Vercruysse Fruit & Vegetable Stand

It’s a great place for fresh fruits and vegetables and so much more! Local and family owned since the 1940’s. I remember coming here when I was a kid. Come and check it out!

I’ve had well meaning plans to visit the local farmer’s markets, buuuuut… something always seems to come up. Or I forget. Most often, I forget. So when we were out of peaches, instead of heading to the store I made a special effort to stop at this little fruit and veggie stand, which is just down the street.
«Stand» isn’t quite an accurate description but store might be a stretch. Its about the size of a 2 car garage, with a row and a half of produce. About half of the offerings are sold by the basket and the other half sold by the pound, with melons being the exception and were sold by piece. $ 8 for a whole watermelon, $ 4 half, 2 for a quarter. Cantaloupe and honeydew were also available but I didn’t catch the pricing.
Today we found tomatoes, grapes, melons, corn, peaches, nectarines, bananas, plums, prunes, potatoes, yams, green beans, broccoli, and squash. I’m probably forgetting something, but I have a suspicion the selection varies week to week. The moderately friendly but slightly curt (maybe more moderately curt but slightly friendly) attendant said they grew some of the items but others are from local farms, such as the tree fruit. Many things had multiple varieties available, such as the heirloom and grape tomatoes (there were a couple other kinds, too, but I can’t recall what they were).
I am always thrown by produce pricing because when it’s by the pound I have no grasp on how heavy a tomato is and when it’s by the basket, it’s hard to compare to pound pricing, plus other baskets may be different sizes so store to store it may seem less but the quantity may be smaller. Despite my pricing ineptitude, I feel confident that we will be making this a regular stop. Our total was just over $ 15 and we came home with two heavy bags of fruits (and two yams). 5 freestone peaches, 3 nectarines, 3 plums, 2 tomatoes, 2 large green bell peppers, and a 5 bunch of Chiquita bananas (apparently not all the produce is locally grown). Oh, and those two yams. If this is actually a good deal I don’t really know but I’ll be attempting a price check on my next trip to a «real» store. Maybe the prices aren’t great, but the produce seems to be quality (the peach I had for lunch was sweet, tart, and juicy). You’d probably be quick to tell me how great the deals are at the Farmer’s Market, but this shop is conveniently located and open daily.
One of these days I’ll make it to the market, but in the mean time I’ll be happy to know where to get local produce outside of a grocery store. Maybe the lady will warm up to me if we become regular customers…