Underwood Deviled Ham Conspiracy!!!!

That was a huge problem with my Farmers' Markets most of the big vendors hit the 3 food auctions and bid on bundles/lots of "Market Produce" on Wednesday and Thursday and then hit the Big Markets on Friday and Saturday, where they stand there and preach how hard they worked to produce the bounty in their stand. When everything in their stand came on a truck from Mexico or California and was divided in to lots on pallets and sold for 10cents to 20 cents on the dollar the vendor charges. People could literally go to Walmart and buy the same produce from the same factory farm producers that they buy from most Farmers Market Vendors........ Other Vendors have deals with the local produce distributors and some of the stores and take the stuff that didn't sell at the store and was landfill bound and resell it as locally grown.

My 3 Markets were on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday Evenings and these guys were constantly trying to come in with the garbage they didn't sell primarily at the big Thursday and Saturday Markets. Those resellers dominate the Market scene and pretty much keep out all but a handful of the real producer vendors. So I started my little markets for the real producer vendors that were either not allowed to compete or simply could not compete with the reseller Markets (Which all of course now promote their markets as producer only markets) For 15 years we had a nice line up of regional vendors that actually produced what they sold. And my markets thrived and grew.

Then about 3 years ago our vendors started dropping. LOL we were not a young dread lock greasy vendor market, most of our Vendors were 65+ years old and they started getting knocked out due to advanced age or death. Our two biggest produce vendors were 79 and 83 years old and just could not do the work anymore by themselves and hired hands for the gardens were next to impossible to find and usually cost more than they were worth when you did land one. Kind of like fishing for bass and catching carp Of the 22 that were regulars at my markets only 7 of us remain and only 5 are consistent week in and week out. There just is not anyone to replace the ones that leave. I refused and did until I handed the markets off to other folks to allow resellers into my markets, from a financial and business standpoint that was foolish to not bring the dominant vendors in. From a moral and ethical perspective it was absolutely the correct decision.

The average consumer likes to pay a lot of lip service to BUY LOCAL and Regionally but when the rubber hits the road that is all it is LIP SERVICE. They don't care where their food really comes from so long as it has a "Make me feel good about this purchase" line of bullshit backing it up. The one of my 3 markets that is still alive has an almost cult like following of folks that do care and want better than Cargil and tyson meats and California Tomatoes with a side of Mexican Onions, with some Brazil Watermelons for the finale. Sadly those loyal customers are in primarily the 55+ years old Category and are dropping for the same reasons as our vendor family has been shrinking. It is rare to see a younger family with kids at the Market now days.

The Young vendors that start up are almost always very short lived and they only want to attend the big markets where they can make 2k-3k in 4-5 hours. They can't be bothered with the small Markets where they will only make $200-$500. Problem is most of them will never get into the Big Markets and won't waste their time on the mid size and small markets. And then poof they are gone and bankrupt in 1-3 years. Pretty common tactic is for a young one to start up using State and Federal Grant Funding and run until they have milked the grant teat dry and close up........ Selling what they produce is not the profit center...... the grants are.

Call me weird but I think it is kind of neat to go to a Farmers' Market and actually see and deal with Farmers........ Not Resellers and Pinhookers.

 

No s***. Grocery store tomatoes are basically square. You can see the shape of the shipping container. No flavor at all. I'm fortunate to grow a fair amount of my own. All the berry fruit I use are from local farmers market every Sat AM here in town. (pop. 370). I can get as much as I want of locally grown wheat, rye, millet, and other grains, as well as protein. Esp Beef and pork. The local breweries and distilleries also source locally. Makes for interesting products as well.

 

Mama made potted meat with a heaping tablespoon of Dukes mayo, chopped up pickle, salt, pepper, and just a drop or two of Texas Pete all mixed up together. We called it "Pink Stuff" when we were kids and the addition of the mayo spread it out enough that my brother and I each had enough for a sandwich. Underwood Deviled Ham was a once-in-a-while luxury.