Amazing Things Your Family Will Love about the Farmers Market
What if there was a way to spend some relaxed time with your family this weekend and get the shopping out of the way?
Plus lots of parking, space for the kids to move freely, and absolutely the best produce on the island?
If that sounds enticing, you need to get to The Gladstone Road Farmer’s Market.
– Meet the farmers growing The Bahamas’ best vegetables.
– Sample delicious foods, beverages, and desserts.
– Nibble your way around the fascinating agricultural expo grounds.
– Gather amazing fixings for meals powered by locally grown foods.
– Show the kids where our food comes from.
And have fun doing it!
The Market is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 8 am to 4 pm. Masks are required, but there is no fee to enter the grounds. Bring your own green bags.
Photocredits: Above: permacultureconvergence.com | All Farmers Market Photos: Joy Sweeting
1 - GARDEN STARTERS + better greens
Looking for an easy way to start your family’s home garden?
Check out JR’s Farm. The stand is located just inside the entrance to the grounds.
Farmer, Jetta Rolle, sells $1 seedlings like beets, lettuce, collards, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet pepper, tomatoes, onions and herbs.
Start your home garden with a container and good soil. Just $30 gives you three of each basic seedling, and you’re off to a great start.
For ready-to-eat greens and herbs, try Jetta’s selection of dinosaur kale, regular kale, collards, Swiss chard, parsley and cilantro.
She also sells spectacular bunches of red onions, roots on. Cook up the bulbs and greens, then plant the healthy roots and enjoy a perpetual harvest.
2 - WAY better produce
Local vegetables like just-harvested broccoli taste better and last far longer than imported products dragged from their homeland, refrigerated, and brought out to supermarkets on their last legs.
Who beside us is tired of spending so much money on vegetables that go bad so quickly?
They are so good for us. To catch veggies at their best, enjoy them fresh out of the ground.
Seasonal favorites, like this beautiful pumpkin from Natasha Adderley’s farm stand, are cut and packaged before your eyes.
Natasha specializes in salad greens and micro greens, but stocks her fabulous farm stand with seasonal veggies and enchanting wines made from local fruit.
Local farmers purchase from one another to offer complementary crops to their customers. Here, Nassau farmer, Whitlyn Miller, offers green beans from another great farm in Andros.
Purchasing from other seasoned farmers allows her to focus on growing crops that work best on her farm.
Whitlyn knows what her customers enjoy and sources broadly to bring exceptional variety to her farm table. She also sells vegan and vegetarian snacks and desserts, plus veggies for small-batch pickling.
3 - interesting new friends
You never know who you might meet on the agricultural grounds. The market is a perfect place to stroll with kids, elderly folks, even well-socialized dogs-on-leash.
We met London, a beautiful Great Dane who loves meeting new people and photobombing their Instagram feeds. He just can’t help himself!
4 - fabulous seasonal fruit
Coconuts, bananas, plantains, ju-jus, guavas, dillies, star fruit, papaya, scarlet and hog plums, rose and sugar apples, soursop, mangoes, guineps and lychees. They all have incredible nutritional benefits.
The market is a wonderful place to introduce your kids to a dazzling variety of seasonal Bahamian fruit.
5 - real pickles
These three words are going to hit someone in the sweet spot: lacto-fermented pickles.
It’s a simple recipe:
veggies + vinegar + salt, seasonings + time.
The time-honored method of food fermentation produces super crunchy pickles, and the best probiotics for good gut health.
6 - steaming souses and savory soups
It’s Saturday. When you’re hungry for more than eggs and pancakes, try Ivamae Adderley’s incredible souses. (We asked she and her husband, Harold, to remove their masks so you could get a sense of their character.)
Across the grounds, pictured bottom left and right, the Edgar family of Seed Time and Harvest Farm serves up hearty and delicious regional recipes like conch fritters (fried in thyme-infused oil), hearty soups, and regional delicacies. Their stand is stocked with seasonal vegetables they grow just a mile or two from the Market, plus local sauces for the traditional Bahamian pantry.
7 - these incredible bottled tomatoes
Local “bottled tomatoes” were once an indispensable component of the Bahamian kitchen. Fruit too ripe to ship was processed at family island packing houses located close to “The Government Dock.”
Though canned tomatoes have largely replaced local bottles, a small number of women still know how to sterilize beer bottles and simmer a delicious preserved sauce from the sun-ripened fruit.
We found these beauties at the Edgar family’s farm stand. Thick with onions, peppers, and herbs, each rosy bottle promises culinary substance to any pot that will have them.
8 - gOOD company, GREAT CONVERSATION
The Market is a wonderful place to exchange ideas and recipes, to trade growing secrets, and learn from the community.
This lovely couple keeps their marriage fresh by spending time together.
Anyone who knows Mr. Chandra will tell you about his really awesome jokes. He keeps his Mrs. laughing, and they both spread lots of weekend cheer.
9 - ask your farmer
Learn about the local food system. Teach your children to become inquisitive about what they’re eating. Talk to a local farmer. Here are some of the trailblazing female farmers you’ll meet at Gladstone.
Natasha Adderley of Bahama Island Farms is joyful, established, and curious.
Her veg stand has a fantastic variety of greens and salad components. She makes and sells wines from seasonal fruit, and can coach you through the adventures of local winemaking.
