Community Corner
Dexter Farmers Market Profile: VanNatter Farm Open for Season
Local resident Aric VanNatter offers a variety of fresh produce at the weekly farmers market.
When Aric VanNatter of Dexter arrives at the Saturday farmers market on Saturdays, swarms of customers surround his booth looking for the freshest homegrown produce.
VanNatter, who has been attending the Dexter Farmers Market for the past five years, boasts a healthy selection of peppers, carrots, zucchini, fennel, leeks, Asian eggplant, green beans, acorn squash, beets and even Cornish game hens.
“Peppers just exploded last week for everyone,” VanNatter's partner M-Lis Bartlett said. “The weather has been been crazy this year, so some things are just starting to come up.”
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Bartlett said hot peppers are one of VanNatter’s top sellers right now.
“Everyone is making salsa, and they are looking for those fresh hot peppers, which we have plenty of,” she said.
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Other favorites have been beets, cucumbers, flowers and spices, Bartlett said.
“Dexter puts on an amazing farmers market,” she said. “I think a lot of that has to do with the location and ease of parking. We get a lot of people who stop off on their way just to pick up some fresh vegetables.”
VanNatter said he has grown up around farming most of his life and enjoys selling produce at the market to supplement his income as a cabinet builder.
“We enjoy coming here every Saturday. There are people in town that have known Aric since he was a baby, and they come to visit. It makes the farmers market a real community,” Bartlett said. “It’s definitely smaller and more homelier than Ann Arbor’s market.”
Next year, VanNatter said he may explore the possibility of creating a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, where patrons would pay a small fee and receive a basket of fresh produce weekly from the farm.
Visit VanNatter's produce stand and other farmers at the Dexter Farmers Market from 3-7 p.m. Tuesdays and from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays.
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