From The Winchester Star dated Monday 13 July 2009.
By Jason Kane
The Winchester Star
Matthew Caniniti, 1, meets Peanut the dairy goat Saturday afternoon during the Frederick County Farm Bureaus Farm Fun Day at Marker-Miller Orchards in Winchester.
(Photo by Scott Mason) |
Winchester -- Dont even bother trying to stump 6-year-old Leo Howerdd. He already knows the source of his fruits and veggies.
"They come from plants," he said. Obviously.
And its just as clear to Leo that the best place to buy plants is from a farm which is why Leo and his family traveled to Marker-Miller Orchards on Saturday for Farm Fun Day, sponsored by the Frederick County Farm Bureau.
If only more adults would think that way, said Paul Anderson, the president of the bureau that organized the event. The chief objective of the day: to push people to think more critically about their food.
Most shoppers just plop produce in their cart at the supermarket and call it a day, Anderson said. And thats a problem.
"Were trying to encourage them to buy local, or at the very least to look at the label and see where their food comes from," he said.
Saturdays event was the third Farm Fun Day put on by the bureau, with the first having been held at Hill High Farm two years ago and last years at Hedgebrook Farm.
John Marker, who operates Marker-Miller Orchards with his wife Carolyn, said he jumped at the chance to play host to the event. It was a natural fit.
Amid his piles of green beans, peaches, berries, and plums, Marker always tries to push his customers to taste something new. Like a fresh apricot. A lot of people think theyre always dry.
Children take a ride in a cow train Saturday afternoon at the Frederick County Farm Bureau Farm Fun Day held at Marker-Miller Orchards.
(Photo by Scott Mason) |
"And people will say, 'I dont like plums,' and Ill tell them to go ahead and try one anyway," he said. "Theyre usually amazed. Theyll say, 'I never knew a plum could taste like that.'"
Hundreds of people turned out to the event Saturday for some free grilled hot dogs, tractor rides, raffles, a petting zoo, and informational discussions with a slate of area farmers.
Families learned that while it might appear that farming culture has eroded a bit in the area, the Frederick County Farm Bureau still boasts 1,000 members 250 of whom raise agricultural products, Anderson said.
Further, he said as he stood in a tent surrounded by posters of rolling wheat fields and smiling children chomping into freshly picked fruit, each American farmer feeds about 98 people.
"But its a dying industry because theyre going broke," he said. "If the American farmer cant survive, your foods going to come from China, Mexico, and all of the other countries that export food."
Anderson would know. Besides debts, he said (with a smirk), he grows hay and keeps beef cattle on his farm near Stephens City. He used to produce peaches, but the trees lost so much money that it became more profitable to let them die and plow them under.
Such trends can be dangerous, he said. Especially when less than one percent of imported food is inspected as closely as the food grown in America, Anderson said.
And hearing a statistic like that is enough cause for pause for people like Rachel Schwartz, Leos mom, who said that she usually shops at Martins but has been trying to make more of a "concerted effort" to buy local.
As a start, she and Leo planned to pick some fresh raspberries and peaches at the orchard Saturday. They planned to leave the farm full and happy.
"Whether it makes a difference, I dont know," Anderson said. "Thats something well never know. But were out here trying to make a difference."
One juicy plum and apricot at a time.
-- Contact Jason Kane at
jkane@winchesterstar.com