Frosty winds chill farmers market

RALEIGH -- The wind that blew through farmers' row at the State Farmers Market on Tuesday carried skittering leaves, a smattering of snowflakes and, around Michele's Fresh Fruit stand, the autumnal scent of a dozen varieties of apples.

It put Christina Burkes in a seasonal mood.

"I'm going to make a batch of apple jelly," Burkes said, picking up a 5-pound bag of Pink Ladies. "And some apple sauce. Tonight I'm going to make apple pancakes for my husband. It's fall. I can't help it."

Business was a little slower than normal at Michele's and the other sellers at the market; vendors figured it was because of the 30-mph wind gusts that made it feel as if the temperature was in the low 30s.

Brent Barefoot, working at the booth, passed the time by crafting a kite from a plastic shopping bag tied to a spool of fishing line. When the wind picked up, he tossed the crinkling craft aloft.

Those who did come shopping didn't dawdle.

"People are gettin' it and leavin'," said Jeff Allen at Beth Moore's Produce. "They ain't hangin' around."

Allen kept warm by keeping moving. He set out box after box of Beauregard sweet potatoes, and stacked collards the color of cash bundles at the front of the booth.

Today, Allen said he expects to see more traffic at the market as shoppers begin to gather the makings of their Thanksgiving meals. Generally, he said, business is good from Wednesday to Wednesday the week before the holiday.

Though the season's first shock of cold air was a bitter harbinger to some, farmers who raise winter vegetables are ready for it.

"Cold weather just makes collards better," Allen said. "They get more tender, and it kind of takes away the bitterness."

Crops that have already been harvested and stored generally fare just fine when the temperature drops into the 20s, as was expected Tuesday night. Those that are spread on sales tables at the market are tucked in each night at closing time beneath a blanket. Sometimes two.

Along with the greens, the turnips and beets, the jars of jelly and bags of peanuts and shelled pecans, was another November market staple: firewood.

Arlene Howell had sold some from her booth. And Tuesday night, she went home to enjoy the fruits of her own labor.

"When I get home, my husband will have already lit a fire," Howell said. "And the first thing I'm going to do is go stand by it."