Let me first remind you that Robeson County strawberries are ready for picking. I have had the opportunity to sample berries from most of the strawberry farms in the county, and without a doubt, they are all very delicious. The cool weather evidently provided just the right conditions to make them firm, yet sweet.

If you haven't yet purchased fresh, local strawberries, now is the time. If you need directions to the strawberry farm nearest to your home, call my office at 671-3276 or click on the berries above for directions.

It's also time for fresh, local vegetables. Although a small variety of winter and early spring vegetables have been available all along, within the next couple of weeks is when our local vegetable farmers begin to have a large variety of vegetables for us to enjoy.

It has been unusually cool for the past several days. Cool nights are not very good for vegetables. However, we have had some great spring showers during the past week, and hopefully, a few more in the next few days. As the nights begin to warm up again and with a lot of moisture in the soil, all vegetable crops will begin to grow rapidly.

We are fortunate that we have two very good farmers markets in this county. We have the downtown Lumberton farmers market that operates on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and the NCDA farmers market on US-74 that operates every day of the week. In addition, many other towns in the county provide designated areas for local farmers to sell their produce or allow farmers to sell from the tailgate of their trucks along the streets.

I have been able to talk to quite a few of our local vegetable farmers recently, and they all indicate that in spite of the fact that it was fairly dry early in the season, their vegetables are looking very good. It appears that with the recent showers, they will have an abundance of fresh vegetables and will have a great variety to choose from.

I would like to encourage you to make a much greater effort this spring and summer to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from our local farmers. I am not suggesting you buy vegetables you don't need just to be supporting these farmers, but instead, I am urging you to buy locally what you need and what you can use. Remember, vegetables are healthy for you. According to Susan Noble, foods and nutrition agent on our staff, you need to eat at least seven servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day.

Fresh vegetables from supermarkets generally mean that they have not yet been cooked. They were most likely harvested from a large commercial farm hundreds or thousands of miles away, shipped to a warehouse, sorted and stored, shipped to the local supermarket for storage in a cooler, and eventually placed on the shelves for you to buy. You might agree that this is not really a good description of what most of us would consider fresh.

On the other hand, the vegetables you buy from our local farmers are most likely harvested just a few hours before you buy them. Now this is what you can call fresh vegetables.

The downtown Lumberton farmers market will begin operation in just a couple of weeks, and the grand opening will be held on June 3. Many of the farmers who sell at this market have done so for many years, so they all know what kind of vegetables people enjoy and they usually have a large supply of these vegetables available.

Vegetable season is here. Don't miss your opportunity. And don't forget what your mama told you. Vegetables are good for you, so eat all of them you can.

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 05/24/06