Oliver, Orchard Country Produce Department of Transportation

How long have you been doing farmers markets for?

Oliver: Oh Wow....uhmm.... well I guess since I was 10 years old. 

Oliver is a veteran of farmers markets. Although the youngest vendor at the market, he knows selling, markets, and his product inside and out. He is the only farmer selling at the market today. His stand offers a variety of farm grown products from jams to small plants to apples and plums. Despite it being the largest stand at the market, only Oliver is working behind it. If I had to guess I would say Oliver is somewhere in his early twenties; not just because of the way he looks but also because of his youthful and energetic attitude. Oliver's parents bought their small farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1983. Oliver and his sisters grew up there, loving the farm life, while Oliver was groomed to eventually take over. He is extremely excited about taking the reins, and has plans on how to make the farm more profitable. Currently, on the farm they grow about 400 apple trees, which is their main product. They also have other fruits and plants they grow in the greenhouses. Oliver's sisters make some baked goods that they also sell at the stand. When Oliver becomes in charge of the farm he wants to set up more greenhouses with hollow tubes, in order to grow plants through winter. Currently, the family can only sell starting in the spring. Oliver is the only farmer at the market on opening day because all the other farmers don't have enough produce yet to fill their stands. He seems offended when I ask if their fruit is organic. "Find me one farmer on the East Coast who is able to sell organic tree fruits.....maybe the West Coast." Due to the humidity and the prevalence of fungus, all East Coast farmers must spray their trees. Oliver's family still is in a variety of ways environmentally conscious. Their farm doesn't practice mono-cropping, unlike the huge farms surrounding them, and therefore support healthy soil and ecosystems. Since they grow a small variety of produce they are unable to sell to huge wholesalers. Oliver sells at 2 farmers market, at the family's farm stand in Alexandria and they sell to a few restaurants. At the farm stand in Alexandria they are able to sell 3 times as much produce then at the farmers markets due to farmers markets' regulations, and therefore they are making three times the profit.  Oliver and his family represent the root and the soul of a farmers market. They are able to distribute their product from Pennsylvania to the entire DMV area, and every single time a customer buys from them they able to talk to the farmers about the quality of their product.  It is here that you see the small business growing and the customer's own knowledge of what they are buying improving.The second day I visit the market, a regular customer approaches Oliver, he tells him how the good the pie was that he bought last week and questions him about some of the plants. Before long they are chatting about some new government regulations on small farmers. Oliver enters the conversation with the same passion and interest he entered our interview. There is no doubt in my mind that with Oliver in charge, the small family farm will do only one thing: grow.