Here are three of the offerings at the Suwanee Farmers Market, open 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays at Suwanee Town Center Park, 330 Town Center Ave. Now in its 20th year, the market features more than 35 vendors, with goods ranging from produce to water buffalo. Information: suwanee.com/explore-suwanee/events/farmers-market
Fresh potatoes
There’s a difference in taste between grocery store potatoes and those bought from a local farmer. Freshly harvested potatoes are juicy and tender. Vicky and Steve Fry of Fry Farm in Bethlehem have been selling their produce at the market for 18 years. They offer white, gold, pink, red and blue-fleshed potatoes, along with slicing them, as well as cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, honey orange melons, red onions and eggplant. The careful hand labor that goes into digging those potatoes out of the soil means they arrive at the market in perfect condition.
$3-$4 per pound for medium to large potatoes, $5 per pound for fingerlings and baby potatoes. Also available at the Sandy Springs Farmers Market and for pickup at the farm. Order ahead at fry-farm.com.
Credit: Shalley N. Carrell
Credit: Shalley N. Carrell
Water buffalo
If you’re looking to purchase meat harvested humanely from animals with a species-appropriate lifestyle and diet, try the water buffalo at David and Shalley Carrell’s booth. David said that if skeptical customers are willing to try a pack of ground water buffalo, they’re likely to “fall in love” with the product. The Suwanee market is the only one in the metro area with water buffalo available. Carrell Farms raises its livestock on farms in Covington and Monroe and sells water buffalo in cuts that are similar to beef, along with teriyaki- and jalapeño-cheese-flavored snack sticks.
$6 for 4-ounce snack sticks, $12 per pound of ground water buffalo, $18 per pound of rib-eye steak. Also available for delivery or pickup at the farm in Monroe. Order at carrellfarms.com.
Credit: Great Harvest Bakery Cafe
Credit: Great Harvest Bakery Cafe
Bread and cookies
Depending on when you arrive, Great Harvest Bakery Cafe’s booth will have up to a half-dozen flavors of cookies, plus tea cakes, bread and other freshly baked goods. We arrived mid-morning and the sourdough loaves all had been snapped up. So, we went for the last loaf of bread left on the table, a challah. Made with a flavorful egg-rich dough, it was perfect for fresh tomato sandwiches when we got home.
$3.50 for cookies, $10 for challah, $10.50 for tea cakes. Information: greatharvest.com
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