Farmers markets offer high demand items with safer shopping options

Roseline Okoro, owner of Rose's Naturals, sells hand sanitizer that is as effective as leading name brands. Roseline Okoro, owner of Rose's Naturals, sells hand sanitizer that is as effective as leading name brands. Photo: Courtesy Of Forever Fulshear Photo: Courtesy Of Forever Fulshear Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Farmers markets offer high demand items with safer shopping options 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

While shoppers across the country panic amid food and supply shortages in grocery stores, one reliable food source remains fully stocked and open for business. Local farmer’s markets feature vendors proffering everything from fresh meats and produce to highly coveted hand sanitizers. Now, in compliance with the health department, local farmer’s markets are operating through online sales and curbside pick up, making them an even lower risk of contagion than a grocery store.

Ramona Ridge, founder of the Fulshear Farmer’s Market, said the market began offering alternative methods of sales when the Fort Bend County Health Department decreed that all temporary events be shut down for 30 days. “For some of these people, the farmer’s market is their only source of income,” Ridge said. “So we worked with the health department to figure out ways we could be in compliance while still providing these products to the community.”

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The solution: vendors are now accepting online orders and customers can pull up to the market for curbside service. Ridge noted that the farmer’s market is already a safer alternative to a grocery store because the products pass through fewer hands, and there is far less surface contact in an open air market than a grocery store. Furthermore, she stated, all the vendors must live within 200 miles of Fulshear in order to sell at the market. As a result, all products are made locally using local ingredients. “Nothing is imported from China or Italy where there are major problems,” she said. “At a farmer’s market, you know exactly where products come from.”

The market vendors also offer items that are sold out in grocery stores. Erbe Ranch has plenty of fresh beef, pork, poultry and eggs. Pet Wants has holistic pet food. Ole Boys Brazos Bottom Farm has fresh fruits and vegetables.

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Roseline Okoro, owner of Rose’s Naturals, sells her homemade hand sanitizer, soaps and cleaning products at the Fulshear Farmer’s Market every week. She makes all her products by hand using plant-based, natural ingredients. The hand sanitizers have the same alcohol content as leading name brands, but they’re infused with essential oils and moisturizers. More importantly, they’re available right now.

Like many vendors at the market, Okoro relies on the money she makes at the market to support her family. “When you come to the farmer’s market, you’re contributing to the community,” she said. “We can’t compete with stores, so a lot of people don’t know everything they can buy here. We don’t advertise.”

Okoro said that many customers were surprised to learn they could buy hand sanitizer at a farmer’s market. “If you shop with farmer’s market vendors, you will find things you can’t find in stores right now,” she said.

Okoro, who lives in Cross Creek Ranch, urged people to shop locally to help vendors impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. “I’m local. We’re all local. This is how we make our money. Help your neighbors,” she said.

For a list of vendors that offer curbside sales, visit the Forever Fulshear Facebook page or the website at www.fulshearfarmersmarket.com.

The Fulshear Farmer’s Market operates every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1093 Bois d’Arc Ln. Items purchased for pickup will be available at this time and location.

claire.goodman@chron.com