FREDERICK - Summer growing season has arrived at the Tillman County Farmers Market here, with locally-grown vegetables now available for purchase during the weekly event each Saturday at 420 S. Main St.
Customers can browse the market’s vendors on foot while practicing social distancing and are encouraged to wear a face mask. However, customers are highly encouraged to drive their vehicles over a drive-through lane in front of vendors’, which are situated in vehicle stalls that previously served a former drive-in restaurant at that location and have their purchases delivered to their vehicles.
Memorial Day weekend was the opening of the summer season, which continues through the month of July or for as long as supplies of vegetables last. Last year, the market’s summer season for sale of vegetables continued into the month of August.
Carrey Varelman, a market vendor from Grandfield, is selling vegetables such as microgreens and fresh garlic along with fresh Amish and Challah breads she had been selling at the weekly market during weeks prior to the beginning of the summer season. Varelman said the first week was a success with a good turnout to kick off the season.
“We wanted to do a ‘kick start’,” she said. “And to point out the importance of buying locally.”
Varleman said the selection and variety of items offered will likely change in coming weeks as more vegetables become “in-season.” She also disputed widespread reports of a “beef shortage” in this region due to a large number of area cattle raisers.
“There’s one thing in Oklahoma and Texas we know how to grow cows,” she said.
One cattle farmer, Robert Heap, of Heap’s Market in Frederick, is among the mar- ket’s vendors. He sells selections of fresh refrigerated meat from a trailer each weekend.
“We want to spread the availability of protein to local families,” he said. “We’re not big about selling quantities in bulk.”
Heap’s selections include hamburger, steaks, short ribs and roast.
“Our cattle are grass fed and grain finished,” he said. “Our beef has no antibiotics or hormones.”
Heap and his wife, Nancy, of Heap Springs LLC, raise Angus cattle on a farm southwest of Frederick.
Mark Bobo, an event organizer, said other seasonal produce items planned during the summer season of the Tillman County Farmers Market will include watermelons from Terral in Jefferson County and Cunningham peaches grown in Colorado.
Also offered by various market vendors are vegetables such as onions, carrots, broccoli, squash, black-eyed peas, cabbage, cantaloupe, corn on the cob, cucumbers, green beans, okra, radishes and tomatoes.
Operating hours each Saturday are 8 a.m. until noon. SNAP benefits are accepted as part of a Double Up Oklahoma program by Hunger Free Oklahoma, designed to help low-income families purchase and eat healthier food selections while supporting local farmers.
Additional information is available at the Tillman County Farmers Market Facebook page.