Barnegat Farmer On A Quest To Feed The Town With Heirloom Vegetables

Raised by an Italian mother, Caitlin Clarke of Barnegat said food has always been important in her family.

"What an admirable endeavor it is to try and feed people," Clarke said.

She studied zoology, then switched to an interest in plants at a small Pennsylvania college in an agrarian area. She ended up majoring in Japanese, but fell in love with orchards and the idea of growing things, she said.

Today Clarke, 25, is seeking to fulfill this mission by growing heirloom vegetables out of the Bay Avenue home where she grew up, an 1872 historical residence across from the Memorial Park with a 1-acre property.

In 2010, Clarke started planting tomatoes, beans, lettuce, eggplants, peas and more. Clarke plans to take orders through Facebook, phone or email, and the customers can pick up the veggies from her parents' house, she said, though if things go well, she will consider opening a store and selling from there.

Heirlooms Vs. Hybrids

Clarke said her vegetables are different and feature more genetic variety of taste, shape and color, because, unlike hybrid vegetables, heirlooms are open-pollinated, which means they are grown with minimum interference and tinkering.

"The vegetables actually reproduce with one another," Clarke explained. "You're still manipulating a little bit to get the kinds of varieties you need, but you're allowing the plant to carry out its own natural processes."

"It's kind of quaint and antique-y," Clarke added, "and one of the advantages is that if I wanted to save seeds for next year, I could."

The process allows Clarke to produce tomatoes called "Green Zebra" and "Pink Brandywine," spicy Chinese "Five-Color Peppers," green beans with red stripes called "Dragon Tongues," Malaysian eggplants and much more.

Some Obstacles

Clarke said that in her quest to start selling her produce this year, she is facing obstacles she did not anticipate. When she applied to become one of the vendors at Barnegat's Farmers' Market, she was accepted in March. But just this month, she received a phone call from the president of the Barnegat Chamber of Commerce, Ginny Melchiondo, who said Clarke could sell her tomatoes, but not the other vegetables, Clarke said.

There are concerns of too many vendors offering similar products, although Clarke sees her offerings as being unique.

"If heirloom tomatoes are different enough to sell, then so are heirloom beans," Clarke said.

When Patch spoke to Melchiondo, however, the chamber president said even the possible sale of the tomatoes is in question, because of concerns of too many similar products competing with each other at the market.

"I'd love to have her come, but we have our own rules and regulations," Melchiondo said. "We just can't have any more duplication. If a farmer backed out, we'd have an open space, but these are the people who have been with us from day one."

"That's something we're going to have to work out," Melchiondo added.

According to Melchiondo, who is married to township committeeman and former mayor Jeff Melchiondo, the farmers' market has been very successful for the past three years, going into the fourth.

"Last year we did try to bring in another farmer who sold produce, and that proved to be unsuccessful," she said. "We welcome vendors who offer a different product and right now we have four farmers selling produce."

Melchiondo said having too many vendors would affect the ability of everyone involved to make money.

Clarke, however, sees herself as a newcomer who is simply not welcome by the establishment, she said, insisting that the differences in her product are apparent.

"I don't have the volume that (the hybrid farmers) have, you see, it's small," Clarke said. "I try to keep my prices as low as possible, but I'm doing everything by hand, and because of that I'm just in a different price range than they are. I have a different product, and I feel I should be allowed to sell."

"I have student loans and expenses, just like everybody else," Clarke added. "I should be allowed an opportunity to make a living."

Clarke spoke to Barnegat Township Mayor Alfonso Cirulli, who promised he'd look into the matter.

"I called him, and he seemed very genuine," Clarke said. "I was very impressed with him. He's basically trying to present my case."

"I contacted our administrator and Jeff Melchiondo, he used to be the Chamber of Commerce president," Cirulli told Patch. "Dave Breeden (township administrator) is looking into it with the chamber president. The main thing is they want to make sure that everybody does well."

"If she's got truly different stuff, they'll work it out," Cirulli added. "I have complete confidence in our chamber."

Clarke & Company Heirloom Gardens

Regardless of the farmers' market difficulties, Clarke is moving forward with other aspects of her business, she said. Customers wanting her heirloom veggies can contact Clarke at cat.emerich@gmail.com for more information about Clarke & Company Heirloom Gardens.