NORTHAMPTON — Whether it’s her sweet-tasting Adriatic figs or Magic Mollie purple potatoes, Linda Lazarus of Twin Oaks Farms puts as much love into selling her produce as she does growing it.
“You’ve gotta try this,” she says to a customer at the Saturday Farmers Market in Northampton. “We’re the only ones that have these figs here and they’re ripe enough to eat. Right now.”
Lazarus, who is in her 70s, has been selling her organic produce and plants at the Northampton farmers market for nearly 50 years. Although she has multiple sclerosis, a disease that impacts the spinal cord, brain and optic nerves, she still loves digging in the dirt.
“I love to crawl around up and down the rows, and digging for potatoes. With the birds singing and the quiet all around … there’s just nothing better,” she said.
Lazarus, who runs her Feeding Hills farm alongside her husband, John Spineti, is one of roughly seven vendors who make up the Saturday Farmers Market on Gothic Street in Northampton, which is one of approximately 250 seasonal and winter farmers markets across the state that affords farmers the ability to sell directly to consumers.
On Saturday, that particular notion was recognized by the Baker-Polito administration, which declared Aug. 7 through Aug. 13 “Farmers Market Week” in conjunction with the National Farmer Markets Week. In celebration of this recognition, John Lebeaux, commissioner of the state Department of Agricultural Resources, visited the Northampton market as well as the Holyoke Farmers Market at City Hall, and presented a proclamation on behalf of the state.
Days prior to the visit to Northampton, Lebeaux and Ashley Randle, deputy commissioner and policy and legislative director for the agriculture department, visited farmers markets in Framingham, Truro, Cambridge, Brighton, Wayland and Watertown.
“Each market is so unique. And coming to Northampton, the diversity that we see here in the vendors is different from what we might see in Holyoke,” said Randle.
She also commended Northampton market manager Rick Tracy, of Intervale Farm in Westhampton, for maintaining the market in his role as manager since the early 1980s and for being a Healthy Incentive Program vendor. The program, commonly known as HIP, helps SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) clients buy more fruits and vegetables for their households.
“I couldn’t do this by myself. I have lots of support from the other vendors and from the customers who make it all happen,” said Tracy. “I do think it’s a real tribute to the city and the surrounding areas that Northampton can continue to support four farmers markets.”
During the brief ceremony, Lebeaux said farmers markets create economic vitality for farmers and food producers and for the communities where the markets are located. There are 7,241 farms in the state, farming on nearly 500,000 acres of land and generating nearly $500 million in business every year, he said.
“We are fifth in the nation for direct farm-to-consumer sales. Over $100 million of farm sales annually is retail, sold at either a farm stand, the farmers market, or a community-supported agricultural farm,” said Lebeaux. “Here in Hampshire County, there are almost 700 farms on over 50,000 acres, producing over $46 million in sales each year. … Our visit is to make sure that consumers of Massachusetts are aware of all the benefits of the farmers markets because our farmers rely on these direct sales.”
In addition to Lebeaux, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Edith Murnane, executive director of Mass Farmers Markets, also shared some remarks.
Sciarra said she sees the city’s four farmers markets — on Saturday at Gothic Street, Tuesday at Armory Street, on Wednesday at Florence Center and the winter farmers market at Conz Street — as much more than a place to purchase fresh produce directly from farmers and producers.
“I really view them as an essential part of our culture. They are part of the fabric of our lives in the spring and the summer in the fall, as the different crops change and their central meeting places. They’re incredibly important in Northampton,” she said.
Since taking office, Comerford said she has come to understand how challenging it can be as a farmer in the state.
“It is very hard to farm in Massachusetts. It is expensive to farm. The stakes for our farmers are intensely high. And so, entities like farmers markets are, as the commissioner rightly said, outlets to be able to have a fair sale of the produce that they work hard for,” said Comerford. “So I’m delighted to be here to celebrate with you all … You couldn’t think of western Massachusetts without agriculture. So this is a day to really celebrate them.”
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.
