Tim Jewison, vegetable pro at farmers market

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning during the Waseca Farmers Market on Saturday, July 25. Parking was limited but since it was before 10 a.m., it was still cool enough to walk a block to the market without getting all hot and sticky before the day’s predicted heat index of nearly 100 degrees.

 

Gardener Jim Jewison was using his red, single cab pickup to display his wares. This 1970 Waseca High School grad sells vegetables, and lots of them. “I’ve been doing this for the past ten years, back when they were doing it over at the courthouse parking lot,” he recalled.

 

He had a baseball cap on and was dressed in a t-shirt, it looked like he didn’t have a chair, and watching him for a few moments it became clear a chair wasn’t necessary. He would get a break of maybe a minute before another person came to ask about his products, leaving him no time to sit. He said his twin brother was also somewhere at the market but he hadn’t seen him yet. Stated Jewison, “My brother works the market also but he’s on his own, my wife Holly doesn’t come with me, I do fine on my own.”

 

Jewison’s vegetables looked appealing, and he had an impressive variety. Both yellow and red onions, red beets, purple and green beans, “I sold out of the yellow beans earlier this morning.” He also had kale, fresh basil, cucumbers–king, burpless and marketwise. Japanese and black diamond eggplants. The name for his radishes was a little tricky, said Jewison, “They're called, French Breakfast Finger Linger Radishes.” He also had cabbage and zucchini.

 

He explained with apparent pride, “I grow my vegetables right up halfway between here and Faribault, right on the Waseca County line. On one half of an acre, I do all of it. I till the land by hand, I plant the seeds, I water and do all the weeding.” As he finished speaking, a little girl by the name of Vera, 4, approached. She was carrying a small handful of neon green and yellow Power of Produce money. She wanted some green beans, and Jewison tended to her before he continued. “I knew about the Power of Produce program from years ago. There might be a few [vendors] here who don’t [participate in] it, but they’re foolish not to.” He was then approached by a group of seniors, some of them holding Caribou Coffee cups. They purchased a bag of beets. One of the women in the group said to another, “I’m going to slice these up, add butter, salt and pepper.” Another woman said, “You can eat the leaves as well.”

 

Sadly, said Jewison, “My tomatoes, for whatever reason, just aren’t up to snuff this year.” He had three of them on the table and continued, “They just aren’t sprouting like they should.” But if there was an issue with any of the other vegetables, the Pioneer didn’t see any.

 

The Power of Produce program is available at no cost for children up to 18 and for seniors over 60. Participants receive vouchers to use in the market toward the purchase of produce and certain other qualifying types of food items.