Farmers markets provide options for shopping

Like the taste of homegrown vegetables and fruit but don’t have the time to grow them yourselves? A local farmers market may be for you.

Prices are fairly consistent between different farmers markets. Produce may be sold in baskets of different sizes for anywhere from $2 to $6. But growers do not charge sales tax at a farmers market.

There are three farmers markets operating in Dothan this year through June and July, drawing farmers from around the Wiregrass with their collections squash, cucumbers, zucchini and red potatoes early in the summer season and the promise of tomatoes, okra and watermelons as the weeks roll on.

Houston County Farm Center market
Location: Cottonwood Road at Ross Clark Circle near the farm center’s main parking lot.
Times: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon.

The farmers market at the Houston County Farm Center may be small with six vendors, but it’s the oldest in Dothan. It’s been around some 20 years, and several of the vendors have been selling at the market just as long.

Here you will find the expected variety of produce — fresh carrots, cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers, corn, cantaloupes, watermelon, potatoes and okra. But there’s also blackberries, blueberries and peaches.

And until tomatoes completely ripen in the next week or so, you can get some green tomatoes.

“Last year was one of the best years we’ve ever had, and this year has started out good,” said Elaine Bell of Bell Farms in Dothan.

The Bells have been with the farmers market since it started, and Elaine’s son, Pee Wee Bell, manages the farm center market. Elaine Bell said she thinks customers like the idea of knowing the farmers who grow their produce rather than having it shipped across the country.

“This one has been hauled from (Highway) 231 about six miles down the road and was grown by a church,” she said, pointing to one their many vegetables.

84 West farmers market
Location: Dothan Assembly of God Church on U.S. 84 West next to Bondy’s Nissan.
Times: Thursdays, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The farmers market on U.S. 84 West first opened last year. Many of the vendors from the farm center market carry their produce to the Dothan Assembly of God Church on Thursday afternoons. But this market does attract growers from around the Wiregrass who don’t come out to the farm center.

There’s a vendor selling chicken salad, cheese straws and sour dough rolls and another selling fresh cut flowers. There were blueberry and blackberry vendors as well as someone selling local honey.

Charisse Snell of Snell Farms said the first day of the market, June 4, was busy even though heat and rain threatened. Snell said she thinks people are turning to farmers markets because they are more conscious about what they put in their bodies.

“People are more concerned about their health,” she said. “ ... And I think fresh tastes better.”

There were 11 vendors the opening day of the 84 West market.

Monica Carroll manned a booth for Carrolls produce of Ozark, selling corn and other produce. But the peas and butter beans, which she said are their big sellers, are not quite ready.

“We’re a few weeks away from our good stuff,” she said.

Poplar Head Farmers Market
Location: Dothan Civic Center parking lot near Poplar Head Park; Wiregrass Museum of Art grounds off East Main Street in downtown Dothan. (Museum Avenue closed during market hours).
Times: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon

For years, there has been talk of launching a farmers market in downtown Dothan. Well, someone finally did it.

With 17 growers, the Poplar Head Farmers Market had a successful opening weekend, according to director Julie Bishop. But along with farmers, there are arts and craft vendors selling everything from handmade jewelry to pottery and lotions made from goat milk. There will also be demonstrations and music in Poplar Head Park at 10 a.m.

While the market had more farmers selling their goods, several growers sold out of produce such as peaches and corn. There are also some familiar faces — farmers who sell at both the farm center and the 84 West market.

Poplar Head has some growers you won’t see at the other two markets in town. Boutwell Farms of Clayton had coolers full of grass-fed beef, pastured pork and chickens packaged and ready for the freezer. They were even selling rosemary extract as a hair conditioner.

At Aquilla’s Secret Garden, shoppers waited for herbs and spinach plants. And Waterberry Farms out of Slocomb offered hydroponic herbs and watercress lettuce.

But don’t fret — there’s plenty of peppers, corn, onions, potatoes and squash. As long as you get there early.