Alexiea Chalender
Augustine Martinez bearing a smile in front of his “Sweet Tree Farms” banner.
The Turlock Farmers Market is an often overlooked location where students may find reasonably priced food. Along the street you can see and smell the freshly baked products, hot dishes, live music performances, local small businesses and produce for students to discover.
The market provides a great opportunity for students to get out and socialize with others while supporting the local community. The farmers market occurs every Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at downtown Turlock on Main Street.
Students living on campus can take the bus on Monte Vista and Geer back to the Transit Center. From there, students can hop on the bus taking them to Golden State and Main/Central Park, where they can get off and walk to the market. You can access their website here at https://www.turlocktransit.com/?lang=es.
Train tracks run through the middle of the market, splitting it into two halves, so make sure to check out both sides! The gap between the halves takes no longer than two minutes to walk.
The farmers market seems to be an underutilized resource students could greatly benefit from.
Rylie Asuncion (Creative Media, Senior) states that she has never been to the Turlock Farmers Market but wishes to go in the future as she greatly enjoys farmers markets.
“I definitely need to check it out because I love going to farmers markets and supporting sellers as well as getting to try all the yummy foods,” she says, “At most farmers markets, I look for my favorite fruits, strawberries and mangos. I love sweet treats though so I would definitely probably find myself checking out the pastries. I think students should know about the farmers market so that they can enjoy the fresh foods and it would be good for the sellers as well.”
At the farmers market, students should check out Sweet Tree Farms. The stall owner, Augustine Martinez, attends the farmers market every Saturday selling his freshly picked fruit from Reedley, CA.
He and his wife have been coming to the market for 20 years, and only this past May did his wife convince him to bring his own produce to sell. Besides a couple of missed weekends, he has been here every weekend since then.
When asked about his harvest, Martinez claims that he only sells seasonal fruits that grow on his farm. What he brings to the farmer’s market depends on what has grown on his trees.
“Everything produced is seasonal,” he said, “With each variety having its own little window of two or three weeks. Depending on the variety some fruits can take a long time to fill one of these tubs up. Such as cherries which take forever. But Asian pears are easier to fill up.”
Mr. Martinez’s favorite thing about the market is interacting with the people who attend. He doesn’t get to leave his stall much, so he is unable to enjoy all the market truly has to offer.
“I don’t get to go around to see anything in the market, this is as far as I get to see,” he laughs while referring to his stall.
“My favorite part is meeting the people and having them taste what really true ripe fruit tastes like, I don’t do veggies, it’s all fruit. It helps expose them to different varieties of seasonal ripe fruits,” Martinez says.
Katie Lu (English, Sophomore) wishes to attend the farmers market here.
“I’ve never been to the market as I’m originally from Manteca, not Turlock. But it sounds interesting,” she says. “As a student who doesn’t really know how to cook I wouldn’t use much of the actual produce, but other students with kitchens can. Other than that I would either buy some snacks, lip balm and maybe other skin care. It seems like a great interesting place for locals and students to support small businesses, buy affordable produce and get to know more of Turlock.”
There are over 59 different certified vendors at the farmers market. It is seasonal, lasting every Saturday from March to December! They list every vendor and special events here at their website at https://turlockmarket.org/new-events. So if you are a student wanting to get your hands on some delicious affordable produce, make sure to check it out before its too late!