Sodbusters in the big city

Quick, where in the city can you find a pint of greenhouse-raised raspberries, a jar of lavender-infused honey, or a delicacy like Australian ginger goat cheese? Give up? If you ran out of ideas, chances are you've never visited the Farmers Market that is open twice a week in Copley Square beginning each May. Do the green-and-white-striped tents ring a bell?

The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets returned to the area Tuesday, bringing state-grown produce, plants, baked goods, and organic food to Copley Square, City Hall Plaza, and Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville, among other locations.

``We bring the farm and the farmer to the city," said David Gilson, owner of the Herb Lyceum in Groton.

The rains this month ruined some seed, and Scott Freitas, co-owner of Freitas Farm in Middleborough, said some crops expected in June and mid-July may be slower to come in. The rains were less burdensome to Arty Keown of Keown Orchards in Sutton, who is expecting ``phenomenal" apples and peaches in July.

``We'd rather have too much rain than too little," he said.

Shoppers in search of a quick treat last Tuesday were delighted with Barb Hamilton's cider donuts and rhubarb crumb cake. She and her husband, Bill, run Hamilton Orchards in New Salem.

Hamilton, a fixture of the markets for more than 20 years, said her husband bought their farm in New Salem for $2,700 when he was 15, with insurance settlement money from an accident.

He thinks he did, anyway.

``I don't remember anything 15 minutes before the accident, but I was on a bicycle, and I was unconscious for two weeks straight," Bill Hamilton said from his farm.

Vendor Ann Starbard, who runs Crystal Brook Farm in Sterling with her husband, Eric, said of the market, ``I like coming here for a change. The city has a rhythm all its own, and it's great, because when I'm on the farm, I don't see anyone except the animals and my husband."

The Copley Square m arket is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, and at City Hall the same hours Mondays and Wednesdays. The farmers market in Coolidge Corner in Brookline is open from 1:30 p.m. until dark Thursday, and at Davis Square in Somerville from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays.