Saturday mornings at the Minnetrista Farmers Market are filled with shoppers of all ages; moms with strollers to senior couples are present. Vendors, prideful of what they sell, stock the booths with fresh produce. The smell of charcoal barbecue and chatter among the shoppers fill the air.
Steve Smith sells corn at the Minnetrista Cultural Center's Farmers Market because it makes people happy, he said.
"You raise a good product, and people come and buy it," Smith said. "It gives you something to do. You meet a lot of nice people."
Smith and his wife are retired, but they come to the farmers market to help their neighbors sell corn. The corn is grown methodically to provide the best quality for the consumers.
"We start planting corn in the 18th of March," Smith said. "We plant every five to seven days until the last week of July, so we have fresh corn coming in every week."
Before taking the freshly harvested corn to the farmers market, the crop is sprayed with cold water so it tastes sweeter.
Smith's parents and grandparents were also farmers.
"I'm a farmer because I was just born that way," Smith said. "It just runs in your blood, and it gets you outside."
Regular customers bring back last week's bags to fill them with Smith's corn brand, My Dad's Sweet Corn.
Lynda and Arbin Michael's brand, Country Fresh Herbs and Honey, also have regular customers.
"I have repeat customers all the time," Lynda Michael said. "Even though everyone seems to be selling herbs one time or another, I keep selling my herbs year round."
She grows fresh herbs in her farm and produces teas and seasonings. Her husband produces honey and honey products.
She said she grows herbs for four reasons: Herbs smell good, look beautiful, taste good and can be used for medicine.
"I think it's amazing that you could have a plant to do all these things," she said.
Lynda Michael said she enjoys selling at Minnetrista, because it is a controlled market with good rules for selling. They have rules about where products come from.
"Minnetrista is one of the best farmers markets here in Indiana," she said.
She also loves the atmosphere of the market.
"People come and spend the whole morning," she said. "They meet their friends. They walk their dogs. The atmosphere at the farmers market is a social event."
The Minnetrista Farmers Market isn't just a social event. It's a place to celebrate the freshness of locally grown food.
Tony Barnett and Corey Newton grow fresh lettuce with their company, Lush Leaf Farm.
"We specialize in lettuce," Newton said. "We grow it, harvest it and the root structure stays intact so it stays fresh in the refrigerator for 45 days and even longer sometimes."
Barnett and Newton grow lettuce in greenhouses so their crop never gets rained on or sunburnt. Consumers are attracted to the product because of the consistency and quality.
"People get their money's worth out of our product because of the shelf life," Newton said. "We literally don't end up wasting any of it."
Lush Leaf Farm provides to fine-dining restaurants in Indianapolis. It also services its local high school in Wayne County. Since school has been out, they have been hitting local farmers markets.
Barnett said 80 to 85 percent of the lettuce sold in grocery stores comes from Arizona or California.
"[That lettuce has] 1,500 miles on a truck after it's been dead to get over here," he said. "When you open a bag of lettuce or salad, after like 2 days, it goes bad."
Barnett and Newton said they come to Minnetrista's Farmers Market because people want their product, and they sell every bit of it.
"I think that Muncie with Ball State, this area has been more conscious with what they eat," Barnett said. "This area has a healthy-eating conscious, so that's why we're here. That's our mission."
Minnetrista Cultural Center holds its farmers market from 3:30 until 6 p.m. every Wednesday and from 8 a.m. until noon every Saturday until October.
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