Farmer's markets are one of the reasons why, much as I love it, the Internet will never be the be-all and end-all for finding quality food and gourmet goodies. However, there are some forward-thinking entrepreneurs out there who are making use of both to good effect.

There are very few things I love more than spending a couple of hours on a Saturday strolling through either my own local farmer's market or the big one up in Charlotte, thumping melons and peeling back corn husks to check the kernels. The farmer's market is a bona fide shopping addiction, but unlike most such afflictions, you don't end up with bags and bags of useless dreck.

Call me a throwback, anti-big business or just simply a hippie, but I dig anything that lets me cut out a layer or more of middlemen. The farmer's market is, in modern society, one of the greatest ways to do that. There you have fresh fruits, vegetables and even sometimes meat sold by the people responsible for the production. The guy handing you your change in all likelihood is the same one who picked the zucchini in your bag. The woman weighing your strawberries is most likely the one who lovingly packed them into the quart boxes.

On a side note, if you're new to your area, as I am, the farmer's market is also a great way to scope out what you should have in your own vegetable garden, and when you should plant it. Be sure to ask if the veggies you're buying are locally grown. I've actually seen things like Driscoll's strawberries, those overly-hybridized, largely tasteless, trucking-proof imports, at the big markets. A lot of towns and cities now require sellers to post highly visible signs stating the origin of their produce, and I'm highly in favor of that. The farmer's market is a place where the little guy can get his wares directly into the hands of the public, and infiltrations of the big conglomerates should at the very least be well-marked.

Basically, there's no way to get any fresher vegetables unless you go into the farmer's field and pick them yourself, and said fields are often filled with things like poo, which makes a great fertilizer but will ruin your New Balance tennies. You also might get yourself shot for trespassing, which would impair your salad enjoyment. Stick to the market.

Not Just For Veggies Anymore

The farmer's market has pretty much always been a place to find the farmer's mom selling her homemade preserves, or the local baker selling his wares for a little weekend cash. Now, however, there are businesses that target the farmer's markets specifically, and offer products fresher and tastier than anything you'll find at your grocer. They've also got some great stories behind the products.

Of course you just know I've got a couple to tell you about, right?

Anytime someone's offering free samples of salsa, you can pretty well guarantee I'll be sniffing around, waiting my turn at the sample bowl. Suzanne Crawford, known as "Yah" to her family, knows that the best way to get people pulling out their wallets is to get them putting something in their mouths. Her products, sold under the Yah's Best Products line, entice even the most parsimonious of snack browsers to part with a few dollars.

Her main line is salsa, and what a salsa it is! This is unlike anything you'll find at your grocery, or even among the fine products from TexMexToGo.com. This is fresh salsa, made in small batches and not shelf-stable. It's designed to be kept refrigerated and, like any fresh vegetable, consumed within a few days. From the tomato base to the corn, black beans, cilantro and other spices mixed into it, all the flavor notes are very fresh.

Those of you living in the Charlotte or Raleigh, N.C., areas can find Yah's products at your local farmer's markets, but Suzanne, never one to miss a business opportunity, is branching out to the Internet. Her site is still under construction, but there's an e-mail address there where you can contact her for more information. I'd give it to you here, but she's too nice a lady for me to let the spam-bots grab the address off this page.

Jam Session

When I moved from Texas to North Carolina, one of the first things I did was get myself a haircut. My previously shoulder-length locks went floorward, and I emerged with a regulation suburban-guy haircut for the first time in a decade or so. I assumed that, given the more conservative climate in which I found myself, such a coiffure would be necessary to fit in, that my brand of long-haired back-to-nature philosophy wouldn't be well-received.

So imagine my delight at meeting Walt Harrill and his wife, Wendy, owners of Imladris Farm. Imladris is located near Asheville, N.C., in the Great Smoky Mountains, and has been in Walt's family for six generations. Actually, make that seven, counting Andy, Walt and Wendy's son. Walt sports a head of hair that rivals my own in its heyday, and the farm is run on the principles of sustainable agriculture. Unlike the big factory farms, the Harrills work in concert with their environment, taking what it offers rather than trying to force it to produce. As Walt puts it:

We grow sustainably, focusing on products that are either native to this area or well-suited to our microclimate, which reduces disease/pest pressure, and allows us to farm much less intensively. With that in mind, we grow berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries), fertilized by rabbit manure from our rabbit meat production, while using some of our wooded land to produce shiitake mushrooms, which love a deep, dark canopy that protects them from sunlight. Since the farm had been abandoned for 20 years before we inherited it, we use goats to clear the now overgrown pastures and convert them to orchards. This takes significantly longer (3 years) than using a chainsaw and bulldozer, but we are able to retain (and even fertilize) the topsoil that would have eroded with the aforementioned chainsaw and bulldozer, which saves us five years of trying to rebuild that topsoil, so we consider it a good deal.

And what, you may ask, does Imladris produce? Only some of the finest jams and preserves it has ever been my pleasure to sample. There is something for every palate on their menu, from the mellow sweet-spiciness of their apple butter to the explosive sweetness of the blackberry jam. My personal favorite is their "Berry Best," made with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries from the farm. Unlike most mixed-fruit products, which blend all the ingredients into one vaguely sweet morass, each fruit sings its own note clearly, and every bite will give you a different taste profile. I could have (and have) eaten it with a spoon straight out of the jar.

You'll be hearing more from me about Imladris soon, when Walt and I have a sit-down about sustainable agriculture, a topic dear to my heart. But for now, just go get some jam for your weekend biscuits. Or for your ice cream. Or for your spoon while you stand at the fridge after-hours.

Yah's Best and Imladris are great examples of what the Internet is doing for food fans all over the country. No longer do you have to rely on what your local grocer or megamart deems worthy of putting on the shelves. Now, with the help of a tour guide like me or with your own powers of Googling, you can strike out into the Great Unknown and find stuff far better and fresher than anything you'll get in stores.

But don't forget your local farmer's market in your rush to discover. The greatest finds are the ones you make yourself. And I want to hear about them!

Got a question? Comment? Topic you'd like to see covered? Drop me a line, anytime!