Business is booming for vendors at the Community Farmers Market, but those who sell produce are thankful to be in such a position with the unusually wet spring Lewis County has experienced.
Tuesday afternoon saw a good number of customers exchanging cash for fresh produce at four vegetable stands at the downtown Chehalis market — and thanks to the recent rainless streak, growers have taken advantage and planted small crops to replenish supplies of fresh produce that for many were running low.
“We’ve been able to replant all sorts of vegetables from carrots to summer squash,” said Sabory Huddle from Wobbly Cart, a farming collective in Rochester. “We didn’t get as much planting as we would have liked to with all the rain and soggy ground, but we’ve been able to sell very well so far.”
Huddle added that sales have held steady for Wobbly Cart since the market opened, although she’d like to see more customers.
She feels customer numbers had been down until this week simply because of the liquid sunshine that made its presence felt until the last week of June.
“It just hasn’t felt like summer yet,” Huddle said.
Just two tents over, Dan Kane and Emily May of Let Us Farm in Oakville manned a table chock-full of fresh lettuce. The two farm apprentices joined Huddle in lamenting summer’s late arrival, but expressed joy that good weather has returned to the Twin Cities.
As if on cue to support their sentiment, customers stopped by in groups and exchanged green in the form of money for a different shade of green — locally grown produce.
“Sales definitely picked up today, and that’s good because they haven’t been too great at the Seattle markets we’ve been to,” Kane said.
“We’ve been a couple weeks behind on lettuce so it’s good we’re able to sell it in bunches today,” added May.
Though commercial farmers may have thrown in the towel on planting crops in large quantities, it’s the smaller community-oriented farms that have been able to better mitigate their losses by replanting.
Huddle, Kane and May all said their farms had to destroy crops ruined by the rain; but all agreed the financial losses, while stinging, can be recouped with continual sunny weather.
“I’m definitely hoping for larger vegetables when it comes time to harvest,” laughed Kane.
Harvest time for several crops will still take place during a late July to September time frame, meaning all is not lost for small farms in Lewis County. Dale Carlen of Sweet Briar Herb Farm in Onalaska may have summed it up best when he said he was simply thankful to be able to replant and move on.
“We’ve been selling out of the produce we do have, so that’s something we can be proud of,” Carlen said. “I’m just happy we have this window of good weather right now.”
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
