Fresh From the Farm to Falls Church

Beginning the first Saturday in March through to the last Saturday before Thanksgiving the parking lot in front of City Hall in Falls Church from eight in the morning until noon is ripe with the fruit of the land. From farms throughout the metropolitan area farmers come together to sell their wares in the small City.

Among the rows of tents and tables are fresh fruits picked fresh. The colors, reds, greens, oranges, are edible oases for City residents tired of store bought fruits and vegetables shipped in from Florida and California.

For many of the farmers, Falls Church long has been a stop on their tour of the area, that also includes markets in Arlington and the District.

Amidst the diversity of produce and products are a variety of people that have come to know the City through their weekly visits to the City.

Lana Edlin, from Homestead Farm in Charles County watches the crowds mill past her tables. She has been coming to Falls Church since 1994 and says that the market is one of the best in the area.

Throughout her life she has learned to live with the unpredictable weather of the area. From droughts to floods she has seen and survived it all.

She talked to the News-Press about this year. “It’s been a good season, or at least it started off good,” she said.

Edlin said that the wet weather has improved growth but the recent rain has started to affect the crops. “It’s too wet for tomatoes now,” she said. “They’re splitting and rotting on the vine.”

Despite this, her tables overflow with corn and tomatoes and her customers seem to have few complaints.

Further on behind a wall of wildflowers Les Bowman has laid out his jars of honey.

Bowman has been raising bees since he was a kid and has been attending the Falls Church market since it opened.

Bowman talked about how he raises wildflowers near the hives in order to have the flavors of wildflowers in the honey.

“It’s a mix of a variety of flavors,” said Bowman.

He points to a darker honey that he says is made with nectar from poplar trees. “It has a stronger taste,” he said.

While he sells other things besides honey, he says his farm is too small to compete with other growers in the area. Still, as he says this, a customer pipes in, “Don’t listen to him, they have the best tomatoes here.”

Across the flood of people, the fruits of summer take a different form. Fresh scents emanate from the Mt. Harmony Booth, which sells homemade soaps.

Joanne Stickland, with Mt. Harmony, said that the loafs of soap each take around two and a half hours to make and they have a huge variety of over 100 scents, though they don’t bring them all at the same time.

Still, the list of scents is impressive and even a little poetic. “Amber waves of Grain” an oatmeal and amber oil soap, or “Snow Falling on Pines” combines balsam pine fragrance, wheatgerm oil and aloe vera gel.

She pointed to a bar with rosemary, which she says acts as a natural disinfectant.

Peering across the slabs, customers ask for old favorites and suggestions for new ones.

Across the rest of the tents customers continue to peruse the choices. Fresh baked goods, cheeses, meats, all available on the streets of Falls Church, the tastes of summer, freshly picked.