MORGANTOWN — In a new and improved location, the Cheat Lake Farmers Market had its first day at Chestnut Ridge Church. This marked the ninth year for the market, but the first in its new location.
Katie Fallon, market manager, said the market was inspired by a woman named Patricia Keith who had a farm in Cheat Lake. She passed away about three years ago, and when she died she donated her farm to the Human-Animal Bond, a non-profit that sponsors the market.
Keith always wanted there to be a farmers market in Cheat Lake, so by her urging the market was started.
“She got to see the market get started, but it’s grown a lot since she’s passed away,” Fallon said.
Fallon said Cheat Lake is a growing community, with a lot of people living in the area.
But there’s no grocery store nearby or place to buy fresh food unless people want to travel downtown on a Saturday and visit the Farmers Market on Spruce Street.
“This market gives people a chance to come out at the start of the week and buy their food for the rest of the week. And then, if their food runs out, then they can always go to the market Saturday downtown and get more,” she said.
She said one of the nice things about the market is it can be a good place to come and hang out, not just a place to get food. Her own children meet up with their friends there to run around and play in the nearby field.
The market has a little of everything. Shoppers can find tomatoes, zucchini, salad and locally made soap. There is also meat from Preston County, as well as Southwest Pennsylvania, that is pasture-raised. There are baked goods — who doesn’t love a good pepperoni roll? — and woodcrafts. Some farms that vend there are as close as a mile away the marketplace.
“It’s very local,” Fallon said.
On Monday, Fallon received a delivery of branded tote bags from the statewide program Farm Fresh West Virginia that encourages people to eat more farm fresh food statewide.
With Farm to Table being a growing movement around the country and state, Fallon said the Morgantown community is getting better opportunities for acquiring fresh local food.
“It keeps money in the local economy, which is really good. It can cut down on fossil fuel usage because you don’t have to ship your food from California. You know you don’t need tomatoes from California — you can get tomatoes from West Virginia that somebody from your community grew,” she said.
Though eating health is often construed as expensive, at the farmer’s market you can get a bag of kale or Swiss chard for one dollar from Sines Farm. The farm, hailing from Point Marion, Pa., even sells maple syrup from their own trees and honey from their own bees.
Willy Sines always told Fallon he had a “really awesome garden.” She has since been to his garden for a cookout and found it is, in fact, really awesome.
“It makes me happy to eat food [when] I saw where it came from,” Fallon said.
Sines has been selling his food at the market for nine years. He and his wife built their garden from the ground up and are working on another half-acre garden across the road from their house.
Offering an array of products, he said they like to stay competitive.
“We like raising the garden. We look at the prices, we look at Aldi’s price, we try to match or beat Aldi’s price, and in some cases, we can,” he said.
Among the conversations and smiling faces, Fallon said the best part of the farmers market experience is that it brings the community together — as well as the dogs who made an appearance.
“It brings the community together, outside, talking in an informal setting, and you just get to meet people who are producing stuff in your community, which I think is really important and kind of cool,” she said.
Susan Klingensmith, a long-time customer, and Cheat Lake business owner of the Lakehouse likes coming to the farmers market not only to see her friend, Katie Fallon, but also for the convenience.
“The fresh local produce, not having to go to Kroger, knowing that I am supporting the farms and not conglomerates,” she said.
A lot of the food the Lakehouse serves comes from the farmers market, and they try to support it as much as they can.
Klingensmith is looking forward to the summertime and enjoying the produce. Though she said she is not a gardener, she got some basil plants that she will get to enjoy without doing all the work.
Fallon is looking forward to hot peppers.
Sines will be sure to have her covered. He will have hot Italian peppers, ghost peppers, Hungarian wax peppers and a couple different types of cayenne.
Also be sure to expect some butternut squash, sugar baby watermelons, okra plants and Brussel sprouts.
“We’re selling better stuff than we’re probably eating,” he joked.
The Cheat Lake Farmers Market is every Monday from 4-7 p.m., at Chestnut Ridge Church.
