Family is one participating in Bethany market
Madison and Kaitlyn Johnson are seventh-generation local farmers. Well, farmers someday, might be a better characterization. The daughters of Keith and Rebecca Johnson – both of whom have deep Sussex County farming roots – sat in the family market on Route 20 on Tuesday, watching cartoons on the television and listening to their parents talk about their heritage.
Rebecca, left, and Keith Johnson, right, have introduced a seventh generation of their family to farming, with daughters Kaitlyn, center-left, and Madison, center-right. The Johnson family will be selling their produce at the new Bethany Beach Farmers’ Market in July and August“It’s something you have known all your life,” Rebecca Johnson said, standing behind the seven-year-old counter at the well-patronized Johnson’s Family Market, which is now open seven days a week. “It’s very enjoyable.”
Rebecca Johnson, the daughter of dairy farmers who grew up about 45 minutes to the north, in Houston, received her degree in agriculture from the University of Delaware and married into one of the most historic farm families in southeastern Sussex County.
The Johnsons have tilled acres of land near Selbyville for seven generations. Keith Johnson called it a “my father and his father before him” type of legacy that has defined the family for decades, even centuries. The Johnson family, including Keith’s two brothers, their wives and their parents, now raise crops on 750 acres adjacent to the market on Route 20, just north of the intersection with Route 54.
“It’s something we enjoy doing,” Keith Johnson said, standing across from his wife in the market, flowers and fresh vegetables behind him. “We enjoy watching the plants grow.”
The Johnsons sell everything from homegrown sweet corn to watermelons to lima beans and annual flowers at the market – and they will soon have another outlet for their products.
They are just one family of farmers participating in the newly-formed Bethany Beach Farmers’ Market and the first to be featured in a series of profiles by the Coastal Point in the weeks leading up to the market’s opening.
Starting on July 1, the market will be open from 8 a.m. to noon in the Mercantile Peninsula Bank parking lot in downtown Bethany Beach, on Sundays until Aug. 19. Local farmers plan to flock from all directions, products transported in the back of pick-ups to deliver what Keith Johnson called “quality product” directly to the consumer.
Local farmers, residents and the Delaware Department of Agriculture have worked together in recent months toward the opening of the market, which will run for eight Sundays. All products sold at the market must be raised on the farm of the farmer selling that product.
“There is a national trend toward buying local produce,” said Carrie Bennett, an area farmer who organized the market effort among area farmers. “For all of the visitors that come to the beach, and the residents, it’s sometimes difficult to get around in the summer. We want to bring the produce to the customers. It’s a win-win situation for the local farmers and Bethany Beach. I think it will fill a niche. We’re looking forward to it.”
Bennett called many of the farm families participating in the market “down-home, hard-working” with roots in the region stretching back generations. The Johnsons, who certainly fit that profile, will be selling all of the homegrown produce that they “can fit in the back of a pick-up,” Keith Johnson said. Among other crops, that will include tomatoes, five varieties of peppers, sweet corn, string beans, sweet potatoes, scallions, watermelon and cantaloupe.
“It’s a town that was willing to support the farmer, and we are willing to support the town,” Keith Johnson said of Bethany Beach. “Our goal is to bring high-quality produce to the consumer.
“Everything is about location,” Johnson said before the longtime family farmer touted the market’s spot. “That’s a fine location.”