Health Sciences Campus offers farmers’ market Wednesdays, Saturdays

West Virginia University Healthcare is providing the Morgantown community with access to fresh produce and flowers.

The Farmers' Market is available every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Gold-South parking lot near the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at the Health Sciences Center.

It is also held every Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Spruce Street. It will continue until Sept. 15.

Stands at the markets feature a variety of goods such as corn, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, creme pies and freezer beef.

"Students are coming out, mostly on Saturdays if they get up early enough," said Barbara Miller of the Mountain Diamond Longhorns Farm from Tunnelton, W.Va.

"They are looking for the fresh food, but the best produce gets sold in the first hour," she said.

Some days are better than others, Miller said, but the main objection is to let people have the option of eating fresh local food and not take away business from large grocery chains.

Although people may be able to go to a grocery store and find fresh meat and vegetables that are labeled "local," food at the market is guaranteed to be from the area and fresh, Miller said.

"It's convenient to go to the store and get everything you need in one place," she said. "But ours is local, which means for the most part it was picked fresh this morning."

Although there are not many students who come to the market, Bill Sines of Point Marion, Pa., believes it is helping to make a difference in people's food choices.

"The point is it sells because it's good," Sines said. "It is healthy for you. It is fresh, and the prices are reasonable."

The market also features local baked goods.

Aaron Behnke from Morgantown bakes his creme pies, muffins and cookies fresh without using any preservatives and sells them at the market.

"I'm an all-natural baker," Behnke said. "Everything's fresh, pure and simple.

Making baked goods without preservatives shows people you just don't have to eat vegetables and fruit to be healthy, Behnke said.

"I can tell you everything that is in these foods," Behnke said. "It is good that people know fresh food is as healthy as possible."