Knoxville Farmers Market

[mjb62676]

Originally Posted by JMT

It's not there anymore. The county farmers' market used to be near Knoxville Center Mall, but it closed down years ago and is now Target. They really should take down those signs.

This is what I was afraid of after reading the post about the old market now being a Target...as that Target seemed pretty new. Too bad, as that Target is only about 5 minutes from our house, if that.

[knoxgarden]

There are several farmer's markets around.
Outside of Knoxville, the biggest one I've been to is Ritter Farms in Grainger county. Tomatoes, of course, but also lots of other things. I've gotten some wonderful strawberries there in the early summer -- small, sweet and really ripe. $2 a quart.
They have a great selection of heirloom green beans. Wonderful flavor. Good peaches when they have them in. Blackberries in season.
It's on Hwy. 11W just east of Rutledge. Not open Sundays. Pretty drive out there.
Ritter Farms
If the crop has been good, you'll see a lot of pick-your-own tomato farms along 11W. Usually $5 a bushel.
You'll also see a sign for Joppa Mountain Pottery. Follow it. A magical place to visit.
The frost we had at Easter did a lot of damage to the small farmers so you won't see as much produce as usual. East Tennessee was declared an agricultural disaster area by the Feds this Spring for a reason.
In Knoxville, there's a Farmer's Market in the Parking Lot of Laurel Church of Christ at 3457 Kingston Pike every Tuesday and Friday starting at 3 p.m. (take I-40 to Alcoa Highway exit, get off at Kingston pike Exit and go west. It's on the right. Look careful, it's down the hill)
Same group (FARM) runs one in Oak Ridge in Jackson Square on Wednesday (starts 3 p.m.) and Saturday (starts 8 a.m.).
There's also one in Maryville
Home / Contact
For meat, go to Earthfare in the Turkey Creek shopping center.
Earth Fare Home
The butcher is positively inspired when it comes to sausages and speciality hamburgers.
Tennessee is working hard to get more small farmers up and profitable with small market farms. Tobacco was the cash crop in East Tennessee for a long time. Now that the allotments are being bought out, they're trying to replace the money that brought in. If you do go out 11W, you will still see some tobacco growing. You'll also see a lot of vacant fields that used to be planted with tobacco.

[mjb62676]

Originally Posted by knoxgarden

There are several farmer's markets around.
Outside of Knoxville, the biggest one I've been to is Ritter Farms in Grainger county. Tomatoes, of course, but also lots of other things. I've gotten some wonderful strawberries there in the early summer -- small, sweet and really ripe. $2 a quart.
They have a great selection of heirloom green beans. Wonderful flavor. Good peaches when they have them in. Blackberries in season.
It's on Hwy. 11W just east of Rutledge. Not open Sundays. Pretty drive out there.
Ritter Farms
If the crop has been good, you'll see a lot of pick-your-own tomato farms along 11W. Usually $5 a bushel.
You'll also see a sign for Joppa Mountain Pottery. Follow it. A magical place to visit.
The frost we had at Easter did a lot of damage to the small farmers so you won't see as much produce as usual. East Tennessee was declared an agricultural disaster area by the Feds this Spring for a reason.
In Knoxville, there's a Farmer's Market in the Parking Lot of Laurel Church of Christ at 3457 Kingston Pike every Tuesday and Friday starting at 3 p.m. (take I-40 to Alcoa Highway exit, get off at Kingston pike Exit and go west. It's on the right. Look careful, it's down the hill)
Same group (FARM) runs one in Oak Ridge in Jackson Square on Wednesday (starts 3 p.m.) and Saturday (starts 8 a.m.).
There's also one in Maryville
Home / Contact
For meat, go to Earthfare in the Turkey Creek shopping center.
Earth Fare Home
The butcher is positively inspired when it comes to sausages and speciality hamburgers.
Tennessee is working hard to get more small farmers up and profitable with small market farms. Tobacco was the cash crop in East Tennessee for a long time. Now that the allotments are being bought out, they're trying to replace the money that brought in. If you do go out 11W, you will still see some tobacco growing. You'll also see a lot of vacant fields that used to be planted with tobacco.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions! We're thinking about going up to the Tomato Festival today if my wife is feeling better. Gives us a reason to get out and go for a drive to explore the area some more, and I saw they were selling tomatoes for 1 dollar per pound on the news...that's unreal.

[hiknapster]

Swing by my work and drop off some for me!

Only kidding! I'm famous on this forum for loving Grainger County tomatoes!

I hope your wife is feeling better!

[Beretta]

Grainger tomatoes are the best! (although the ones in my backyard are pretty good too, lol). I love making salsa from them. I buy two boxes at a time and put up salsa for the rest of the year. Nothing like Grainger tomatoes with vidalia onions. Lordy that is good eatin'.

[hiknapster]

Grainger County tomatoes and Vidalia Onions are heaven here on earth!

[hilly7]

Moderator cut: Advertising Good to see someone else raising beef naturally. I usually laugh when I tell people that I naturally grow stuff naturally because I'm too cheap to buy chemicals. lol. So far with the early frost and drought we've not done as much this year produce wise. We're about 1/2 way there. We've canned 51 qts of 1/2 white rummers, dried about 10 lbs onions (Vidalia) and 50 lbs stored, God knows how many potatoes, 15 qts wild blackberries (more nitrilocidesper berry), 15 qts whole tomatoes, 5 qts juice and a bunch of pints plus okra, peppers dried & frozen. Oh yea and 51 pints of strawberry preserves. 30 qts of corn so far. Given away as much as we've kept. Not sure about grapes, they may not do well this year even with watering. Lost the apples & pears from frost.

I've considered getting a couple of hogs, moving the Llamas in with the cows and cutting off an acre or 2 for them and the rest of that field getting a milk cow or two, just hate the 2 times per day every day on the milk. Mostly depends on if it will all be used. Also adding a few chickens to the few remaining just for eggs. My wife is terrified that I'll crank up my incubators again ... well, maybe 1. lol
We got 4 regular people that buy on the hoof that I'm selling to and then keeping the rest until prices go back up. Probably not as many as you have, we'll be wintering combines about 50 this year, up for us. We also kept the goats, sheep and llamas this year.

[jimlee]

This is an old post but if anyone is still looking for a farmers market with actual local farmers participating there are several.

East Tennessee Farmers Association for Retail Marketing

My favorite is the Jackson Square one in Oak Ridge on Saturday mornings. Great people selling their stuff there.

We go regularly to buy eggs, tomatoes (in season), honey, bread, and veggies.