Clovis, Portales farmers markets gearing up for busy season

Summertime means lots of things here in eastern New Mexico, and one of them is shopping trips to the local farmers markets. Clovis and Portales are gearing up for the busy season, despite all of the recent rain and flooding.

“It’s always good to get started again,” said Margie Plummer, who manages both markets. “There’s just not a lot of stuff that’s ready yet.”

Evelyn Ledbetter runs Ledbetter Chile with her husband, and they make an appearance at the farmers markets every year. Green chile usually comes later in the season, around August, but Ledbetter said their crop so far is looking great. That’s despite some weather woes.

“The strong winds in the spring were a major challenge but we plant in a cover crop each year to protect the plants from the winds we always get,” she said.

“The drought and bare ground due to that caused the blowing sand to do more damage than usual.”

Plummer said it’s up to each vendor to decide how they want to price their products. For the Ledbetters, prices were raised last year due to increased labor and growing costs.

“We hated to have to do that last year to our customers,” Ledbetter said.

Plummer said that anyone who qualifies for WIC, senior nutrition, or food stamps are also welcome to come buy products from the farmers markets.

Plummer said they are excited to get everything up and running for the season. She said that every year they’ll have green beans, black eyed peas, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, and cantaloupes. Of course, there’s more, but these crops seem to be in abundance each season.

The Clovis market is set to open July 1, and Portales on July 3. Both will run through the end of October.

n Clovis is every Saturday at 8 a.m. and every Tuesday at 5 p.m.

n Portales is every Monday and every Thursday starting at 5 p.m.

The Clovis location is at the North Plains Mall in the parking lot right behind Red Lobster. Portales’ is at the farmers market lot at the corner of First and Avenue B.

Anyone wanting to sell their product can call Plummer at 575-760-0690. The product has to be grown within a 60-mile radius of Portales or Clovis. The fee is either $10 per day or $100 for the whole season. Plummer added that if a vendor sells at both markets, they will have to pay the fees for both markets.