It’s a warm, breezy morning—a perfect day for the Montgomery Farmers Market, which is held on Saturdays at Lake Conroe/North Houston KOA Holiday, east of downtown Montgomery. The Postcards team arrives at the market site just as the advance crew is beginning to set up for the day.
7:00 a.m. – Joshua Reed, owner of Montgomery Farmers Market, arrives. One of his helpers begins placing inverted buckets, each with a large number painted on the side, at intervals. We quickly deduce that the buckets will tell vendors where to place their booths, and that the market is expecting 22 vendors today.
7:15 a.m. – Using his feet as a ruler, Joshua begins stepping off 13 feet between each bucket. About 30 vendors actively sell their products at Montgomery Farmers Market, he explains, but not every vendor is available every Saturday.
The market was the brainchild of Joshua’s father, Dr. Tom Reed, a foot and ankle surgeon, and his friend and neighbor, Philip LeFevre. “They were chatting about how fast Montgomery is growing,” Joshua says, “but we didn’t really have a weekly farmers market that is food focused. Neither one of them had the time to set that up, and so my dad came to me and said, ‘We’ve got this idea. Would you want to take it on?’” Joshua had previously worked as a restaurant manager, but the pandemic had caused a temporary shutdown, and Joshua thought a farmers market sounded like a great career opportunity.
Joshua’s parents own The Sanctuary Blueberry Farm and have been involved in natural health education for decades–and Joshua, following in their proverbial footsteps, envisioned a market that would supply organically produced agricultural products. “We wanted to make it a place where people could come and trust that the food that they were going to get would be one hundred percent pure, clean from any chemicals that would damage their health,” he says.
Joshua spent the summer of 2021 learning how to set up a farmers market, and by fall, he had established a network of 21 potential vendors. “We visited other farmers markets,” he says, “and we were able to connect with a lot of farmers through The Sanctuary Blueberry Farm.” After an organizational meeting in September, the first Montgomery Farmers Market was held on October 16, 2021, and about a thousand people attended. “We had 11 vendors, and they were all sold out within 30 minutes,” Joshua says.
7:35 a.m. – As vendors arrive for today’s market, they begin to assemble pop-up canopies. They seem to know the drill, and the canopies go up easily.
7:50 a.m. – Patrick Turo, proprietor of Twisted T Farms, is setting up his booth. “I love old growth trees,” he says. “When I was in eighth grade, I said if I was ever going to have a farm, it would be Twisted T.” Patrick and his wife Rachel both majored in agricultural business at Sam Houston State University. For their wedding 11 years ago, they made 400 quarter pints of strawberry-blueberry-peach jam. Today, this “wedding blend” is their biggest seller. They also offer apple, lemon drop, grape, and tart cherry jellies, as well as produce: eggplants, green beans, peppers, cucumbers and garlic, all grown at their farm near Willis. It is a mineral-dense farm that uses organic farming methods, Patrick says. “God put all our vitamins in the soil,” he says; because soil has become depleted, he and Rachel put trace minerals back into the soil at their farm. They also sell handmade goat milk soap and cage-free eggs. They do not feed their chickens feed made from soy, corn, or genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).
8:15 a.m. – Stephanie Walker of River V Growers is moving some beautiful tomatoes, okra, potatoes, and other vegetables from her truck. She likes to say that her business offers “protein and produce,” as she sells pork and lamb in addition to her vegetables. “It’s organic, sustainable, and grass-fed,” she says. Her daughter Addison grows and sells flowers. Stephanie’s farm is at Point Blank, near Livingston, but she is a graduate of Montgomery High School, so she likes to come to Montgomery Farmers Market, where friends and family support her business. She typically sells out about an hour before the market closes for the day. “People ask me, ‘What time should I be here next time?’” Stephanie says.
8:25 a.m. – While many vendors are setting up their booths, we find a moment to chat with Jordan and Ashley Fleming, proprietors of Salt & Honey. Although the selection varies from week to week, Ashley has made cinnamon scones and blueberry scones for today’s market. She also makes honey-sweetened peanut butter cookies—made with freshly-ground peanut butter from another market vendor—as well as chocolate chip cookies. Salt & Honey’s vanilla is popular with customers. It is made with vodka and vanilla beans from Madagascar and is brewed for nine months. It has vanilla beans in each bottle, “so it continues to extract vanilla even after you buy it,” Ashley says. She suggests using the beans to make vanilla-flavored sugar after the extract is gone.
