RVA Farmers Market Roundup

’Tis the season! The best season!

April 25, 2016; 12:16 PM • by Stephanie Ganz

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, official! FARMERS MARKET SEASON IS UPON US! A multitude of crispy, crunchy, pretty green things are popping up out of the ground; hens are laying eggs all over the damn place; mushrooms are working their way up out of the wet soil; and the dairy products are a-flowin’.

In and around Richmond, there’s a farmers market almost every day of the week. (Get your act together, Friday.) In fact, most days, there are multiple markets at various times and locations, which means there’s statistically bound to be a market that aligns with your schedule somewhere on this list. (Note: I failed statistics!)

While several markets have been operating year-round, the true market season kicks off the first week in May. Here’s our guide to the markets in the immediate area, conveniently listed by day, with huge thanks to Mary Delicate of the Capital Area Farmers Market Association. CAFMA also has a much larger list of markets in the not-as-immediate area if you’re looking for a fun little excursion.

MONDAY

Regency Square Farmers Market

This one’s brand new! I think a farmers market is the best-case scenario for these aging malls. Not that Forever 21 isn’t enough of a draw for me, but having a market at a mall just makes sense. The parking is ample, and the ability to marry food shopping and clothes shopping is quite appealing. What can I say, I was born to multi-task!

  • Mondays, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (June through August)
  • 1420 N. Parham Road
  • growrva.com
  • Accepts EBT/SNAP

TUESDAY

Birdhouse Farmers Market

To me, the Byrd House Market seems the most like what I always imagined a farmers market to be: Heavy on the farmers, light on the prepared foods and gifty stuff. This is the market to hit up directly before making dinner and probably the most likely place to find chefs sourcing the freshest food for their restaurants.

In its new form, the Birdhouse (spelling change!) Market is a mid-city, mid-week market with about 20 vendors who are focused on great food (and flowers and popsicles), from farms like Amy’s Organic Garden, Deer Run Farm, Byrd Farm, Tomten Farm, and Agriberry. It’s exceptionally family friendly with storytelling, face painting, and a very nearby public pool.

  • Tuesdays, 3:00 PM – 6:30 PM (May – November)
  • Randolph Neighborhood, Grayland Avenue between Allen and Randolph Streets
  • birdhousefarmersmarket.org
  • Accepts EBT/SNAP

WEDNESDAY

Lakeside Farmers Market

Tired of those narrow four-hour windows that farmers markets operate within? How does “open all day” sound to you? It should sound very doable, and that’s just what the Lakeside Farmers Market is.

This market has a little bit of everything, from beef and produce (Greenway Beef and Produce) to bread (Great Harvest Bread Co.) and seafood (Arnest Seafood) to stew (Unkol Chucks Brunswick Stew) and jam (Dayum This is My Jam).

Now in its ninth season, the Lakeside Farmers Market is owned and operated by Peter Francisco who has recently partnered with Kyle Anderberg for what they’re calling the Lakeside Farm Project, a collaborative farming space near the market that, according to Anderberg will be “utilized for education related to different ways of growing food sustainably and without the use of chemicals…Our goal is to invite the community to be a part of the food growing process by working together and learning from one another.”

Victory Farms Urban Farmstand

Need to grab something on your way home on Wednesday? Well, if you call Westover Hills home, the Victory Farms Urban Farmstand is a quick stop with a wide array of Certified Naturally Grown vegetables c/o Victory Farms.

  • Wednesdays, 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM (April – November)
  • Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, 4401 Forest Hill Avenue
  • victoryfarmsinc.com

Vegetables

THURSDAY

Tricycle Gardens Four Season Farm Stand

This is a farmstand, not a market. Here you’ll just find fresh healthy produce grown within Richmond City limits, and shouldn’t that be enough?

  • Thursdays, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm (first three Thursdays of every month)
  • VCU Massey Cancer Center, at the intersection of College and Marshall Streets
  • tricyclegardens.org

Huguenot-Robious Farmers Market

Score another one for the multi-taskers. Embellish your garden from the goodies at the Great Big Greenhouse, while shopping for pickles and country sausage, all the while wrist-deep in a big old bag of kettle corn. It’s a win-win.

  • Thursdays, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (year-round, although between January and April, it’s held inside)
  • 2051 Huguenot Road
  • greatbiggreenhouse.com

FRIDAY

There aren’t any markets on Fridays! Take this as your weekly opportunity to stock up on Costco meats and unethically-sourced cherry tomatoes from Mexico.

I kid, I kid! If you’re looking for locally-sourced produce, meat, and dairy on this, the only non-market day in our calendar, head over to Little House Green Grocery, JM Stock Provisions, Yellow Umbrella, Ellwood Thompson’s, Farm2Family and/or Belmont Butchery.

SATURDAY

Breads

Photo by Luke Witt

Farmers Market at St. Stephen’s

The market at St. Steve’s has almost as devout a following as the church itself. This is a market that allows new businesses to connect with their fans and grow to the point of putting down real roots. Take Ginger Juice, Whisk (formerly Sugar Baking Co), Boka Tako Truck, and Goatocado, for example. Many of the above got their entrepreneurial start at this market before opening brick and mortar locations of their own.

This is one of the markets at which I can count on finding my new favorite things each year. This season, it looks like my three favorite things might be from: 1. Curds & Whey RVA, producers of mozzarella cheese, chocolate mousse, spoonbread, and lasagna (a complete balanced breakfast if you ask me). 2. Red Cap, a baker selling European-inspired treats including kouign-amann (!) and 3. Smorgasbord Test Kitchen, with its breads, jams, and unusual pickles.

  • Saturdays, 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM (April – October)
  • St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 6000 Grove Avenue
  • [ststephsnrva.org/community/farmers-market](http://www.ststephensrva.org/community/farmers-market/

Lakeside Farmers Market

Same Lakeside market, different day!

South of the James Market

This is the big one, the really big market with the amazing turnout and a dizzying number of vendors. Now in a permanent Forest Hill Park location, the South of the James market is always thrumming with life–multiple musicians serenading shoppers, Jonathan the Juggler tossing pins from his unicycle perch, and at least a half a dozen prepared food options from bagels to doughnuts to crepes make this a very complete shopping experience.

This season, new vendors include Black Hand Coffee and Salty Ice Cream, plus Daily Jars and Free Union Grass Farm, a small-scale livestock farm who learned their sustainable farming methods from Polyface Farm.

  • Saturdays, 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM (May – October)
  • Forest Hill Park, New Kent Avenue & 42nd Street
  • growrva.com
  • Accepts EBT/SNAP

West End Farmers Market

The West End Market has been a staple for Henrico shoppers for eight seasons. It’s a great spot to slow down and actually talk with your vendor friends. Here you’ll find almost thirty vendors selling bread, meat, produce, candles, soap, and cookies; and they’re all impossibly smiling, friendly, and helpful.

SUNDAY

Carytown Farmers Market

Also known as the “Festivus Market,” the Carytown Market is the market “for the rest of us.” Working on Saturday? Busy Tuesday afternoon? Unless brunch is your actual job, you’ve probably got at least one hour of free time between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM on a Sunday. If that’s the case, the Carytown Farmers Market is smack in the middle of Carytown in the Wells Fargo parking lot just waiting for you.

  • Sundays, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM (May – November)
  • Wells Fargo parking lot, 3201 W. Cary Street
  • carytownmarket.com
  • Accepts EBT/SNAP
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Stephanie Ganz

Stephanie Ganz thought there would be pizza.

April 25, 2016 12:16 PM · in , , and more 2

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