Tag: Wild Ramp

Ramp Harvesting To End In Southern West Virginia National Parks

Folks digging for ramps in some areas of southern West Virginia will have to find new locations to harvest the wild leek.

According to the National Park Service, the ramp population in National Park and Preserve properties has declined too much in recent years.

Harvesting will no longer be allowed within the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Gauley River National Recreation Area and Bluestone National Scenic River starting January 1.

Recent surveys show that some populations were “overwhelmingly small” while others were completely gone. Officials said that harvesting in the parks could jeopardize the species.

Ramps are small white bulbs with a green expanded leaf. It is a type of leek that some describe to have an onion or garlic flavor and a pungent smell.

Park biologists are also looking into ways to restore historic ramp populations. The no ramp harvest policy will remain in effect until the plant is found to be more sustainable.

Wild Ramp Ranked in Top 50 Farmers' Markets

Cooking Light Magazine has named the Wild Ramp as one of the top Farmers’ Markets in the country.

The Wild Ramp was picked by Cooking Light Magazine as one of America’s 50 Best Farmer’s Markets. The local market opened in 2012 and is built by a collaboration of the local community and the farmers in the region.

The market offers everything from produce, dairy, eggs and pasta to coffee, bread, jams and jellies. It’s run mostly by volunteers from the Huntington community.

Cooking Light relied on renowned chefs, cookbook authors, and food notables to come up with the list of the 50 best from a total of 8,000 known farmers’ markets.  

Wild Ramp Makes Move to Central City

The Wild Ramp Food Market will hold a grand opening ceremony Saturday at 9 a.m. as they celebrate a move to a new larger location.

Since opening its doors in July 2012 at Heritage Station in Huntington, the shop that only sells locally grown foods has flourished. With over 100 local farmers, artisans, and bakers producing goods for the market, they have run out of space. So when the city approached the market about moving to a larger location in Central City, Wild Ramp Officials jumped at the chance.

Shelly Keeney is the market manager.

“The community, they haven’t had anything like this before, so yeah it’s going to be somewhat nerve wracking I suppose to help them understand what we’re all about because this is something kind of new and different,” Keeney said. 

The new location at 555 14th Street West is in the heart of the Old Central City commercial district will also house a coffee shop. Most of the small commercial area is made up of antique shops, but in the middle is a building owned by the city that’s housed many different businesses. But it’s the farmers market hosted in the back outdoor space during the summer months that’s succeeded long-term. Moving the Wild Ramp naturally fits two needs, more space for the market and a business that the city thinks can help encourage economic growth.

Keeney said she tries not to think about the pressure of leading the charge for Central City.

“I really don’t feel pressure, I think the first time we moved, yeah there was pressure there just not really knowing, but not really any right now other than we want to come into this community and invite them into our Wild Ramp World and honestly we’re just really excited,” Keeney said.

The Tailgate Farmers’ market will continue to run from the outdoor space behind the Central City market building where the Ramp will be located. They’ll operate from the last Saturday in June until the last Saturday in October. The Wild Ramp Board of Directors and volunteers have been working for several months on the move. JennineBarilla is the President of the Wild Ramp Board. She said there is a level of excitement about what the added space will mean.

“We’ve got so much more space, we’ve got producers that are excited to get down here and be able to bring us more items, we’ve gotten produce coolers donated so we can keep the produce. I think it’s just more of an excitement,” Barilla said.

The Wild Ramp has given more than $400,000 back to local producers. The market has three paid employees and relies on volunteers for staffing. Producers drop off items and sell on a consignment model, getting back 90 percent of the cost while the market retains 10 percent for operating expense.

Krystal Payne is the Operations Manager for the Market. She said they hope there is no apprehension from their current customers on the move.

“I know some of our customers have been a little apprehensive about us moving down here, but I’ve seen in the past month or so people are so excited about our move,” Payne said.

The Wild Ramp will have extended hours at the new location, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 8 to 4.  

Wild Ramp Continues to Succeed in Huntington

Since opening in July 2012 the farmers market in downtown Huntington has injected nearly $350,000 back into the Huntington community.

Charles Barton sells organic lamb meat at the Wild Ramp local foods market in downtown Huntington. The farmer from Bakerton, West Virginia in the Eastern Panhandle is the perfect example of why the small market has succeeded.

“They were looking for people to join in and I was looking for a market I could be comfortable with and besides it gets me home more, Huntington is my home,” Barton said.

From July 2012, when the market opened, to December 2013, the market has paid more than 345 thousand dollars to a total of 121 farmers and producers. Shelly Keeney is the Market Manager.

Keeney said they have been surprised at how a small idea has turned into something that so many in the area depend on for locally grown food. She said they didn’t expect it.

“What surprises me is the amount of customer support, not just customers coming in buying product, but the business support we’ve gotten from businesses that surround us and now we have the attention of the agriculture department as well because it’s gone really well,” Keeney said.

It’s that support from city of Huntington officials and the West Virginia Department of Agriculture— and the need for more space– that made the Wild Ramps want to expand. After having their bid selected by the city to take over the Central City Market in Huntington’s west end, the market is preparing for a spring move that will provide much more space than they are  used to. Gail Patton is the President of the Board of Directors for the Market.

“We have outgrown this space very quickly, we actually outgrew it a year ago and have been thinking about moving for a while now and we decided to go for it and see if we could get a bigger building with better access,” Patton said.

The larger space in the Central City market will allow them to work with farmers on techniques for season extension so they can produce more into the cold months and will allow for others things such as classes.

“One of the big ones is we’ll be able to have classes right in the store, we’ll be able to have cooking demonstrations and cooking classes, we’ll be able to have gardening classes out behind the building and we’ll be able to expand what we can do onsite, now we’re having those classes, but always having to find somewhere to have them,” Patton said.

Patton says with the support they have from the community the move will work.

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