Local Growers: Yer Yang Produce

In the early morning when few shoppers are even awake, Yer Yang's Produce stand at Fulton Farmers Market is already busy. A chef from Broder's stops by to pick out leeks for a cooking demonstration and a woman debates whether to buy orange or purple carrots.

“Have you tried the purple carrots?” Anna Yang asks, “I hear they're supposed to be sweeter.” Convinced, the woman chooses a rainbow bunch of carrots. Anna Yang, a 15 year old from St. Paul, minds the Yer Yang booth with her family and helps with farming when she is not in school.

Yer Yang's Produce does brisk business at both Fulton and Kingfield Farmers Markets. The produce the family grows comes from two plots of rented land in Anoka and Rosemont.

Yer Yang's booth is located on the corner at both Southwest Minneapolis markets and many notice the abundant bouquets of zinnias, ornamental cabbage, sunflowers, and eucalyptus as they are walking in. The fragrant, colorful bouquets are assembled each morning before the market.

“I like growing flowers because they're easier to take care of,” Anna Yang said, explaining that the other vegetables are more labor intensive. Everything the Yang family sells at the market is harvested by hand.

Yer Yang's produce is plentiful. The tables are full of new potatoes, carrots, leeks, garlic, sun gold cherry tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, rhubarb and bell pepper all neatly arranged in baskets.

The varieties of vegetables they sell are the familiar classics that many Minnesotans associate with summer. In a summer where some vendors at the market have struggled to grow enough tomatoes, Yer Yang has baskets full of unblemished, perfectly ripe red globe tomatoes for sale.

Yer Yang has been growing vegetables for farmers markets for almost 25 years. When asked how she got started in farming she said simply, “farming makes money for living.”

You can find Yer Yang's Produce at Fulton and Kingfield Farmers Markets all season long.