Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Dine

To ensure freshness, pick it yourself

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published October 12, 2006

	To market, to market, alfresco Local farmers markets are taking shopping to the street, offering a vast array of wares to buy, though a fat pig probably isn’t yet one of them.

To harvest the freshest produce, leave city markets and go where the farmers are.

Farmland is only an hour away, maybe less. Load a cooler or three in the trunk, put St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Tampa in your rear view, and get out the road map.

To the north, east or south of any place in the Tampa Bay area, take your U-pick: persimmons in Dover, pumpkins in Bradenton, Southern peas and beans in Brooksville. You might find squash, lettuces and okra too.

Some are organic or grown with low-spray pesticides; some grow hydroponically, suspended so you can pick without bending or kneeling. You can also buy produce pre-picked, no work at all.

Selection varies by the season, which seem upside down to newcomers.

Florida's first fall and winter crops are just starting. Strawberries, tomatoes and citrus start next month; blueberries in early spring; the biggest tomato crop in May.

To keep track, watch classified ads in local papers for surplus crops or check with farms that do all-season U-pick. The state's agriculture department also posts a list of farms on its Web site, florida-agriculture.com/consumers.htm.

Choose one and get an early start. You might come across other open fields and roadside stands along the way.

Here's a list of some of what's available now. More farms and more crops will open next month.

FARMS

Beasley Farm, 10137 Preston Road, Brooksville, (352) 799-6752. Local picked and shelled Southern peas (black-eyed, zipper and conch) and other vegetables for sale in produce barn.

Hunsader Farms, 5500 County Road 675, Bradenton, (941) 331-1212, www.hunsaderfarms.com. U-pick peas and beans, already picked melons, corn and winter squash; feed store and picnic grounds; pumpkin festival last two weekends in October.

Hydro Harvest, 1101 Shell Point Road E, Ruskin, (941) 915-7208. Hydroponic vegetables for U-pick.

Lee Vineyards, 10251 McIntosh Road, Dover, (813) 335-1865. Persimmons and starfruit for U-pick.

Parke Hydro, 3715 Tanner Road, Dover, (813) 927-4049. Hydroponic vegetables for U-pick.

Wheeler Farms, 14801 Balm Road, Balm (southern Hillsborough County), (813) 634-1868. Zipper, conch and black-eyed peas for U-pick.

MARKETS

Country Village Flea Market, 3301 Paul Buchman Highway (intersection of State Road 39 N and Sam Allen Road), Plant City, (813) 752-4670. Wholesale produce market open to the public daily; flea market on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

 Southwestern Produce Warehouse, 1510 Sydney Road, Plant City, (813) 757-0096, southwesternproduce.com. Market fresh vegetables and fruit, peeled, hulled and flash frozen in 5-pound bags. Open one weekend a month; next sale is 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 20-21.

[Last modified October 11, 2006, 16:22:24]