Brisk Business

There's less socializing, and you won't find peaches. But a growing number of winter markets have pounds of appeal.

By Walter Nicholls

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Layered from head to toe in wool and goose down, nine hardy farmers and bakers have assembled in a windy Leesburg parking lot for the Saturday farmers market. Baby spinach whirls in a frigid dance across the blacktop as the vendors' signs tip and sway. It's not the sort of day for the usual socializing, so die-hard customers buy their bags of root vegetables or apples and run for cover.

"I'm hoping for collards," says Mary Walters, a retired office manager from Leesburg who appears to have forgotten her overcoat. "The ones in the grocery store, I don't know where they come from."

Nearby, dressed in more suitable clothing, Lois Allder of Aldie is buying glistening chard and crinkly kale that was greenhouse-grown and picked the previous night. "I don't mind cold with what's waiting here," she says, hurrying off. "You can't beat this for fresh and organic."

Agriculture does not come to a halt when winter blows into the Washington region. Some farmers have adapted, focusing on hydroponically grown lettuce and greenhouse tomatoes, eggplant, greens and more. Mushroom growers spawn exotic crops of earthy-tasting hedgehogs and mild pom poms, as well as a dozen other varieties, all year. Area orchardists keep their apples firm and crisp for months after harvest in controlled-atmosphere storage. They still press sweet cider, months after harvest.

At the growing number of farmers markets in the region that remain open all year (there are 11, compared with more than 90 that operate in summer), you won't find piles of peaches and baskets of berries in January or February -- although farmers say people still ask for them. But there is unexpected bounty.

This time of year, it's easier to spot the livestock farmers with coolers full of cuts of pasture-raised beef, pork, chicken, bison and goat. Bakers with breads, quiches and fruit tarts are immensely popular. There are particularly appealing prepared foods, such as soups and stews, that farmers make with vegetables and herbs from their gardens. Fresh eggs and dairy products such as milk, butter, cheese and yogurt take center stage.

"We had some of our best days of the year in December with the holidays," says Adam Cook, co-owner of Blue Highland Dairy in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., and a four-year winter market veteran who sells eggs, milk and cheese at the Dupont Circle, Falls Church and Arlington markets. The mild weather was an advantage, he says. Fewer people visit farmers markets in winter, but "if they're going to make the effort to go out in the cold, they are not just shopping around. They are going to buy something."

In peak season, the Leesburg market has about 23 vendors and averages 65 to 75 shoppers per hour. This winter, its first to stay open, as many as 18 farmers and bakers have set up their stands for about 50 shoppers per hour, depending on the weather. As at most markets, the dropouts are often orchardists who can't store their produce for months at a time; vendors who in warmer months sell bedding plants; and, of course, any farmer who doesn't want to spend hours standing in a parking lot in the cold.

Falls Church also joined the short list of all-year markets this winter, with 18 vendors, down from a summer high of 30 and with about 20 percent of the peak-season customers. "A number of vendors asked to give it a shot,"spokesman Howard Herman said. "We've been pleasantly surprised, with hundreds coming through."

Farmers say the year-round visibility keeps the momentum going.

"For markets that stop, it's always a slow start in the spring," says Twin Springs Fruit Farm co-owner Aubrey King. "People forget you exist." He farms in Orrtanna, Pa., and sells his greenhouse-grown tender, spicy arugula, delicate red oak leaf lettuce and assorted vegetables throughout the year at markets in Dupont Circle, Takoma Park and Bethesda.

In 1990, when the area was home to about 20 farmers markets, King became one of the first farmers to start selling in the winter. For multi-vendor markets, the trend toward staying open in the winter began about five years ago with Takoma Park and Arlington.

The phenomenon parallels the overall growth in direct-to-consumer marketing by farmers. The number of markets nationally is estimated at almost 4,400, an 18 percent increase since 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA doesn't track how many stay open 12 months a year, but Washington is not the only city to see such a movement. In the Seattle area, which has 30 farmers markets in the summer, three within the past five years have extended their run to year-round.

With the money made at winter markets, farmers can buy additional greenhouses or a new tractor. More money is circulated where the goods are produced. Sustainable small-scale agriculture becomes closer to reality, or at least feasible in the long run.

"For us, winter markets have changed the revenue stream completely," says Leesburg dairyman Paul Stephan, co-owner of Blue Ridge Dairy. For five years he has sold mozzarella and feta cheese, butter and his biggest sellers -- skim and whole-milk yogurt -- at the Dupont Circle, Eastern Market, Arlington and this season Falls Church and Leesburg markets. "Before, in winter, it was break-even, but last season we became profitable."

Another farm that traces some of its growth to winter business is Endless Summer Harvest Farm, a three-year-old business that produces hydroponic lettuce in Purcellville and sells at the Dupont, Falls Church, Leesburg, Arlington and Takoma Park markets. In the fall, the farm won a $68,000 USDA grant to develop lettuce fortified with calcium and potassium. The money, says co-owner Mary Ellen Taylor, will help the farm expand and enter more markets, winter and summer alike.

"It will jump our business," Taylor says. "We're confident people will pay more for that."

In 2003, Dupont became the only one of the seven FreshFarm markets to stay open year-round, and it continues to grow. While about 300 people per week attended that first winter market, the number had grown to about 700 per week by the 2005-2006 season, a 58 percent increase over the year before. But that's still a fraction of the 2,700 people who shop weekly there during summer's peak.

"There's demand, and people don't want to see it go away in winter," says Ann Yonkers, who co-founded the market with Bernadine Prince. "And with shorter lines, it's a great time to get to know your farmer, talk about recipes and cooking techniques."

But even in winter there can be long lines.

On a recent Sunday at Dupont Circle, at the opening 10 a.m. cowbell, 30 people at a time are waiting for the 13 kinds of rustic breads at the Atwater's Bakery table. This Baltimore baker also has terrific soups, such as shrimp with fennel. Nearby, an equally long line of customers is waiting at the Bonaparte Bakery table for some of the best croissants in town, as well as tangy lemon tarts and an excellent Provencal-style olive quiche.

On the shoppers go, from vendor to vendor, sampling 10 varieties of apples. Spring Valley Farm and Orchard has homey apple pie and pink applesauce. There are decisions to be made, with more than a dozen kinds of goat cheeses from three producers. Peek inside one of the 10 white portable coolers at Cibola Farms to find its biggest seller: ground bison, lean and slightly sweet-tasting.

Or just grab a pound of thick-sliced smoked bacon and a carton of the small brown eggs from Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley. When it comes to making a farm-fresh breakfast, there's no need to wait till spring.

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