Before the sun rises each Wednesday morning, Mary Jean Smith drives to the downtown square, unloads her tables from her truck and sets up a variety of fresh flower bouquets, canned goods, homegrown vegetables and embroidered pillow cases.
Jean is joined throughout the early morning hours by others bringing their homegrown and homemade goods to sell.
The group of Elbert County farmers, gardeners and bakers have been donning the downtown square as part of the Elbert County farmer’s market. While some, like Jean, have been consistently bringing goods each week for over 15 years, others just recently spent their first morning on the square.
Jean and Rita Harper were selling at a produce market in Athens when they decided to bring the market closer to home.
“I enjoy growing things. I enjoy this,” Jean said looking around the market. “I work just about every day doing something.”
Fresh tomatoes, beets, onions, lettuce, green beans, squash, cucumbers and peas have filled the baskets on Jean’s tables over the seasons along with her other goods.
Next to Jean, Linda Cannon has been around since 2013, bringing canned jams and jellies, pickles and relish, homemade breads, cakes and pies and gift baskets. Linda’s venture began when she would use the square as a meeting place to pick up baked goods people ordered from her.
She eventually decided to set up a table for others to come and purchase the goods and spends Mondays and Tuesdays baking to prepare for Wednesday morning.
“I like to be with the people,” Linda said as her favorite part of the farmer’s maket. “I worked in the schools before I retired. I’m a people person. I also worked with extension, so I knew about canning and such as that. I enjoy canning. I enjoy baking too. I love to get it done and just stand back and look at it.”
For the past two years, Cannon has been joined by her grandson, Brandon, who brings his own baked goods like buttermilk pie, crafts like wreaths and decorative signs made by his sister and local honey from a neighbor.
“I learned from her and my other grandmother,” Brandon said. “I started cooking since I was big enough to stand up and do it. I want to keep it going because a lot of people don’t do it anymore.
Brandon also brings his famous pimento cheese and chicken salad, which sometimes sells out before the market even officially begins at 7:30 a.m.
The market brings out anywhere from 10-12 vendors throughout the season, offering local goods Brandon said can’t be found in grocery stores.
“Everybody has their signature thing that they do,” Brandon said.
Down the row is David Wright, also known as “Uncle D.” David brings a variety of homemade pickles and pickled goods, hot sauces and salsa. With a variety of homegrown peppers, David’s hot sauces range from jalapeno to ghost pepper to the hottest pepper in the world – carolina reaper.
Each of the ingredients that go into the cans labeled with his “Uncle D” signature nickname are grown and canned by David.
Across from David is Eric Johanson, who spent his first Wednesday on the square Aug. 10. Eric brought coolers full of his homegrown okra and baskets of ripe tomatoes.
While he wasn’t sure how the morning would turn out, Eric said he hopes to return to the market in the future.
Just up from Eric is a table featuring a variety of fresh vegetables, buckets of sunflower stalks and a whiteboard with prices for fresh beef. Jessie Powers and Mauricio Cortez, of Powers Farm and Ranch in Bowman, haul a refrigerated trailer along with their vegetables to store an array of beef cuts from their ranch.
Cuts of sirloin, ribeye and New York strips along with ground beef, roast, cube steak, short ribs and filet steak are offered by the pound. Their table also features a more extensive list of fresh beef, offered by the pound and in whole, halves and quarters.
The newly-revived farmer’s market has been done with help from the Elbert County Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Elberton and Elbert County Farm Bureau. Farm Bureau is hosting a canning class Thursday, Aug. 18 from 9 a.m. to noon at the First United Methodist Church kitchen.
The class will be led by University of Georgia’s Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent Christa Campbell.
The cost of the class is $5 for Farm Bureau members and $35 for non-members. For registration and more information, call 706-283-3675.