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Business & Tech

Rich Harvest, Happy Shoppers

Now in third season, Acton-Boxborough Farmers Market offers customers chance to support local farmers, economy.

Morning walkers, “locavores,” and residents of Acton and elsewhere looking for fresh produce had the opportunity to shop for that and much more at the Acton-Boxborough Farmers Market (ABFM), which opened its third season Sunday morning to nearly cloudless skies that provided an ideal backdrop to the shoppers’ experience.

Started in 2009, the West Acton-based market has steadily increased business since its inception, said Jennifer Taylor Campbell, ABFM coordinator, who said that though the market’s beginning coincided with consumers' growing interest in buying food locally, she herself wasn’t particularly thinking of the movement when she came up with the idea.

“I just really like farmers markets and thought we should have one here,” said Taylor Campbell, an Acton resident. “I like to cook and to be able to buy good food locally.”

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Her idea, along with the input of others interested in a local farmers market, would eventually become a group mission that, according to the ABFM website, includes among its objectives showcasing local sustainable agriculture and promoting organic practices; educating the public on food and agriculture topics; and benefitting local farmers and the local economy.

Debra Simes, ABFM board member, said that while prices may “seem higher” for some products compared with supermarket prices, “prices at the supermarket are artificially cheap. Here, (shoppers) can feel good about the fact that what you pay goes directly to the farmers and subsidizes the local economy.”

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Taylor Campbell said there are a total of 21 stalls each week representing 28 vendors, all local farmers and artisans whose products range from vegetables, fruits, cheeses and meats, to honey, breads, flowers, baked goods, bagels, specialty products and more.

Sue Ventura, owner of Dragonfly Farm of Pepperell who’s been with the market since its start, said the ABFM is “always really well-attended” and that the shoppers she observes “really take their time when they’re here. I sometimes see them (shopping) for a few hours.”

Shoppers’ intents varied, with some looking to supplement their everyday food purchases and others trying to make a difference in the local economy while providing their families with the freshest food available.

One such shopper, Susan Richmond of Acton, said she and her family have been coming to the market since it started and that she “was very excited for opening day—I had it on the calendar.”

Richmond said she comes to the market “just about every week” during its season and frequently buys meat, bread and “other things we know we’ll use” in addition to vegetables and fruits.

“I like to buy organic, and I try to balance what I buy here with other local farms,” Richmond said. “It’s all so fresh, I end up getting really great things when I’m here.”

Another local patron, Jennifer Campbell of Boxborough, browsed at the Flats Mentor Farm stand, where she said she loves to purchase the “fresh, great lettuce” from the Lancaster-based farm.

“We were very excited to come today,” said Campbell, who brought daughters Emma, 10, and Lucy, 8. “We come almost every weekend.”

Others traveled from further afield, such as Lisa Menadue of Braintree, who said she likes to drive to different farmers markets to check out some more unusual offerings—which at the ABFM included mead, a honey wine newly offered this year following the passage of legislation allowing wine vendors to sell at farmers markets.

“It’s really good,” said Menadue of the mead after trying a sample offered by vendor Garth Shaneyfelt of the Greenfield-based Green River Ambrosia. “It was worth coming here for this. Where else would you find it?”

The Acton-Boxborough Farmers Market will run through October 23 on Sundays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Pearl Street in West Acton. For more information about the market, including volunteer opportunities and information about vendors, check the ABFY website.

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