For me, there is nothing better than a farmers’ market to turn the chore of grocery shopping into an adventure: picking through produce under little market stands in the open air, interacting with the farmers and families, inquiring about the name of this or that odd-looking tomato or learning how to eat the intimidating summer squash. The food simply looks better when it’s no longer settled between the fluorescent lighting and linoleum floors of the supermarket. And when it was picked that morning, to be driven to your neighborhood in the back of a pick-up truck, it usually tastes better too.

If you’re anything like me, New Haven is your kind of town. Farmers’ markets abound in every corner of the city. From May through December, the flagship Wooster Square market offers a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables, soaps, hand-spun wool, honey, maple syrup, milk, meat and more. Located just south of Wooster Square itself, in the dappled shade of Depalma Court, the market is the pride and joy of New Haven locavores, and the favorite among Yale students. Every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1p.m., the market is packed with undergraduates, graduate students, New Haven families and others.

The wide range of products available from the 28 jam-packed stalls at the Wooster Square market sets it apart from the many others in the city and is a large factor in its popularity, even garnering it a mention in the New York Times.

Some are willing to travel considerable distances to get to Wooster Square on Saturdays. Jonathan Mathias, a caterer from Westin, CT, drove his family 45 minutes to New Haven to attend the Wooster Square market one Saturday morning. And they were not in search of your normal farmers’ market fare. Baked goods and goat soap were on the family’s shopping list for the day, in addition to apples and leafy greens.

According to Glen Colello, owner of the Catch a Healthy Habit Café in West Haven, “Wooster Square is the best market in the state.” Colello sells his café’s products at Wooster Square on Saturdays and the downtown market on Wednesdays. In addition to the added sales he gets at the farmers’ markets, “having a booth at the market is a great advertisement for our store. If we reach out to them, we hope they’ll come back to find us.”

And for farmers, the Wooster Square market offers what other markets cannot. The long season of Wooster Square welcomes an array of products missing at the smaller markets. Patrick Horan, a farmer at organic-certified Waldingfield Farm in Washington, CT, explains that coming to New Haven “was not an accident.” After canning marinara sauce from their tomato and basil crops, Waldingfield needed a market that went year-round. “We came to Wooster Square in the winter because we were looking for a venue for our jarred and canned goods,” Horan said.

Once they completed a partial season at Wooster Square, Horan jumped at the chance to sell even more in New Haven. This season, Waldingfield’s tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, marinara sauce and more can be found downtown on Wednesday and in Wooster Square on Saturday.

“The management of these markets is as good as it gets,” Horan explained, offering another reason to sell in New Haven. “Cityseed does a great job of making organic accessible.”

Access for All

Cityseed, a New Haven-based nonprofit, manages four of New Haven’s five markets. The nonprofit was founded in 2004, when Wooster Square residents began to agitate for access to fresh, local food (they still have no local grocery store). In its first year, Cityseed founded the market in Wooster Square with seven vendors. The next year it launched markets in Fair Haven, downtown New Haven and Edgewood Park, rounding out the four city farmers’ markets.

In June 2005, Cityseed became the first market in Connecticut to accept EBT/food stamps. Today, Cityseed supports markets throughout the state that have initiated their own exchange policy for EBT/food stamps. Perhaps even more prevalent at the city farmers’ markets, however, are FMNP (Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program) coupons, a federal welfare program designed to pro vide access to healthy, locally grown produce.

The FMNP ensures that senior citizens, low-income nursing or pregnant mothers and low-income families with young children have access to fresh produce by providing them with coupons that may only be spent at farmers’ markets. The patrons must purchase fruits and vegetables with their coupons; they cannot choose to spend the coupons on bread, honey or other prepared food. While FMNP recipients are evaluated based on their income level, the Department of Agriculture carefully vets the eligible farmers’ markets to ensure that all produce obtained through the program is, in fact, grown in Connecticut.

At the Wooster Square market, FMNP coupons are few and far between, said Daniel MacPhee, farm manager at the Yale Farm and a vendor at the Saturday market. “I think that is partially due to location and partially due to prices. Wooster Square is expensive compared to the markets at Edgewood, Fair Haven and downtown.”

Kanani Milles, who brings her Northfordy Farm produce to the market in Fair Haven, agrees with that assessment. She explained that Northfordy sends its specialty products, such as heirloom tomatoes, to Wooster Square where they might fetch a better price.

Fair Haven Fare

The Fair Haven market is a far cry from the shady groves of Wooster Square. Four white tents are set up here against the backdrop of the Quinnipiac River. The scene is spacious – instead of vying for space, vendors share a large open park – and there isn’t the same variety of vendors that attracts customers from across the state to Wooster Square.

