Brick Weekly, June 7, 2007 Issue

Food Awakening
by Jennifer Pullinger

Walk into any garden-variety grocery store today and you’ll likely find a specialty aisle or two loaded with shelf-fuls of organic meat, milk, and fruits and vegetables. Even though your local Kroger and Ukrop’s are jumping on the farm fresh food bandwagon by offering organically-grown food, the neighborhood farmers market is still where you can get the freshest produce around.

Sales of organically grown food are up substantially nationwide. In early May, the Organic Trade Association released statistics that show sales of organic foods grew by 22.1 percent and represented approximately three percent of all U.S. retail food and beverage sales in 2006. The origins of that upward trend can be found at farmers markets across the country.

In Richmond, the newest farmers market to crop up is the Byrd House Market, located at the William Byrd Community House on the corner of South Linden Street and Idlewood Avenue in Oregon Hill. Operating every Tuesday from 3:30pm to 7pm through October, Byrd House Market offers a bevy of locally grown food and handmade arts and crafts. Manager Stacey Moulds says the main goal is to support local farmers, crafters, and artisans by giving them a place to sell. Plus, it gives local residents a place to buy fresh food since the neighborhood is without a conveniently accessible grocery store.

(For the rest of the story..) Source: Brick Weekly