, parsley, scallions, new potatoes and garlic – all guaranteed fresh without the use of pesticides or chemicals.

Foley began the small acre-and-a-half farm with his daughter Allegra who practiced organic farming in California for more than three years.

Buying locally, Foley said, "doesn't consume enormous amounts of petroleum" as does trucking in produce across the states. With oil prices rising, "we're not going to be able to buy apples from Chile or ship lettuce from Arizona," he said. "This keeps local farming alive."

Bergmark said the average distance produce travels from farm to one's plate is 1,400 miles.

"That's a lot of petroleum," she said.

The Red Chimney Flower Farm of Bowie, represented by Suzanne Montie, sold bunches of Mountain Mint, Calla Lilies, Phlox and Hydrangea at the market.

Montie, whose flower farm is family owned, said the farmer's market is like a step back in time, when people knew who was growing their produce, and where it was coming from.

"It just personalizes the produce more," she said. "It gets people out, and there's good community spirit," she said.

In Salisbury, four cousins banded together to grow nuts – from pecans to cashews – selling their product at farmer's markets.

Marietta Hammel, one of the cousins, manned the Nuts to You booth, selling nuts freshly glazed in a sweet coating of vanilla, sugar and cinnamon that very morning.

"We have a natural product and we sell it fresh," Hammel said. "It's different than selling it in a package in a store. It just tastes better."

In addition to promoting farmer's markets, the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission currently administers the Tobacco Buyout program, in which funds are provided to Maryland tobacco farmers who voluntarily opt to remain in agricultural production forever in lieu of growing tobacco.

"What's next as the region transitions from tobacco is a real need for marketing (local produce) because tobacco sold itself," Bergmark said.

The commission's Agricultural Land Preservation Program, which provides incentive for Southern Maryland tobacco farmers to place their land in agricultural preservation, has preserved more than 1,400 acres since June, 2004, and 5,763 acres over the past three years.

Consumers looking to do their part in supporting farmers within southern Maryland can, beyond attending farmer's markets, look for the So. Maryland, So Good logo at stores and in restaurants. The logo guarantees the produce purchased was grown locally, and that the dollars consumers spend are getting into the pockets of Maryland farmers. Currently, Nick's of Clinton, the Sly Horse Tavern of Crofton and the New Deal Café in Greenbelt sell goods from local farms, said Bergmark.

The Riverdale Park Farmer's Market is every Thursday, from 3-7 p.m. through Nov. 17. Other area farmer's markets include Bowie's at Gallant Fox Lane and MD Route 197, Sundays, 8 a.m.-noon through Oct. 30; College Park's at 5211 Paint Branch Parkway, Saturdays 7 a.m.-noon through Nov. 19; Hyattsville's Queens Chapel Road at Hamilton St., Tuesdays, 2-6 p.m. through Oct. 25; Laurel's at the 300 block of Main St., Thursdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m. through Oct. 27; Prince George's Plaza on Hyattsville's East-West Highway, Tuesdays, 2-6 p.m. through Nov. 23 and USDA-Beltsville at 5601 Sunnyside Ave. at Parking Lot B, Thursdays, 3-7 p.m. through Oct. 13.

Photo by Marketa Ebert