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Local farmers market features passion for growing

  • Fresh produce at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Fresh produce at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Fresh produce at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Fresh produce at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Diana Childs helps a customer at her produce stand at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • A customer tries a sample of a seedless watermelon at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Just some colorful items for sale at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Some garden items for sale at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Fresh produce at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Fresh produce at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Kristi O'Dowd helps a customer at the Charles City Farmer's Market on Saturday. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

A smile widens across the face of Diana Childs when she starts talking about her produce stand at the Charles City Farmer’s Market.

Along with her husband, Wylie, their side venture started out small, but has grown — just like the juicy mountain spring tomatoes that Diana said sold well on Saturday at Central Park this weekend in Charles City.

“We’re busier now. We started with one table and three little crates,” Diana chuckled.

Fresh, organic produce is in high demand these days — like the seedless watermelon or ground cherry that the Childses offered customers. Greenhouse–grown staples like a variety of peppers, candy onions or super-sweet corn were just some of the bright and colorful items they also brought to their tables.

Diana and Wylie worked together at Sherman Nursery and when that closed down their produce business started to take hold.

“We still liked growing stuff so we just started doing this on the side,” said Wylie, who works full time at R&S Mowing.

Wylie built a high–tunnel greenhouse and the rest is history.

“Every year for four years I put up a greenhouse,” said Wiley. “It just expanded.”

Wiley said he takes produce to the Bread of Life Market in town almost daily. Diana said she does free deliveries of their produce in addition to her part–time job of cleaning houses. The Childses also attend the farmer’s market in Greene.

Diana moved to the United States from Mexico in 1999. Her enjoyment of working with fruits and vegetables in that country never left her.

“I grew up in Mexico. I always worked in the tomato fields. I always enjoy it,” said Diana.

In the spring the Childs sell flowers and plants. In the fall it’s mums, pumpkins and gourds.

Kristi O’Dowd has been coming to the Charles City Farmer’s Market for three years now. The first year she started selling her products she didn’t start until July.

She also goes to the Greene Farmer’s Market and everything she puts down on her tables is grown outside. She’s a smaller vendor, but that didn’t stop her from having a productive day, sales–wise.

O’Dowd’s table was full of eggplants, purple cherokee tomatoes, fresh dill from the garden and even peanut butter oatmeal dog biscuits.

“I really enjoy growing. I like to garden — that’s one of my hobbies,” O’Dowd said.

If you showed up a little late to the Charles City Farmers Market on Saturday — it runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and 3:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays — you missed O’Dowd’s zucchini brownies, which she sold out of.

“It’s all healthy ingredients,” she said. “I guess the biggest thing is I don’t use any chemicals at all.”

O’Dowd’s kids were actually helping out her sister, Jenny Bodensteiner, who runs a much larger stand at the farmer’s market in Dubuque, right off the Mississippi River. Dubuque has Iowa oldest farmers market. It started 173 years ago.

O’Dowd said her sister offers breakfast food at her stand. They also make burritos, homemade doughnuts and homemade root beer.

“They get up way in early in the morning,” said O’Dowd. “They’ll have a line the whole day.”

The Charles City Farmer’s Market has a nice, laid-back feel to it. That wasn’t the case when O’Dowd helped her sister out a few times in Dubuque. She was taken aback by the sheer number of people that came up to the stand wanting to purchase their food.

“It’s crazy. I was there helping her a few years back and was like, oh my gosh. She’s like ‘you just have to pace yourself and the customers are just going to have to wait because you can only go so fast,’” said a smiling O’Dowd.

The Charles City Farmers Market runs until October 15.

 

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