Homegrown Goodness
Published May 05, 2008
Homegrown items can be found at the Pick Tennessee Products Web site.
Call it a virtual farmer’s market: a place in cyberspace where farmers and consumers connect.
That’s the idea behind Pick Tennessee Products, a Web site frequented by everyone from city slickers in search of organic produce to moms looking for on-the-farm activities to do with their kids.
“Pick Tennessee Products was started in the ’90s to help build farm income, and it’s evolved to be a direct link between farmers and consumers,” says Dan Strasser, director of market development for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. “People can use it to find anything ag-related – hay for their horses, wines and cheeses made in Tennessee, gift baskets with jams and jellies, farm-fresh meats and produce, and entertainment on the farm. You can go pick a pumpkin, go through a corn maze, find a bed-and-breakfast or go on a horse ride.”
Sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, the Web site provides a service for both farmers and consumers.
“Its helps producers tremendously because it gives them a Web presence even if they don’t have a Web site of their own,” Strasser says. “And consumers use it to find the fresh produce and value-added products they want.”
Consumers even find things they don’t expect on the Web site. Award-winning, world-class caviar made in Tennessee is just one example.
“People are surprised at the variety of goods and services on the site,” Strasser says. “You can go out to a salmon grower’s property and catch salmon and trout. And there are 30 wineries in Tennessee. A lot of farms open up to the public, and more and more people are interested in coming out to visit rural Tennessee.”
The Web site is also a resource for finding Christmas tree farms, finding dates for Tennessee fairs and festivals, locating farmers markets across the state and buying flowers, ornamental trees and shrubs.
In addition to fruits and vegetables, consumers can find food products such as aged country ham, sorghum syrup, buttermilk cheese, handmade chocolates, savory cheesecakes and gift baskets stuffed with Tennessee-made goodies. And the site’s online “Taste of Tennessee” store makes gift giving easy – you can order and send gifts at the same time using a credit card.
Pick Tennessee Products doesn’t stop with just providing the foods people want. It also offers more than 50 Tennessee recipes that incorporate produce and other goods available on the Web site. The recipes include everything from strawberry butter and watermelon salsa to squash soup and cider-glazed shrimp.
For more information, visit www.picktnproducts.org.
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Staff
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