Piper Piper Picks a Peck of Apples?

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."
-- Carl Sagan

The Consumerist notes that U-Pick Farms and Orchards are not always the best deal. As one reader writes,

my boyfriend and I went to [an Orchard], intending to do some apple picking. The website enticed us, and we dreamed of homemade apple pies. Only, when we got there, a greeter cheerily explained that there was an admittance fee to the orchards (a steep one, at that, $13.50 per person!) and a charge for apples picked (about $7 a small bag) Being the mathletes that we are, we figured we'd spend almost $40 between getting in and paying for our pickings.
So we didn't go in.

Years ago my wife & I decided to make apple cider using a cider press at a nearby nature center. We stopped at an orchard and saw that the price for a half a peck in the orchard store was better than if we picked it ourselves. So we bought instead of self-picking, then pressed the apples. We got a few cups of juice and figured it was the most expensive cider we ever drank. For some odd reason my wife still wants us to buy a cider press so we can do it again.

Beware of bait and switch, in the same Consumerist story, our math-smart couple called around and found a place with free admittance that said the cost for a peck was $9. When they arrived they learned that $9 was the store price but the orchard wanted $15 for a U-Pick peck-sized bag.

Bottom Line

What ever happened to the good ole days when you got a bargain buying direct from farmers and farm stands? We find now that farm markets prices match or exceed super-market prices.

Farmer Markets

“The fight to save family farms isn't just about farmers. It's about making sure that there is a safe and healthy food supply for all of us. It's about jobs, from Main Street to Wall Street. It's about a better America.” - Willie Nelson

According to the USDA, there are more than 4,600 farmers markets operating throughout the nation. I first fell in love with Farmers Markets in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while attending the University of Michigan. It was gigantic and amazing! Now I live in the Hudson Valley region of New York and the Farmers Markets are smaller but more plentiful. Nearly every town has a few stands on Saturday mornings from May to October. These markets are so popular that at least two in the region are now open year round. You won't get local produce in the winter but you can buy fish, meat and fresh bread.

To find a local market, try Googling "Farmers Market " or these websites

http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets/
www.localharvest.org/

A few years back my wife and I signed up for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The idea is that you support local farmers by prepaying for a share of their crop(s). The CSA agent often represents many farmers so you get a variety of foods over the course of the growing season. Our cost for a very small share was the equivalent of $18 per week. We'd visit the drop off point on Saturday mornings and discover what the CSA agent was distributing that day: lettuce, corn, kale, beans, etc. We usually got six different food types each week and sometimes we could choose; i.e. take 2 large cucumbers or 4 pickle sized.

The CSA was fun and we were exposed to many vegetables that we would not ordinarily eat; like kale. For just two people the amount of food was too much. We bought the smallest share possible and split the cost by alternating weeks with a friend. We did not rejoin the CSA for a second year. Instead for $18 we can buy exactly what we need and want from Farmers Markets.

Bottom Line

In theory you should get great bargains at Farmer's Markets by cutting out the middle-man but this is rarely the case. The farmers will claim their food is organic and charge the same or more as supermarket rates. So you may not save money but you can feel good about buying local (less fuel used in transportation) and supporting your local farmers. If fuel prices shoot up again or a pandemic closes the boarders of nations, then you'll want successful local farmers that can continue to supply you with food.