METUCHEN – Fresh produce is not the easiest to purchase with the state restrictions set forth for grocery stores including capacity and purchase limits in efforts to flatten the curve of the novel coronavirus.
With that in mind, Metuchen Farmers Virtual Market provides not only a chance for local farmers to make money, but also provide another avenue for shoppers to get their fresh produce.
“The Farmers Market is an important part of the community in general,” Councilman Jason Delia said. “We wanted to keep the farmers market thriving through [the pandemic] as much as we can.”
The Metuchen Farmers Market Board, led by Nelson Li, reached out to Delia to discuss a way for the market to become virtual. A farmers market is listed as a state essential business allowed to operate during the pandemic.
Delia put out a call for people with technological backgrounds to help.
“As always we ended up with more helpers than farmers,” he said, noting they set up each farmer with a tech helper.
The Metuchen Farmers Virtual Market went live on March 31 with Chickadee Creek Farm, Cherry Grove Farm, Pickles Olives Etc. and Stonybrook Meadows Farm.
The virtual market allows shoppers to purchase produce directly with the farmer vendors and pick up their groceries on Saturday morning in the Halsey Street parking lot. Following social distancing guidelines, the vendor will place the groceries in the shopper’s backseat or trunk.
The Stonybrook Meadows Farm does not participate in the Saturday morning pickup, produce is delivered to the shopper’s address.
Mayor Jonathan Busch said he and his family used the Metuchen Farmers Virtual Market and called the process including the Saturday morning pickup “easy and seamless.”
For more information, visit metuchenvirtualmarket.com.