Jetta Rolle was a Grower with the Ministry of Agriculture for several years before launching her own, successful farm. She loves the soil and has years of experience. She also loves her customers. Ask her a question!
A horticulturalist by profession, and a retired teacher, Whitlyn Miller is well into her third career as a farmer.
Stop at her Seasonal Sunshine farm stand to appreciate her insight and culinary curiosity. Expect the conversation to run anywhere from new varietals, to harvesting techniques, from weather conditions to new recipes. She is a wellspring of technical knowledge she tests on a tidy, nearby farm.
Farmers like her are happy to share their knowledge about the unique crops they grow.
10 - home garden favorites
Who doesn’t want to grow fresh strawberries? They are easy to grow this time of year, but where to find great bedding plants?
At the Farmers Market, of course.
11 - fresh juices
At the Seed Time and Harvest Farm stand, we found icy plant-based, honey-sweetened juices in jewel tones…
tamarind
ginger beet
sorrel
fever grass & moringa
ginger lemonade
passion fruit
soursop
12 - a sugar rush that's actually good for you
Have your kids every chewed on fresh sugar cane or sipped its sweet juice? Take them to Mr. Farquharson’s stall in the center of the grounds.
He hand-cranks a fresh cane juice that is surprisingly nutritious, rich in minerals, easily absorbed, good for the liver, and a powerful immune booster. It fights the common cold!
The juice has a low glycemic index, meaning its sugars are less harmful than many processed juices.
13 - tasty bush teas
Among other things, Kowsher Ital sells refreshing “bush” teas that we love to drink.
Delicious and cool, the herbal decoctions prevent and treat troublesome health conditions.
14 - vegetarian nibbles
She invented “cracked coconut,” just one of the many recipes that flow effortlessly from Whitlyn Miller’s imagination.
“People try it because the texture reminds them of conch, but they don’t get all that cholesterol. We also sell cracked coconut fritters, with even more flavor!”
“I hate waste. I am always finding new recipes to preserve and showcase surplus vegetables.”
Pictured here, her famous cracked coconut, green papaya salad, and Asian noodles.
15 - local eggs
There is a fantastic local egg industry growing in New Providence, and you need to know about it.
If your family hasn’t tasted a fresh egg, you are in for a treat. You may not be able to go back to what you’ve known after enjoying organic eggs.
Thick shells and beautiful flavor point to the loving care received by local hens.
16 - Cute cOOPs
17 - LIVE CHICKENS
Stanley Major builds space-saving, inexpensive coops from shipping pallets. He happily posed for us beside one of his winged friends, and would be happy to show you how to start raising layers at home. (Again, he de-masked just for this photo.)
18 - take Your Thyme
Herb gardens are an easy weekend project for the family. Discover potted herbs, plus fresh bunches for cooking.
19 - BRINGING THE smoke
The poultry section of the Market is a great place to walk your kids through the food chain. There are eggs, live birds, coops, even freshly slaughtered meat packed for sale in a cooler.
And very close by, there are these guys, grilling it. The aroma is incredible.
Not sure how the chickens feel about it!
20 - non gmo seedlings
Olga and Reggie Munroe cultivate plants from Non-GMO, heritage seeds. Find the perfect tomato varietal, design your own salad mix, and experiment with uncommon greens produced by these focused growers.
21 - amazing varietals from our region
Some vegetables tell a story. This incredible sweet potato varietal from St. Vincent is good for eating and planting (check out those creamy attached roots). Its orange flesh just glows with antioxidants.
The Market allows farmers to dig into their passion, and showcase even small test crops for appreciative buyers.
22 - culinary inspiration
If nothing else caught your eye, these edible flowers from Sunset Organic Farms will.
Whitlyn Miller adds a flourish of bejeweled blossoms to one of her salad blends, producing a forkful as delicate as it is visually appealing.
23 - heritage seeds and legumes
Discover fresh limas, variegated pigeon peas, dried local beans, and fat bags of benne that will take your Bahamian cooking to another level. The Market is a reliable source for clean, unprocessed local ingredients.
Then go home and make a big pot of soup or some benne cakes for your family. Fresh ingredients automatically bump up the flavor potential. Pass on the strength and soul of our amazing culinary heritage with every morsel.
24 - stuffed crab and minced crawfish
Baked crabs (below left) are a pretty big deal on islands like Andros and Exuma.
Catch. Cage. Fatten. Clean. There’s a whole lot to do before you even get to eat a land crab. No wonder we mythologize our recipes! It better taste good after all that work. Baked crabs are a great way to talk to your kids about the resourcefulness of our ancestors. They taste great, too!
Right, Seed Time and Harvest Farm serves up a delectable crawfish cake atop a pilaf of cranberry and almond tumbled Basmati rice.
25 - HEALTHY BAKED GOODS
No respectable Farmers Market survives without a reliable supply of fresh breads, pastries, and baked goods.
Finish your visit to the Market with a round of coconut tarts, pumpkin bread, potato bread, lovingly crafted from traditional island recipes.
Take home a loaf of bread to smear with butter and local jam or honey, also available at the Market.
Whether you visit for the food, the scene, or the fresh air, we’re certain you and your family will love your next visit to the Gladstone Road Farmers Market.
If you enjoyed this virtual visit, drop us a comment below. And stay tuned for more info on great local experiences to enjoy with your family.
LEARN GROW ENJOY
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