From Field to Table

Posted on July 9, 2010 by bob in Features

David Maddox and grandson Tyler, Montgomery Curb Market

In 1999 there were 17 farmers markets in Alabama. In 2010, 125 markets are scheduled to open, a growth rate of more than 600% in a decade. (Farmers Market Authority, news release, May 2010)

David Maddox, Jr., Montgomery Curb Market

David Maddox, Jr. stands behind his vegetable bins at the Montgomery Curb Market, next to a neatly hand-lettered sign that reads “Alabama Grown Tomatoes.” There’s pride in that statement, and pride in the farming tradition of growing food and selling it directly to the consumer.

“I’d come here with my grandfather when I was little,” Maddox says. “He had a booth, and I’d help him.” He straightens a stack of bright red tomatoes. “As long as I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was have my own booth.”

His grandfather tends his own booth one aisle over, selling produce, talking to customers, explaining when asked how this or that vegetable is grown, or the best time to harvest.

It’s a simple, age-old partnership, with multi-generational farming families feeding their neighbors.

We live in an age when most people shop in air-conditioned supermarkets, buying necessities in climate-controlled comfort from well-stocked shelves offering an astonishing selection. Farmer’s markets and curb markets offer few such amenities – no air conditioning to be sure, and less variety. But they have something no supermarket possesses.

Want to know when the tomatoes you’re eyeing were picked, or where they were grown? Ask the farmer. He, or she, is standing in front of you. Are these peaches from Alabama? Chilton County? And what about the squash? What’s the best way to cook it? Unless you grow our own produce, the most direct route from field to table passes through a farmers market or curb market.

The Montgomery Curb Market has operated from its present location next to Cramton Bowl since 1947, having moved from downtown after many years there. Kenny Courtney still uses the scale his mother used at the market in the 1940s.

Kenny and Ann (center) Courtney with customer, Montgomery Curb Market.

“Everybody shopped at the market,” he says, including Hank Williams’ mother. “She’d buy produce for her boarding house.”

“I remember my mother having a whole hog spread out here,” says Courtney, stuffing beans into a plastic bag for a customer. “It was dressed, gutted, head and all.” He weighs the bag of beans on the scale and hands it to the customer. “They sold a lot of stuff back then that you can’t sell now.”

Diann Ziglar

Diann Ziglar’s grandmother, Ruby Hill, was a member of the original downtown curb market.

“She had chickens she’d clean and gut right there at the market,” Ziglar recalls. “She called them ‘New York Style.’” Her smile turns into a laugh. “Whatever that meant.”

The days of freshly dressed meat are gone, with other changes evident as well.

Along with the staples offered by markets in the past – vegetables, fruits, jams, jellies – today’s choices likely include flowers, organic produce, chutney and salsa, local beef raised without hormones, cakes and pies, dried seasoning for making dips, stone-ground flour and oatmeal, and hand-made soaps and lotions. At the Montgomery Curb Market, you’ll also find pine straw baskets.

“I started making these thirty years ago,” says Ziglar, turning a basket over in her hand. “My first ones weren’t too good.”

Well-past those early attempts, the baskets on display at her booth are evidence of her hard-earned proficiency. One style incorporates sections of sliced peach pits.

Since it started, the curb market has operated three days a week – Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

“Farmers have to get ready to sell,” says market manager Ramona McCord. “We do that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.” And Sunday? “Church,” she says,  smiling.

Montgomery Farmers Market

Posey's Produce, Montgomery Farmers Market

While the Montgomery Curb Market is the oldest in town, the State Farmers Market on Coliseum Boulevard is by far the largest, opening its doors in 1986. A massive structure in a sprawling complex, the State Farmers Market is housed inside a warehouse-like facility.

The cavernous building with drive-up stalls boasts a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, peanuts, home-canned goods, and the like, while outside is an astonishing array of flowers, all in quantities no other local farmers market can match.

In 2002 the Fairview Farmers Market, an extension of the State Farmers Market, opened near the former Sears store on Fairview Avenue.

Fairview Farmers Market

Like its larger parent, the Fairview Farmers Market hosts a variety of produce, along with flowers and home-made canned goods. It’s on a much smaller scale, but with the same fresh, local quality.

“We have some of the best collards around,” says market manager Flora Brown.    “Some are chopped and ready to cook.”

Fairview Farmers Market

The Fairview Farmers Market, like its larger cousin, is open seven days a week,year-round. Seasonal farmers markets – old and new – offer additional opportunities for consumers to buy from, and interact with, Alabama farmers.

Prattville has two markets, Millbrook one, and there are three areas of Montgomery with markets open during the height of the growing season; EastChase, Hampstead, and Auburn University Montgomery. (see below)

Most area residents will continue to shop at supermarkets based on proximity, comfort, variety, and hours of operation. But for fruits, vegetables, home-made jams, dips, sauces, salsas, cakes – and pine straw baskets – curb markets and farmers markets are the place to go. Not only will you find fresh produce, flowers, and jams, but you’ll meet and talk with the people who feed Alabama.

For more information on Alabama farmers markets and the Alabama Farmers Market Authority, visit http://www.fma.alabama.gov/.fma.alabama.gov/.

Year Round Markets

Montgomery Curb Market next to Cramton Bowl
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 5 a.m. – 2 p.m. summer, 6 a.m. – 2 p.m. winter

State Farmers Market near Garrett Coliseum
7 days a week 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Fairview Farmers Market, Fairview Ave.
7 days a week 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Seasonal Markets (All are open by June. Most close in August or September.)

Eastchase Farmers Market across from Target
Saturday 7 a.m. – noon

Hampstead Farmers Market, Taylor Rd.
Thursday 4 – 7 p.m.

AUM Farmers Market, Taylor Rd.
Wednesday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Prattville Farmers Market, Prattville Sq. Shopping Center
Tuesday 3 p.m.- 6 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Prattville Town Center Farmers Market, Home Depot and Cobbs-Ford Rd.
Tuesday 3 – 6 p.m.

Millbrook Farmers Market, Village Green Park
Tuesday 3 – 6 p.m.