After a crowded bus ride from the New Haven Green down Grand Street past super marquetas and taquerias, I’m hardly surprised to hear that the most prevalent language at this market is Spanish. “Cuánto cuesta eso?” a mother asks, pointing toward the eggplant, as her twin sons cower at her legs. “Two dollars,” responds farmer Nelson Cecarelli of Cecarelli’s Farm in Northford, CT.

Does he find it difficult, I ask, to sell at this market with little knowledge of the operative neighborhood language? “You really don’t need to know much Spanish,” Cecarelli responds. “We make everything fit with the vouchers, so there’s no weighing involved. It makes it easy to explain the prices.” As I look around, I notice that indeed, the scales of the other markets are absent, and all the produce is clearly priced per item or in prepackaged bundles. The one-, two- and three-dollar price tags ensure that every item will fit easily into the FMNP’s coupons – all in three-dollar increments.

Cecarelli sells his produce at two Connecticut markets, the other in Durham, CT, but his largest contracts come from distributors in Hartford. From there, his veggies travel anonymously to supermarkets. He chose Fair Haven of all the Cityseed-run markets, he says, “because we figured it would be a good area, a good demographic. A lot of what we bring to the market – jalapeños, tomatillos, peppers – people don’t know what to do with in Durham. But here they eat them up!”

The local aspect of the Fair Haven market attracts some vendors but keeps others away. Colello, who sells his café’s raw food concoctions in downtown New Haven on Wednesday and Wooster Square on Saturday, opts to take his booth to Westport on Thursdays rather than sell in Fair Haven. “It’s too much of a neighborhood market,” he says. “I’m trying to get the name of my store out, and Westport is a better place to do it.”

A Seed of Controversy

Although Cityseed’s markets remain its most public face, their holistic mission encompasses much more. The nonprofit’s aim is “[to] engage the community in growing an equitable, local food system that promotes economic development, community development and sustainable agriculture.” Much of this is embodied in the farmers’ markets. Since its inception in 2004, however, Cityseed has complemented its management of the farmers’ markets with work on statewide policy initiatives for the equitable availability of food. Additionally, Cityseed has broadened its educational mission with a bilingual preschool curriculum and community cookbooks.

Despite these efforts, public perception of Cityseed is not always positive. The nonprofit recently received resounding criticism when it informed a number of farms that they would not be invited back to the Wooster Square market for the 2009 season. “We were one of the four or five vendors they asked to leave,” said David Finn of Eaglewood Farm, who now sells his natural beef and pork at the new Upper State Farm Market. “I wish I could get an answer from them as to why,” Finn said, “but all they told us was that ‘their mission had changed.’ ”

A June 15 article in the New Haven Register, entitled “Farm Owner Cries Foul over Cityseed Deal,” detailed the plight of another dismissed farm, Killam and Bassette Farmstead LLC, who “claim they were treated like dirt by Cityseed.” After planting, tending and beginning to harvest from their farm based on the assumption that they would be selling with Cityseed, Killam and Bassette Farmstead LLC was informed only weeks before the start of the new season that they did not have a spot among the 28 vendor roster at the Wooster Square market. A thread of 55 comments, mostly outraged at Cityseed, follows the online version of the article. “City Seed [sic] is a racket. They give farms monopolies & keep the prices inflated artificially,” wrote one reader. Although some later comments defend the actions of the nonprofit, most lambast Cityseed for its treatment of the farms.

Yet Cityseed’s actions, if not their timing, seem justifiable in their attempt to promote accessible access to organic produce. The Killam and Bassette Farmstead LLC is not certified as an organic — or even a naturally grown (a lesser certification) — farm, and Cityseed prides itself on making organics accessible. Under this mission, a larger organic farm – which could ensure lower prices of organic goods – is given greater weight than a non-organic family farm. “Cityseed likes larger organic growers because they help bring the prices of organics down to reality,” says Horan of Waldingfield Farm, one of the farms cited in the June 15 article as having replaced Killam and Bassette Farmstead.

Berg explained that a farm’s distance from New Haven, in addition to the agricultural practices it employs, is a factor in Cityseed’s decision to include the farm in one of its markets. Thus, some farms were not invited back as a result of Cityseed’s efforts to keep produce at its markets as local as possible. Regardless of the reason for the cuts, many farmers were left disgruntled at the beginning of this market season.

