The Waverly Farmers' Market

     This year, the Waverly Farmers' Market, situated between E. University Parkway and 32nd Street, celebrates its 30th birthday. Every Saturday, local farms and vendors come to sell everything from fresh produce to Jamaican curries, falafel, Vietnamese, and even home-baked vegan quiches. From 7 AM to noon, Baltimoreans can get their fix of steamed crabs, mesculun tossed with nasturtiums, sweet corn, apples, and butter beans. If one so chooses, he may even hit up Pete's Grill, located perpendicular to the market, before or after his visit. A local favorite, Pete's has gained notoriety for its unofficial Breakfast of Champions, or the sickeningly massive meal consumed by hometown hero Michael Phelps, whenever he stops by his favorite breakfast joint.
     At the market, each vendor puts care into his products, and the staff members are incredibly helpful in recommending the week's best picks and in ringing you up. The market features Belvedere Square favorite, Atwaters, which offers a massive selection of various sweet and savory breads and muffins. A favorite is their signature olive bread. Neopol, also headquartered in the square, sells the best smoked salmon one will ever eat. I can guarantee it- thick cut, and cured in everything from a Thai rub to peppercorn to sauteed onions, it is absolutely not what one can find in his local supermarket.

     For fresh produce, one has many options, but my favorite remains One Straw Farm. Located in White Hall, Maryland, and run by Joan and Drew Norman, the farm specializes in certified organic produces, and focuses on produce unique to the mid-Atlantic region. OSF participates in CSA, or a community supported agriculture program, which is designed to bring this produce straight to the local community, a system that benefits both the farmers and consumers. Upon signing up for the program, community members pick up local produce weekly, from a variety of drop-off locations and local markets. One is allotted a certain amount of produce, depending on that week's yield, and the season stretches from June to November. Each week, the produce available varies in type and quantity, but a regular season generally offers any combination of squashes, eggplants, heirloom tomatoes, kale, lettuce, beets, and chard. Personally, I like the kale.

     I recently visited the farm during an Environmental Science field trip and Mrs. Norman introduced us to a house recipe- kale chips. To prepare them, she lays kale leaves out on a baking sheet and lightly sprinkles them with EVOO and sea salt. Then, she places the sheet in a warm oven (perhaps after roasting a chicken), and leaves it there overnight. In the morning, the chips are paper-thin, crispy, and salty- the perfect alternative to a bagged chip saturated with fats, hydrogenated oils, and starches. Every week, I see her at Waverly, and she is always more than pleased to bag my kale herself.
     A number of ethnic vendors also offer prepared foods of various strains. Some offer empanadas, ginger drinks, and moroccan mint teas. Asian Food Delights offers Thai dishes, while B-more alive has a seemingly endless array of falafel toppings, and Ethiopian Delights's lentil spreads are not to be passed over. Eula McDowell sells incredible soups, including a black bean with garlic shrimp, but her best product is arguably the black bean-mango salad. One man even sells authentic african textiles and scoops out fresh slabs of butter from what looks like a giant coconut shell. Harmony, a vegan stop, offers breakfast foods, cobblers, and everything else under the sun, free of animal products and cooked using the same produce one can buy at surrounding vendors. Another favorite, Broom's Bloom, located in Harford County, produces an overwhelmingly (in a good way) list of ice creams, as well as fresh milks and other dairy products.

     A local smoothie franchise, Wheely Good Smoothies, has taken sustainability and health-consciousness to a new level; they allow market visitors to pedal a bike, powering a blender in order to produce their own concoction. These smoothies include mango, various berry combinations, and a particularly satisfying and innovative strawberry basil. It is precisely this focus on the environment, community, and innovation that keeps people coming back every weekend.
     The market displays the best, edible and not, products available, from fresh bouquets to persian rugs, and vegan tarts to sugarplums. It should not be overshadowed by Sunday's larger market, located underneath the Jones Falls Expressway. In fact, it takes the best of the JFX market and presents it to you in an accessible, easily navigable, and inviting environment, full of ethnic color, warmth, and vibrant mixes of market visitors of all ages and demographics. You don't need a truffle pig to sniff out the fresh oysters, portabellas, or shiitakes that Woodland Mushrooms provides. All you need is a desire to explore and a few durable shopping bags. Maybe some comfortable walking shoes too.