Finding the perfect produce

Just thought I'd share the quick draft of the feature I wrote to go along with the pictures below:

Finding the perfect produce
Jonathan Blundell
Staff writer
Ask any vender or buyer at the Downtown Waxahachie Farmer’s Market on how to pick the perfect produce and you’re sure to get any number of answers.
Nancy Edwards, who traveled to the Saturday morning market from southern Ellis County, said her decisions are based primarily on feel.
“I feel all my fruits and vegetables to find the best one,” Edwards said. “The only thing I’ve ever found to shake is a honeydew melon. A produce man told me that once. He said you should shake it and if you hear the seeds rattle, you’ve found a good melon.”
“There’s probably five different ways people will say you should use to pick out the perfect cantaloupe or other produce,” Richard Davis, a vender from Venus said.
Davis has been selling his home grown produce at the weekly market for the past two years.
He started selling his produce from his home and at a similar market in Mansfield three years ago.
“My garden has grown from three-quarters of an acre, to one acre, to two acres,” Davis said. “And I plan on adding more and expanding it sometime in the future.”
Davis brings his bell peppers, banana peppers, greens, onions, cucumbers and other produce from his home and has a second vender selling at other farmer markets in the area.
Davis also buys some of his produce from other local farmers.
“Growing fruits and vegetables is just in my blood,” Davis said. “I just love growing stuff. We’ve had enough produce that we’ve even sold some of our produce to wholesalers in Dallas as well.”
For Tommy Jones of Waxahachie, the Farmers’ Market has been something he and his wife have enjoyed doing for fun.
The couple owns 22 acres on Youngblood, a well as a small garden in Palmer.
By noon on Saturday, the couple had already sold nearly two truckloads of fruits and vegetables.
“We’re plum of plums,” Jones said as he took inventory of the few baskets of fruits and vegetables remaining.
Jones and his wife Shirley have been growing their own produce for a number of years and started selling their goods at the Farmers’ Market three years ago.
“It’s just something fun to do,” Jones said. “We grow so much that our family can’t eat it all and this is a great place to sell the leftovers.”
Jones brings zucchini, squash, peaches, greens, plums and more to keep a variety of fresh goods available for buyers.
And as for that perfect peach, Jones said it’s all about the smell.
“I look for a certain smell when I’m picking a perfect peach,” Jones said. “It’s got to have that perfect smell and no blemishes.”
The Downtown Waxahachie Farmers’ Market is open to the public every Saturday, now through October 29 on the downtown square.
Venders begin arriving at 7 a.m. for check-in and the sale is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine.
More information and a venders’ application is available on the city’s website at www.waxahachie.com.