Texas Backyard Gardeners aims to bring more produce to Victoria Farmers’ Market
Over the past couple weeks they’ve added pickles and handmade craft goods to their offerings and have plans to possibly add more.
By Cat DeLaura
Victoria Advocate
Nov 27, 2021
Excerpt:
Martignoni began selling at the Victoria’s Farmers’ Market about two years ago as part of the market’s Backyard Gardener program. The program allows residents to sell excess produce at the market for a limited number of days each year for a highly discounted fee.
“The Backyard Gardener program is great for getting people started,” said Martignoni. “They can test the waters to see what they want to do, if they want to get into it full time.”
But backyard gardeners are only allowed to sell fresh produce or garden plants.
The program began about three years ago and was designed with two types of vendors in mind, said Meredith Byrd, the market’s director. Maybe somebody has a personal backyard garden or some fruit trees, she said, and while they may be able to consume most of the food it produces, the Backyard Gardener program lets them sell any excess produce on the weeks there’s more than enough. It helps avoid waste and brings more fresh local produce to the market.
“Produce vendors are hands down the hardest type of vendor to recruit for a farmers market,” said Byrd. That’s because growing produce is so dependent on factors out of your control, like the weather. With the Backyard Gardener program, the market is able to supplement their full-time growers and bring in more produce for the customers.
