Oak Marr Market Brings 12 Vendors to Oakton Weekly

Having moved and changed its name in the last four years, the Oak Marr Farmers Market offers a variety of vendors at its location at the Oak Marr ReCenter.

"If I can, I like to go (to the farmers market) weekly and I like to spend $50 and then stop," said Judith Mensh, an Oak Marr Farmers Market shopper.

Mensh said she has been going to farmers markets for three years since realizing the availability of local produce in the county.

Starting in 1979, the Fairfax County Farmers Market Program began as an attempt to establish a statewide farmers market network, according to the Fairfax County farmers markets booklet. 

"The primary objective of the Board was 'to improve and expand domestic marketing opportunities for agricultural commodities produced in Virginia and to provide consumers a fresh, high quality product,'" according to the booklet's history section.

Each Fairfax County farmers market is a local producer only market, with all vendors within 125 miles of Fairfax County, according to the Fairfax County farmers market website.

To sign up for the Fairfax County farmer's markets' e-newsletter, you can sign up by going to the Farmers Market website:  www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/farmersmarkets.

The vendors are the following: 

• Blue Ridge Gardens offers annual and perennial container plants.
• Cenan’s Bakery offers baked goods such as bread, cinnamon swirls and croissants as well as Turkish specialities.
• Fields of Grace Farm offers cheeses from a dairy farm in Remington, Virginia. 
• Garner’s Produce offers fruits, vegetables, herbs, cut flowers and nursery products from the Garners' family-run farm.
• Gypsy Hill offers an assortment of dips, spreads and rubs. 
• J & W Valley View Farm offers fruits and vegetables. 
• Knouse Fruitlands, Inc. offers tree fruits, berries and vegetables. 
• Kuhn Orchards offers a variety of fruit throughout the season.
• Lois’s Produce offers more than 50 different varieties of fruits and vegetables during the season. 
• Red Fox Creamery which sells homemade ice cream.
• Stallard Road Farm which offers beef, herbal teas, honey and eggs and is new to Fairfax County Farmers Markets.
• Valentine’s Country Bakery & Meats offers meats and baked goods.

All vendor information was given by Phyllis Ingram, Fairfax County farmers market coordinator.

Beginning next week, Oakton Patch will run a weekly feature on an Oak Marr Farmers Market vendor.