Raj Kalia talks with her husband, Alok, about fresh herbs for sale at the Clear Lake Shores marketFarmers markets are sprouting up all over Clear Lake.

Last week the Seabrook City Council tentatively approved a plan for a farmers market at 1325 Meyer Road in Old Seabrook.

Baylee Walker, 9 of La Porte shows of some of the tomatoes her family was selling at the Clear Lake Shores market.League City businesswoman Elmari Van Wyk hopes to open her market by May 1 to coincide with Seabrook’s Keels & Wheels car and boat show. She has a contract to buy 3 acres next to Bay Elementary and Seabrook’s Little League field, contingent on the council’s final approval later this month, and her vision is to bring in not only produce but also arts, crafts, baked goods, children’s events, music and other entertainment.

“We’re excited,” said Seabrook Mayor Gary Renola, who hopes the upscale market will help spur growth in an area devastated by Hurricane Ike. “I think she’s got a really clear vision.”

The League City Farmers Market Association, meanwhile, is organizing what City Councilman Neil Baron hopes will become an every-other-weekend market at League Park, 200 N. Park, or perhaps a nearby parking lot. He thinks the market should open sometime this spring.

The Seabrook and League City markets will join two already in business.

The Farmers Market of Clear Lake Shores, 1020 Marina Bay Drive, is open 8 a.m.-noon every Saturday.

The Nassau Bay Farmers Market, 18045 Upper Bay Road, is open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every Saturday.

Shoppers at both markets can find locally grown produce from broccoli and greens to citrus and strawberries when they’re in season.

Clear Lake Shores’ market also sells an eclectic array of foods that includes salsa, quiche, fruit pies, grass-fed beef, goat’s milk and honey.

Anita Reed, who helps run the Clear Lake Shores market, says she never tired of strolling through farmers markets when she lived in California.

“I loved to talk to the other shoppers about what they were buying and ask, how are you going to prepare this,” she said.

Shoppers have shown a strong interest in the Farmers Market of Clear Lake Shores since it opened last April, said Reed, one of the volunteers who run the nonprofit market for the city of Clear Lake Shores.

“It seems a lot of us are interested in providing good, nutritious meals for our families, as well as providing locally grown produce,” Reed said. “Those interested in the environment don’t want food to travel 1,500 miles to get to us.”

Clear Lake Shores’ market partners with Spring-based Atkinson Farms to provide produce, which is picked the day before it goes to market.

At the Nassau Bay market, the produce comes from small growers in Clear Lake, Kemah and Seabrook. Growers are expected to provide organic products, since the market is an outgrowth of Erma’s Nutrition Center,.

“The market has a nice community feel,” said Sarah Milstead, a buyer for Nassau Bay Farmers Market. “It’s a nice back-in-time gathering place,”

“Everyone slows down for a while.”

ALSO IN THE AREA:

• Fruits and Such Orchard, 6309 Avenue U. in Dickinson, is a pick-your-own blackberries and peach orchard. The business is open 6-8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and all day on weekends during May and June.

• Froberg’s Vegetable Farm Store, 11875 County Road 190 in Alvin, offers an array of home-grown fruits and vegetables.