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Essential Eating Farmers Market celebrates area organic farmers
Green Scene
Around Town
June 4, 2015
Fresh Finds at the Market
ON THE INSIDE Tips and tricks from the Clarks Summit Shade Tree Commission Page 3
SUBURBAN
by Stephanie Longo
ABINGTON SUBURBAN EDITOR
With the arrival of summer comes the time to plant your garden but if you can’t wait for your crops to yield their products, there’s a farmer’s market in your own back yard. The Essential Eating Farmers Market is held every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 515 Northern Boulevard (intersection of routes 6 and 11 and Layton Road) in Chinchilla. The market is also open in the winter months bi-weekly on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 517 Northern Boulevard. Organizer Janie Quinn, who is also the founder of Essential Eating Sprouted Foods, said that the market’s mission is to connect people to local organically-grown and low spray food and that this is the only all-organic farmers market in northeast Pennsylvania. “Growing our food independence in America relies on rebuilding our local food systems based on family farms and local producers using eco-friendly production methods,” she said. “The Essential Eating Farmers Market makes it easy to support these types of local food growers and helps to heal our food supply.” For produce or other goods to be defined as “organic,” they must have been grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically-modified organisms or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products in order to be labeled organic do not take antibiotics or growth hormones. Vendors at the market sell a variety of produce, herbs, vegetables, meats and baked goods. Back Archers Farm offers organic eggs, maple syrup products, local honey, safe meat and organic produce while Clarks Summit-based Beta Bread sells organic artisan breads. Stafford Farm sells organic vegetables, plants, seedlings and cut flowers and Rowlands PA Produce sells locally-grown lettuces and herbs year-round. Overlook Farms sells produce, chickens and eggs that
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A sampling of the items available at the Essential Eating Farmers Market, held Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 515 Northern Boulevard, Chinchilla. Organizer Janie Quinn touts the market as the only all-organic farmers market in the area.
are all organic. As they come into season, Paul Plum Orchards will sell fresh fruits, including apricots, plums, melons, raspberries and cherries and S&S Microgreens sells edible plants. “The first thing I say to someone who hasn’t tried the market before is that they are going to be amazed by the taste of the food,” Quinn said. “When you have food that has been locally grown, that hasn’t been overly processes or preserved or that hasn’t been transported, the flavor is amazing. I
think people want to support the local food growers, but they don’t know how because it isn’t easily or readily available — we want to fix that.” For more information, visit facebook. com/EssentialEatingFarmersMarket. Another area farmer’s market, the Abington Farmers Market, runs Saturdays beginning at 9 a.m. from late July through October in the parking lot at the South Abington Elementary School, 640 Northern Boulevard, Chinchilla.