8:30 a.m. – We stop by Hummingbird Bakery’s booth and speak with Sylina Strong, who, along with daughters Sara, Juliana and Octavia, bake sourdough bread, using the same starter they’ve used for five years. Today, the family bakers are also selling sourdough muffins made with blueberries from The Sanctuary Blueberry Farm. “People love our bread. It’s really wonderful how much they like it,” Sylina says. “We even have a couple of San Francisco transplants, and they are some of our regulars.”
8:40 a.m. – It’s almost time for the market to open, but we find a few moments to chat with Jeannene Hall, who operates Kristian Bougie’s Hydroponic Garden with her husband Kristian. The business offers micro greens, sprouts, and hydroponic lettuce. Its bestsellers are broccoli sprouts and spicy salad mix, and arugula, kohlrabi, and pea sprouts are also offered. “People munch on the pea sprouts. They’re just that good,” Jeannene says, and suggests tossing the spicy salad mix on breakfast tacos. “Sprouts are 40 percent more nutritious than their adult counterparts,” she says. She likes to make “adult grilled cheese” with items available at the market: sourdough bread and goat cheese, sprinkled with sprouts.
8:45 a.m. – More businesses have set up for the day, including Pop Notch Popcorn, Pizza by the Crust, The Jersey Barnyard, Lost Pines Coffee Company, Angie’s Gardens, Hive Bee Farm, Manzioni Traditional Italian Bakery, and Greenwood Forest Foods.
8:50 a.m. – Rachel Paulding, with help from her daughter Abigail, serves their first customer—a vendor from an adjacent booth. Their business, Bumble Pop, offers honey-sweetened popsicles at markets during the warm months. Rachel explains that she uses mild honey so that the other natural flavors in the popsicles—mango, watermelon mint, blueberry lemon, blackberry lime, strawberry lemonade and citrus lemonade—aren’t overwhelmed.
8:55 a.m. – We chat with Steve Nelson of Nelson Farms, who, in addition to raising grass-fed lamb, is a cornerback with the Houston Texans. He is attending his first Montgomery Farmers Market today. “We bring a quality product to the community,” he says. “We spend a lot of time and effort in our farming practices. We believe in it.”
9:00 a.m. – As customers begin to trickle in, we notice that while we’ve been chatting (and shopping), other vendors have arrived, including Breezy Hill, Efflorescent Elixirs, Carmelita’s Homemade Tamales, Zo-Zo Fresh Juice, and Jardin Botanico. In addition, A Better Way Beef is here today, because it is one of the rare Saturdays that The Serenity Homestead is not in attendance. “When they are unable to attend, A Better Way Beef steps in so that customers always have access to clean, local beef,” Joshua explains. The Serenity Homestead has been a regular at the market since its early days, selling raw local honey, eggs and seasonings produced in New Waverly and grass-fed, grass-finished beef that is raised on the ranch of a family friend in East Texas. In addition, The Serenity Homestead now sells freeze-dried foods.
Joshua also notes that customers can order online and pick up raw milk from The Jersey Barnyard every week, as well as raw goat milk from Superior Farms Willis every other week. Raw milk must legally be ordered directly from the farm, either in person or online, Joshua says; however, goat milk products, such as cheese, are available for purchase at the market.
9:30 a.m. – The crowd of customers at the market has grown, and the parking lot is nearly full. The sound system, which has been playing a mix of oldies, is playing “Heard it from the Grapevine,” an apt selection, considering the fact that many customers heard of the market through the proverbial grapevine.
9:35 a.m. – The Postcards team, wanting to give the vendors time to interact with their customers, leaves the market with notepads, pencils, camera equipment (and a few purchases, too).
Montgomery Farmers Market is open every Saturday throughout the year except for those immediately following Thanksgiving and Christmas (or on Christmas Day when it falls on a Saturday). For more information, visit montgomeryfarmersmarket.com.
Postcards Magazine
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