Back in the early years the farmers would sell everything they brought to market , leading some of their city folk customers to keep the local fresh veggie source a secret from their neighbors .
“ Now it ’ s a gathering place for people to come see their contemporaries and get the staples they need ,” she said . Perry credits the public market with having a good influence on her three kids when they were growing up . The one who became an accountant could judge how many dollar bills were in a bag by its heft . The teacher gained speaking and educating skills .
“ The one who works at OU ’ s physical plant now still does our tractor work and most of the picking on his offtime ,” Perry said . There ’ s one part time employee who has been with the farm nearly eight years and they ’ ve employed many other young people over time . “ Oklahoma is not a prime place for raising plants ,” Perry said . “ It ’ s a hot , dry place sometimes or a boggy place like it was last spring . Each season can bring different things to think about and make it all work . I like seeing stuff grow .”
She loves having a table full of clean , beautiful produce for her customers to choose from .
“ They tell me how they cook it , fix some particular thing or what you could do with it ,” Perry said . “ I enjoy the
people . My customers now are the children and grandchildren of some of our original customers . Eating from a farm market is a family tradition and I like promoting that . People want to know how to make things like grandma did .”
Perry Farm is more mechanized now than in years past . They use tractors , rototillers and potato diggers . “ Eight or ten years ago a customer brought me a package of arugula seed which I ’ d never heard of ,” she said . “ I ’ ve grown a lot of that since then . We ’ ve diversified a lot because in the beginning we just grew the crops we ’ d grown up raising . Ones our families used to feed us at home . We learned there were a lot of other vegetables in the world , especially the squashes and peppers .”
Perry tries raising unfamiliar varieties first before committing the operation to making them part of customer offerings .
“ We do four different jalapenos and same with Roma tomatoes ,” she said . “ I have eight different varieties of cherry tomatoes . Fifteen of the big tomatoes .”
Okra , yellow and zucchini squash , new potatoes and sweet onions are customer favorites . Lots of planning is involved making these available for optimal customer availability . Plant growth can ’ t be rushed and Perry knows just when certain ones are going to be ready for consumption .
“ We have to figure out how to produce everything at the right time ,” Perry said . “ If you buy okra in May it wasn ’ t raised in central Oklahoma .”
Tobi and Duke check on a recently planted onion patch .
NormanMagazine . com | MARCH / APRIL 2022 11