Amish Produce Auction Growing in Popularity

July 20, 2012|Steve Grant | sgrant@ky3.com

SEYMOUR, MO -- Tuesdays and Thursday mornings, starting at ten, buyers drive in by the dozens from as far away as Arkansas. The sellers deliver what they picked at daylight in horse-drawn flat wagons and buggies. The Amish community's bi-weekly auction is a cornucopia of organic, home-grown seasonal produce. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers of various varieties auctioned off by the flat or the case. In an open air pavilion, sellers line an upper deck seated in lawn chairs, as the farmers roll in their loads of produce. On the opposite end of the tin topped building, Amish women monitor prices and offer customers fresh-baked goods, jellies and smaller amounts of fresh fruit. Barefoot children in hand-sewn pants, bright blue shirts and straw hats sported by their older brothers, fathers and uncles mill around or watching passing trains on the main line running along from Highway 60.

Sam and Loretta Hake of Seymour are regular customers because they know the growers and appreciate the freshness, and organic growing methods used. As the auctioneer's chant reeled off the going prices, she was making plans to "make pickles for church" with the case of cucumbers they purchased for $7.

Others can arrest their food dollar goes further for what rolls in every week. Vernie Clipper and his wife proudly announced a purchase of 18 points of hand-picked blackberries for $2.50. A real bargain, they say, compared to supermarket prices of $5 for a half-pint shipped in from California or Mexico.

Gardeners whose produce was withered on the stalk or vine by the record heat and ongoing drought can find quick replacements in the quantity they want. First-timer Payne Grant, drove 60 miles, one-way, to stock up on vegetables his cattle ate the other day when they trampled the garden fence at his farm near Halfway, Missouri. The Amish do not grant television interviews, nor do their reveal financial information. But a bookkeeper with the auction told KY3 News the payday from the produce auction runs from $250 up to $800 a week.
A couple of Amish growers confided they are concerned about the drought. Sometimes, they hook up a horse to the water pump on their wells, because the windmill doesn't turn fast enough.

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