Farmer's Markets flourish on naivete

A hot national trend, certainly very prevalent in the Denver area, are weekly Farmer's Markets, typically held in booths on shopping center parking lots. The Norman Rockwellesque ideal is that local farmers, who lovingly coddled each crop, got up early, picked them, and brought them to their booth to sell direct to you, the eager suburban housewife.

In addition to all the fresh produce, other booths sell allegedly homemade stuff, from foodstuffs to handicrafts, and "organic" products manufactured locally by craftsmen.

It's great, to the extent that this is actually true. Those true farmers who picked the crop out of their own fields or off their own vines and are selling it direct to the public, to pocket the full price without a wholesaler in the middle--more power to 'em.

There are way too many Farmer's Markets held for this to possibly be 100% true, as not enough farmers exist any more, or produce enough and have enough relatives to get to them all. You only have to look around a little bit, and see stuff that probably came from a wholesaler who hired sombody who looked like a farmer, to sell direct to the public.

Products may all be organic and wholesome, but many probably are just like those at the grocery store. And prices aren't always any cheaper than the grocery story either.

But it sure creates a comforting, idyllic story for suburbanites to share and live as they put dinner on the table. And farmers are laughing all the way to the bank.