New Market on the Block

If you ever wander beyond Science Hill into the East Rock neighborhood, you have likely seen signs for a new farmers’ market on the block. The Upper State Farm Market debuted August 1 of this year. Every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (the Wooster Square market runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. one mile away) 17 vendors set up their tents to sell produce, cookie mixes, coffee, meats, dumplings, gelato and even massages.

Melissa Goodall, assistant director of the Yale Office of Sustainability and the volunteer Upper State Farm Market chair, explained that the market was born from the Upper State Street Association of Vendors. After working toward environmental initiatives with an urban greenspace project, the association turned its attention toward a farmers’ market. In the wake of Cityseed’s shake-up, it wasn’t difficult to find farmers to join the group. Indeed, some farmers were looking for any non-Cityseed venue in New Haven. “We were looking to bring our meat back to our loyal New Haven customers,” said Finn, “and State Street asked if there were farmers interested in starting a market.”

The State Street Association did its homework to set up the market, conducting surveys of neighbors and local businesses, even contacting Cityseed for advice on marketing. Although Cityseed turned down the chance to run the market, Goodall thinks it’s for the best. “They are much more comprehensive in their scope,” she said. “We created this market out of a love of community, without the stricter rules of Cityseed.” Whereas Cityseed markets are “producer only,” vendors at the Upper State Farm Market can sell products from other farms as well; so farmers can sell produce from neighboring farms that might not be able to send their own employees to the market. The Upper State Farm Market only sells produce from Connecticut but it allows vendors to sell products that were manufactured in Connecticut, even if they were grown elsewhere. The coffee beans, roasted but not grown in-state, are evidence of this rule in action.

“We’re not trying to be competitive, we really don’t want an unhappy relationship with Cityseed,” Goodall insisted. “The markets are different: We have more prepared foods; we’re in a more commercial area. We have really tried to differentiate.”

And differentiate they have. While produce dominates the Wooster Square market, it makes up just a fraction of what is for sale at State Street; of the seventeen booths, only four sell produce. This is an asset to the market for undergraduates, says Lauren Smith ES ’11, although few seem to know about the market yet. Smith stumbled upon the market by accident one Saturday after having visited Wooster Square. “I felt like there was more at the State Street Market that would appeal to students who don’t really have kitchens to cook in. The Wooster Square Market is great for produce, but it’s hard to do much with what they sell in my dorm room,” she said.

For Dina Vernon, owner of Creative Organics, a small business that sells organic cookie mixes, the Upper State Farm Market was the perfect place to start. “We’re a new business,” said Vernon, “so it’s great to get in on the ground level of a brand new market. We don’t have a store, and a farmers’ market is a great way to showcase our products.”

Joe Zurowski, a farmer from Schulze’s Farm, made the decision easily enough. “It’s a first year market so there’s no fee to be here,” he informed me. “Most places you have to pay for the tent. I’m pricing to make a profit.”

For most however, the community among vendors at State Street is the special draw. As the market closes up, vendors barter back and forth to stock up on their neighbors’ items. “There are not many markets with this range of products; you can literally feed yourself here,” said Bruck Gresczyk Jr, of Gresczyk Farms LLC, as he traded corn for cookie mixes. “We will definitely be back next year.”

A Common Goal

After a day at a farmers’ market, it is clear that markets are about more than food. The true beauty of farmers’ markets is the connection they inspire. Everyone involved – whether producer, organizer, or consumer – has made a conscious choice about the quality of food and the community they support. Those values distinguish farmers’ markets patrons and farmers, endearing them to one another. Perhaps that is why Cityseed’s farm dismissal came as such a shock to New Haven’s foodie community – no one thought the camaraderie of the “organic” community could be betrayed for a business decision, even if that decision was only to improve the quality and prices of natural food. New Haven is a prime example that the rising demand for local food creates a novel sense of competition among farmers, yet most recognize that this not only signifies the growth of a positive food philosophy, but also strengthens the local movement. Without that demand, New Haven could not sustain its five thriving markets.

“There is camaraderie among farmers, more than competition,” says Horan, “Every new seller is good for the business we’re in, and competition really just makes you sharper.”

SIDE BARR

If you would like to visit the farmers’ markets:

Downtown Market

Wednesdays 11am-3pm, through 11/25

Fair Haven Market

Thursdays, 3-7pm, through 10/29

Wooster Square Market

Saturdays, 9am-1pm

through 12/19

Upper State Farm Market

Saturdays 10am-2pm

through 11/28

Edgewood Park

Sundays, 10am-2pm

through 11/22

or check out www.cityseed.org and www.upperstatestreet.org for more information.