If you live in the Eastern Panhandle and are looking for locally grown produce and goods.... (Charles Town: mortgage)

[Threerun]

State ag leader visits area - Journal News

The Inwood Farmers Market is located on Rt.51 off a side street near the I-81 entrance/exit ramps. It's on the left side if you're heading towards the interstate. There's an older car wash on one corner and a used car lot on the other.

We used to go there quite a bit buy fresh produce and fruits, and right now should be the best time to go. They also carry a nice selection of WV wines, jellies, sauces and other culinary condiments. According to the article, they are now carrying B-20 diesel (the first in the state). I knew Cam Tabb was brewing for his own use, but now he's apparently handed it over.

There is another Farmers Market called the Bardane Market located off of old Rt.9 just north of Charles Town. Very similar to Inwood, but I don't believe their selection of produce is as good. They seem to have focused more on selling physical goods such as 'Amish built' picninc tables and swings and other such things. I also know they sell a rebranded cherry cider not locally produced, so they may not really be offering all 'locally grown' items. It's still a nice place to go, none the less.

[vec101]

Speaking of fresh produce... friend tells me that when in NC they get tomatoes grown outdoors and they don't taste as good as WV tomatoes. Also, her sis lives in Texas and when she comes to visit she looks forward to WV tomatoes. Surprised me - do ours taste better?

I never like tomatoes until I started dating hubby and tasted ones from his garden. Guess I had never tasted a "real" tomato before. They are so yummy I eat them like fruit. Have several on my plants in my planters that are almost red - I'm so excited.

[Threerun]

Hmm, never heard of that. I know some produce takes better to certain mineral content of the soil, but tomatoes are usually pretty forgiving.

We used to have some heirloom tomatoes that tasted great, but were a little smallish. We grew roma's, better boys and some Beefsteaks for sandwiches. The roma variety we used made for some great sauces.

The soil we had in Jefferson county was sort of an anomoly. When we bought the house there was a HUGE bush of multi-flora rose and other nefarious plant life. As I started to remove the brush, I discovered the underlying mass was all the tree and vegetation cleared to make way for the building site 9 years prior. After I burned the larger semi-decomposed logs I was left with perfect, rich, composted stuff that was spread over a 100x100 area. You could shove a hoe handle down in the soil 2 feet with no resistance.

What a great place for a garden! The soil conditions there were generally clay and limestone, so it balanced it out very well. We grew potatoes, tomatoes, collards, turnips, corn, various squash, kale, butter beans, black-eyed peas, peas, cukes, zuchs and even a bumper crop of huge peanuts one year.

[Bobilee]

About this time of year I would take the train down from Philly to visit my dad, he loved growing different kinds of tomatoes, some heirlooms, a few of the names I remember were Mortgage Lifters and Pink Ladies. We would go to Tudors Biscuit World in the morning for biscuits and gravy, and then walk down to his tomato patch for a few pounds of tomatoes and slice them up with the biscuits and gravy. They were the best I've ever had.

[Threerun]

When we were in Middlebourne there was a roadside stand selling mortgage lifters! My co-worker picked up half a dozen. He swears they're the best tomatoes he's ever had..