Break out those pots and pans! Rush down to the store and buy a big supply of freezer bags! Dust off the pressure canner! It's time for fresh, locally grown vegetables.

The big Farmers Market is open year-round with an assortment of fruits and vegetables from everywhere, but they are just starting to get busy with an influx of locally grown vegetables. The Robeson County Farmers Market in downtown Lumberton officially kicked off their season last Saturday with a dozen farmers selling fresh, local vegetables. In virtually every community in Robeson County, there are tailgate vendors or pick-your-own farms with a fantastic assortment of fresh vegetables.

Although it is a little early for things like Dixie Lee peas, watermelons, and cantaloupes, you will have no trouble at all finding plenty of late winter and spring vegetables. Our vegetable farmers have learned how to grow winter vegetables, so they taste better than ever before, and they have learned how to use greenhouses and black plastic mulch to produce spring vegetables much earlier in the season than ever before.

I'm sure there are a good number of people reading this column who really don't know what good, fresh vegetables taste like. They may not have grown up on a farm with a big garden or in a small rural town like those in Robeson County where almost everyone had connections to someone in the country with a garden. These people may have eaten plenty of vegetables, but they were probably from a grocery store freezer, shipped in from thousands of miles away, packed several months earlier, and kept in cold storage or sealed in a can.

Since I am an old farm boy, I grew up with plenty of fresh vegetables on the table at virtually every meal. I admit that I did not appreciate them as much when I was young as I do today, but to me, fresh vegetables have always been delicious.

If you have never had the opportunity to eat real vegetables picked fresh out of the garden just hours before they were prepared, I just wish I could take you to my mother's house for lunch one day during this time of the year. Fresh cabbage boiled along with a couple of ham hocks; fresh, new potatoes boiled with just the right seasonings; fresh garden onions sliced thinly and soaked in vinegar; fresh squash cooked along with some of the onions; fresh mustard greens cooked just right with the vinegar bottle right there for additional flavor; and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Even prime rib in the fanciest restaurant couldn't be any better.

My mouth is watering as I describe this meal. Since I don't have a garden of my own, I can hardly wait until I can get to the Farmers Market to get some of these fresh vegetables.

I encourage you to treat yourself this coming Saturday. Go to the Farmers Market nearest you and buy some of everything. If you don't know exactly how to prepare it just right, the great thing is that those ladies selling the vegetables can tell you exactly how it is done.

Naturally, you will be able to find the typical spring vegetables like new potatoes, cabbage, mustard greens, English peas, and spring onions. But you will be surprised that you will also be able to find fresh squash, cucumbers, and sweet corn.

You will even be able to find a big supply of locally grown, vine-ripe tomatoes. Yes, vine-ripe tomatoes in May. Farmers are now using greenhouses to start the plants early enough that they are producing fruit four to six weeks before the field tomatoes. I encourage you to try some of them. They are just as delicious as the ones you will find this summer.

Don't forget, there are about eight strawberry operations in the county with some of the sweetest, reddest, prettiest strawberries you will ever see. These berries will be available for several more weeks, but the strawberry season will be over when it gets hot. Remember, strawberries are so easy to freeze that I can do it, so you should have no problem at all. Then, any time during the year you can enjoy strawberries just as delicious as if they just came from the field.

If you would like information about freezing or preparing any of the fresh vegetables that will be available for the next several months, please call your Extension Center at 671-3276. We have a big supply of bulletins describing just how to do it, and if you have specific questions, Ms. Susan Noble, our foods and nutrition agent, will be glad to answer them.

You've been waiting all winter for fresh vegetables. They are here, so go get them.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 6/18/02