A Trip to Bountiful by Justin Mason

Justin Mason is an agricultural student at Murray State University and is interning at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture in Frankfort this summer. He also mans the hoe on occasion at Honest Farm and we feel lucky to have such a fun and hardworking young farmer to help us out a few days a week. Today Justin attended his first Kentucky produce auction and wrote a story about it, below.

Like many local farmers, we sometimes buy produce from other Kentucky producers until our own crops are ready. My tomatoes have a couple of weeks to go and because of poor germination, the corn was planted on the late side. Thankfully farmers from the southern part of the state were more organized. Many of these farmers are Amish or Mennonite and while they may turn their backs on much of the modern world, they aren’t shy about certain innovative farming practices. Some of these farmers started their corn as transplants and in black plastic, which, because of the heat it adds to the soil, manages to jump-start the crop. Using this method at least one Amish farmer in Lincoln County began harvesting his corn nearly 3 weeks ago and no doubt  earned the envy of his neighbors.

There are many buggy ruts and hoofprints alongside the shoulder on the curvaceous road that takes you to the auction. Seeing the corn- or cabbage laden buggies pulled into the auction always makes me smile (as do the horse shoes, hammer, and nails in the buggy, the Amish version of a spare tire).

Last week we bought some large, juicy, field-ripened tomatoes at the auction and promptly sold out of them, so this week we purchased nearly three times as much. I was very happy to have Justin along as he has been working on farms and at farmer markets at least half his life and knows how to pick the best. Here are his impressions and the wonderful photographs he took today:

By Justin Mason:

“I recently visited the produce auction in a rural town in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Being a first time visitor I was unsure of what to expect. I grew up working on a farm and have grown corn and vegetables firsthand, but never had the chance to experience a live produce auction. The producers there were mostly over 50, which would have lended a sterotypical “good ol’ boy” atmosphere to the place if it weren’t for the Amish and Mennonite farmers in their customary dress, which made you feel like you’d stepped into another time. I like the old saying, “wisdom comes with age”, and that was evident at the auction with the professionalism of these experienced farmers.

We arrived an hour before the live auction started and carefully examined all of the lots of produce so that we would have a better idea of what products fell under the category of “fresh” we had in mind. Susie pulled out her pocket knife to spear some watermelon and even cut off some corn kernels to sample. One farmer gladly sliced open a cantaloupe so she could have a taste. Later on a farmer tugged on my sleeve and said “has she seen the Candy onions I brought?” No doubt they have her pegged as a choosy shopper.

Pickup trucks and horse-drawn buggies pulled up to the loading dock to unload their goods, all with the help of some younger farmers. Many hands made quick work of it. Green carts appeared and were rapidly stacked with boxed or bagged items in lots to be sold.

 Today there were field-grown tomatoes in all sizes, sweet bicolor and Silver Queen — "first of the season!’" –  corn, summer squash, green bell peppers, just harvested onions and potatoes, wild blackberries and much more. I was impressed by all the picking done by the farmers and how quickly it would wind up on someone’s table.

As we were scanning the produce carts I noticed the steadily growing crowd begin to get anxious and knew we must be nearing the 2 pm start time.  Attendees gathered around the auctioneer and his spotters to begin bidding on their favorite lots. Susie had written down the numbers of the seller lots she wanted to bid on. As the auctioneer and spotter worked from cart to cart the group of bidders followed along like ducklings to a mother duck. (It’s important to stay close to the auctioneer to ensure your bid is taken and you get the vegetables you really want.) Like me, there were other first-time visitors: Some newcomers who thought they were bidding on one box rather than a lot (for instance 1 box of tomatoes at $20 rather than 5 at $20, big difference), necessitated a restart of the bidding process. You had the feeling this had happened many times before.

After paying for our chosen items, we waited for the crowd to flow to the opposite side of the building so that we could wheel our carts out of the selling aisles. I was very impressed by the hard working, young (meaning around age six to 12) children who miraculously appeared to help us load up the produce. As I was placing boxes in the car I was assisted by one young girl, and two even younger boys who, despite being waist high, were able to lift a 30-pound box of half runners as well as me. Seeing youngsters this age so eager to work, you realize the work ethic they have instilled in them from the beginning and why they make such good farmers.“