To market, to market

PORTALES - As an avid planter of pretty much any fruit, vegetable or flower the eastern New Mexico climate will allow, Margie Plummer knows there are cycles when it comes to growing food.

The same applies to selling food, so she wasn't dissuaded Monday by sparse turnout as Portales officially opened the farmer's market for the year. That's just the pattern for the first few events in July in Portales and Clovis.

The Portales farmers market at First Street and Avenue B runs from 5 p.m. until products are sold out Mondays and Thursdays. The same is true beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesdays and 8 a.m. Saturdays at the entrance to Clovis' Goodwin Walking Trails Park entrance.

"Last year, we had about six or seven (sellers)," Plummer said, compared to just two sellers on Monday. She anticipates the vendor and customer numbers will pick up in future weeks when vendors have more items available and customers get into the pattern of farmers' market time.

The customers who did come were pretty familiar, already on a first-name basis with Plummer as they looked through the folding table of potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage and flowers.

Rosie Jimenez and her 6-year-old granddaughter, Danleigh Nunez, bought some flowers. Jimenez inquired about watermelons, and was given an estimate of August.

"I'll keep coming anyway," she said as she left.

The pandemic, Plummer said, didn't really change much for farmers' market participants, as they were designated as essential operations and avoided state-mandated shutdowns.

As a pandemic precaution, the items sellers did have were pre-bagged so customers would know previous customers weren't touching all of the merchandise.

The bigger issue has been precipitation, or a lack thereof. While the weekend was good with some post-firework rain, the next few days of 100-degree highs are not as promising.

Future weeks, Plummer said, should see the stock increase to include black-eyed peas, green beans, peppers and green chile.