Local Farmers and Ups and Downs

The Post has an article on the problems of local truck farmers--last year was drought, this year not. This bit is significant:

Chef Loic Jaffres of Café des Artistes in Leonardtown relies on local products for his dishes, which requires coordinating with at least three farmers, cooking only seasonal dishes and being ready to change menus at the last minute. Last month, he had to order most of his produce from California and Florida because local farm produce was not ready or plentiful. Lately, Jaffres said, he has been able to rely more heavily on his local suppliers.

And this:

And the big vegetable harvests, the kind that help pay the tuition for the five Turner kids, will probably hit in mid-August, right when many of their high school workers return to school or their customers take last-minute vacations, Turner said. But she's hoping the delay won't cost the family too much in profits.

"I say to my husband, 'Why don't we just go to Atlantic City and gamble?'" Turner jokes. "Farming really is that kind of gamble."