Montclair Farmers' Market Almanac

Hot weather and the lukewarm economy have taken a toll on vendors at the Montclair Farmers' Market.

"This has been a crazy year," says Richard Sunden of Sunden's Stone Point Farm. "We don't need the weather against us ... the economy has been enough." He's been selling produce at the market here for 15 years, but it has been tough this season.

People haven't been buying as much at the market as in years past. "The sales were off quite a bit because people were nervous about the economy," he says. Sunden has tried to keep prices down as much as possible because higher prices will drive what customers there are even farther away. But his expenses are high too - what with pay, insurance and healthcare for workers, along with the regular costs of farming.

When the high heat arrived in June it came without much-needed rain and tight watering restrictions made it even harder to get crops that much-needed water. Take a look at your neighbor's burned out lawn to see the potential for disaster for a farmer. "It's our whole livelihood," Sunden says of potential draught damage.

Those eagerly awaited cherries had a short season because high heat in June caused them to split, Sunden says. Some of the berries were short-lived this year too, but Sunden has hopes for the peaches that arrive this weekend and the rest of the season.

After all, Sunden has seen just about everything in his years farming. In the 1930s his family farmed chickens and since then the Sundens have pursued every kind of agriculture including hogs, nursery plants, sheep, and now truck farming. On market day, Sunden and his crew are up at 4 a.m. to load trucks at his Bergen County farm before heading to the Walnut Street market. Once there, it is a hectic few hours of setting up. The crew has to trim the lettuce and cabbage, water the plants, set up tables and make everything inviting, set up scales, bags, water, and change. "We're like turtles,"  Sunden says. "We have to pack everything on our backs."

This week he expects New Jersey peaches and nectarines to show up at the market and then in two weeks New Jersey tomatoes should be ready for sale. 

After the hectic summer months at the market, Sunden enjoys the fall apple season. By then all the harvesting is done and the apples aren't as fragile and prone to damage and rotting as summer soft fruits like berries, peaches, and nectarines.  Plus the weather has cooled off some which makes setting up the market and selling easier too. "After all that work setting up, you have to be friendly to the customers," Sunden laughs.

The Montclair Farmers' Market runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Walnut Street Train Station parking lot.