From wasabi pickles to worm fertilizer, North Stafford’s farmer’s market has it all

Editor’s note: Please enjoy this original story free today in honor of Memorial Day, and thank you to the men and women in uniform who have served our great nation. 

NORTH STAFFORD — It’s awfully hard to ignore a van when the markings on the site state that the vehicle is full of a four-letter word that starts with “S.”

That van, however, is what Bill Clark, of Gloucester, drives every day. On Sunday, he pulled into the North Stafford Farmers Market, also known as the Long Family Sunday Market at the Staffordboro Commuter Lot.

Inside, he pulled out what he sells by the bag full — worm droppings, also known as vermicomposting. Clark says it’s great fertilizer for plants because as worms eat their way through the organic material, the critters leave behind them pelleted bacteria that’s ripe for plants.

Clark sells the stuff for between $8.75 for a small batch up to $35 for a five-pound bag. It’s one of the more unusual attractions at the North Stafford market, but he’s attracting business here, nonetheless.

He’s one of 53 vendors at the market this year, which recently located to the commuter lot from Stafford Hospital. In addition to worm droppings, there are multiple farmers from Virginia’s Northern Neck Peninsula selling fresh vegetables, and there is fresh fish, sausage, salsa, hand-made soap, and good old summertime lemonade.

Patrick Cathcart, of Sykesville, Md. sells more than 15 varieties of pickles. He scoops them, already cut into the slices, from five-gallon buckets and fills pint containers for $5 each, quarts for $9.

There’s your traditional dill-flavored standbys, but also sriracha, sweet onion flavors, and wasabi flavors, too.

“They’re not selling wasabi-flavored pickles at Giant,” said Cathcart.

And the big chain grocers like Giant probably aren’t selling much else of what’s found at this market. Robin Long says the rules for vendors are simple — in order to sell here you must make it or grow it yourself.

She and her husband, Lester, took over the North Stafford market three years ago when it had just 15 vendors. The prior organizer was ready to shut down the market when Stafford County officials banned customers from bringing dogs to the market.

Dogs are still barred from coming into the market today, but the Longs saw an opportunity here. The hope the market’s new location will help it to grow in size, too.

The Longs charge $25 per space, per vendor, per week. The market is open Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. from late May to the end of October.

The Longs this year also expanded, launching a Wednesday market in south Stafford behind the University of Mary Washington’s Stafford Campus at 121 University Boulevard.

The market also runs from the end of May to the end of October every Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m.