Shaker Square Farmer's Market
Shaker Square Farmer's Market is located at...Shaker Square...in Shaker Heights. Here is a map of the place, located on the website of North Union Farmers Market, which is a coalition of several Cleveland markets, including Crocker Park market, Lakewood market, and a few others.
Saturdays 8 a.m. - Noon
April 11 - December 12, 2009
If you're wondering, it doesn't seem like all branches of North Union Farmers Market have the same sellers, although some may overlap. For instance, on Saturdays, Shaker Square, Crocker Park are both open at the same time. So unless they split up their produce and sell it at both places, which I guess could be possible but seems unlikely, then it has to be different sellers. Also, the website says, "We always list the vendors for each market in our bi-weekly email." (Sign up here.)
The day I went to Shaker Square market it was pouring rain, and I also showed up closer to noon than to eight, so some booths didn't have a lot left. That's a cardinal rule of farmer's markets by the way: show up early, or you may not find what you want.
The sellers all seemed to be genuine farmers, and one booth, "Holmes County Stutzman" even had Amish. By the way, Bon Appetit, Case's catering service which runs all the dining halls, gets some of their grain from Stutzman farms.
Most of the products were edible, although there were some potted herbs, flowers, and even a gentleman marketing one of those upside down tomato plant contraptions you see on TV, but home made. Although, I guess infomercial-ers probably got the idea from people like him, not the other way around.
Not much else to say on this one. I'll come back to it if I think of anything. I'm going to make an official comparison of prices in the next few weeks (by going to a grocery store and making an inventory of what things usually cost...any suggestions as to which one? I'm looking for average pricing.), so I will talk about that issue then.
Booths (Not all of these were labeled as such. I asked where they were from.):
*Rainbow Farms (North Perry)
*Holmes County Stutzman
*Tea Hills Farms (Loudonville) - OFA-certified chicken, partially grass fed, including clover, partially fed with standard chicken feed. They drink spring water.
*Norwalk, or from roughly around there - organic.
*North Bloomfield
What I bought:
1. Currants, a box of this type - Rainbow Farms, $5
2. Corn, 2 ears - Rainbow Farms, $1.00
3. Spelt, corn and multigrain pancake flour, enough for 2 big plates of pancakes - Stutzman, $1.50
4. Beets, a bunch of about 5 medium - Stutzman, originally $4.00 but marked down to $3.50 b/c of rain
5. Chicken, 2 breasts slightly bigger than Gerber's size - Tea Hills, $7.00 marked down to $5.00
6. Garlic, 1 big fresh bulb with stem still attached - Norwalk, $1.50
7. Zucchini - North Bloomfield, 3 for $2, also possibly marked down
Total: $19.50
I ask you this: have you ever had a supermarket mark down your purchases because you had to go through the rain to get there? :)
By the way, these are currants:
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