Three farmer’s markets have operated in Platte County this summer, and it’s to my regret that I’m visiting them late in the season. Because there are two very good reasons to visit the vendor stalls in Parkville, Platte City, and Weston. For one, the good tasting food like the delicious sweet corn and tomatoes my partner and I picked up a few weeks ago at Parkville. Secondly, you meet nice people doing interesting things with everything from pretzels and coffee to squash and cabbage.
“Everything we have we grow ourselves,” said Gary Oberdiek, staffing a stand a few weeks back at the Parkville Farmer’s Market. “Our tomatoes this year were a bust. But soon we’ll have watermelons and cantaloupes.”
Bill Graham
Oberdiek was selling large potatoes for $4 a quart box or small potatoes for $2 a box. The Oberdiek family has farmed in the Missouri River bottoms in southeaster Platte County since the 1800s. They also sell at the farmer’s market in Platte City. Besides vegetables, they sell herbs and houseplants. Their first offerings in April include asparagus and greenhouse tomatoes.
I’ve nothing against our local grocery stores that I shop in frequently. But for freshness and taste, and environmental concerns, it’s hard to beat locally grown.
Luckily on that day, Mike McFarland was selling tomatoes grown at his Parkville farm. I don’t recall price, but they were large, tasty, and sliced up very well. I noticed some signs in the market and McFarland pointed out that they inform that low-income seniors can receive $50 annually to purchase items at a farmer’s market That’s through Missouri’s Senior Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program. Visit platteseniors.org for more information.
Meat eaters may want to check out these markets, too. Tammy Recey staffed the Zerep Farms booth with signs advertising pasture raised pork and chicken. They can also provide your turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, birds currently strutting around on their farm in rural Platte City. Zerep Farms has booths at both the Platte City and the Parkville markets. They also sell eggs and specialized bake goods.
In fact, I visited the Platte City Farmer’s Market on Saturday, Aug. 17, and found Leo Perez staffing a Zerep Farms booth. Yes, Zerep is his last name spelled backward. His table on this day was heavily stocked with home canned jams and jellies, plus bread products.
“The bread products are made with a hard white wheat ground with my stone mill,” Perez said. It’s whole wheat but with a lighter color than the more commonly used red wheat. It also has all the bran and germ from the wheat kernels, and thus heftier nutrition. The white wheat is grown in Montana and purchased from a Missouri wholesaler. “It’s not organic, but it’s not sprayed with anything.”
Six booths were offering various goods at the Platte City market. Some vendors were from across the river in Kansas, others local to the county. I spotted enormous green cabbages, cartons with green beans, and various types of eggplant. But I was also drawn to Tom Leary’s booth with duck and chicken eggs for sale. The richest, tastiest homemade noodles I ever tasted were made with duck eggs. That was a long time ago, but on another day I plan to give duck egg noodles another try. Leary, who raises his poultry appropriately off Farmer’s Lane east of Platte City, said other folks use duck eggs for baked goods or fry them like a chicken egg.
At Weston on Saturday morning, I found booths lined up in the shade of the New Deal Tobacco Warehouse. Victoria Politte sold baked goods including baguettes that would seem to be increasing in popularity following the Paris Olympics. Politte and her husband have a fledgling Sac and Fox Farm farm in rural Weston. She will sell fresh eggs once the hens start laying again.
No vegetables were spotted at the Weston market on this visit, but the entrepreneur spirit was alive and appetizingly well. Wildside Pretzels, based in Platte City, offered free samples and pretzels for sale. They’re also selling nationally in various ways My sample was excellent, spicy and tasty, more please. They offer pretzels and various spices and flavors. Google them.
Chris Chavis had his Weston Roastery coffee samples available for tasting and freshly roasted coffee for sale. His wares include various flavors with local history sourced names such as Port of Weston or Platte Purchase.
Nationally and locally there is a movement for farm-to-market and farm-to-table food. Sometimes it costs more, but sometimes less, and often the locally grown has quality advantages. Let[s support them.
The Parkville Farmer’s Market is open from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday’s and from noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, through the last Saturday in October. You’ll find it at the foot of Main Street near English Landing Park. The Platte City Farmer’s Market moved this summer to 1316 Plaza Court, which is just east of the Price Chopper grocery store in a newly developed block, visit them on Saturday mornings. Weston’s Saturday morning Farmer’s Market will only be open one more week, I’m told, but hopefully will return someday.
For all farmer’s markets, go early for the best selection. What is offered changes by the seasons. Don’t hesitate to ask questions. Spend freely for good dining.
Bill Graham is a long-time commentator on Platte County and its history. He lives in the Platte City area and can be reached at editor@plattecountycitizen.com.