TEXARKANA, Ark - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic did little to dissuade fresh farm produce lovers from collecting Saturday at the Gateway Farmers Market.
From 300 to 500 produce fans from throughout the Texarkana area spent five hours visiting with about 16 to 18 market vendors offering not only watermelons, strawberries, tomatoes, blueberries, cantaloupe, peaches, plums, blackberries, figs, eggs and cucumbers for purchase but also varieties of jellies and jams in addition to USDA meats and assorted baked goods, such as pies, cakes, cookies and breads, as well as woodcrafts and different soaps and lotions.
"There's 21 different jellies out here today," said Fouke, Arkansas, resident Mary Littleton. "I've been making different flavors of jelly for about four years now."
Littleton's daughter, Cindy Gladden, now in her first year as the new Gateway Farmers Market manager, said she has spent the last 12 years as a vendor.
"Mom has been a vendor for about the last 20 years," Gladden said of Littleton.
Gladden added that through the years, the market, also open from 7 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, (just like it is on Saturday), has traditionally opened in May and runs for six months before closing at the end of October - just as the weather starts to turn significantly cooler.
"We traditionally continue this market into the early to mid-Autumn, usually because pumpkins, unions, peas, broccoli and squash make for good harvesting at that time," Gladden said.
Besides the market itself, some fresh produce seekers also dropped by the nearby Miller County Red Dirt Master Gardener's tent to listen to gardening tips.
Miller County Master Gardener Clyde Davis learned about a new gardening configuration technique from a local chicken farmer about a month ago.
Davis said the farmer showed him what is known as a "Round Garden" - something that looks like an outdoor circular bathtub is built to be nearly 4 feet deep, which can encompass about 20 square feet of circular space. This space can be filled a little less than halfway up with cardboard and soil - accommodating plant life, such as flowers or even some low-growing vegetable produce.
" People could grow lettuce, tomatoes and peppers in these things, as well as winter produce like cabbage and collard greens" Davis said. "This is the first time we've had a Round Garden on display. At first, I didn't think that something like this would work, but the more I looked at this, the better I liked it."