Ask Gretchen Schramm “what's for dinner?” and she turns to survey the tables at Ripe, a new farmers' stand in Edwards. Apricots, Swiss chard, beets, tiny red potatoes, purple cauliflower, zucchini and yellow squash, cherries, garlic (and garlic scapes) sit in baskets proudly representing the hardworking farmers on the Western Slope.

“I think I'll make a kind of hash — potatoes, squash and Swiss chard with poached eggs,” Schramm said. “And a little garlic.”

This is the kind of food Schramm and Mike Hovey want to eat: fresh, local and in season. And it's why the couple created Ripe — a permanent farmers' stand with a mission to engage, educate and excite the Vail Valley community about eating locally. So twice a week, Hovey loads into their truck, drives to Grand Junction, Palisade, Paonia, Delta and Hotchkiss, picks up the day's crops and brings back the bounty of neighboring farmers to Ripe. Along with fruits and veggies, Ripe sells other Colorado products, such as quinoa (a super food), and has plans to introduce local cheeses, honey and cured meats to the stand.

Schramm and Hovey's passion for eating locally blossomed while living and working in France for 11 years, where they could ski to the local market. There are no “locavores” in France — the buzzword in America for people who seek out local food products — because eating what's local and in season is just a part of French life. And so it became for Schramm and Hovey, and the couple grew quite accustomed to finding produce, cheese, meats and wine at their local market that were grown, raised and produced close to home.

“We saw the need for Ripe when we returned,” said Hovey, who grew up in the valley. “After seeing the type of produce and food that was available in other parts of the world and realizing our markets and health-food stores had such a limited supply of what we were looking for, we thought that we could bring it to our valley.”

The “need,” as most synergistic relationships go, is two-fold. Ripe connects consumers to fresh Colorado produce, and Ripe connects Colorado farmers to local consumers.

Fresh pick Ripe is located at the Northstar Center in the parking lot across from Cafe Milano in Edwards. The farmers' stand is open Monday through Friday from noon to 7 p.m. For those who want the freshest of the fresh pick, catch them Monday and Wednesdays after 3:30 p.m. For more information, contact gretchen_schramm@hotmail.com, visit Ripe Colorado Produce on facebook (with updates on selection) or call 970-569-3207.

Eating for a reason

Schramm and Hovey are among the growing population of people who believe in the benefits of eating locally. Increased nutrition, reduced carbon footprint, support for the local economy and arguably, above all else, taste, are reasons people choose local over big-agriculture, even certified organic, produce. As Schramm describes it, the produce Ripe sells is “consciously grown.”

Linda Miner was the second person stopping at Ripe on a recent Thursday evening after work looking for Farmer Blaine's heirloom tomatoes. Rumors that Ripe has “the best tomatoes” brought her there, she said. Unfortunately, the gold, green and red heirlooms had sold out, something Ripe plans to avoid in the future, but Miner found a head of purple cauliflower, instead.

“How do you cook this?” Miner asked.

“I've been eating it raw. I made a slaw with it and the cabbage, but you can steam and mash it like a potato with olive oil, salt and pepper,” Schramm said.

Taste lured her, but Miner appreciates the convenience of Ripe, open late (until 7 p.m.) and on the weekdays, an alternative to the weekend farmers' markets for local goods.

“I try to go the farmers' markets, but this is a quick stop during the week, and I'd much rather buy here than end up at City Market,” Miner said.

Even a chef from Café Milano, across the parking lot from Ripe, came by to scope the stand's selection.

“I'm thinking about specials,” chef Simon Holland said.

Schramm said she hopes Ripe inspires more people to depart from the supermarket habit, especially during Colorado's peak produce season.

“It's about eating for a reason,” she said. “Thinking about what you're buying and where it's grown could revolutionize the way America is doing food.”

The missing link

Most Americans shop at supermarkets, where produce is grown by huge industrial farms (even the organics) and is imported from all over the country and world. There's no face to the spinach, maybe a recognizable label. When Schramm and Hovey created Ripe, they were initially thinking about the connection between people and local food; what they didn't realize is Ripe would also connect farmers to the people — a relationship completely absent in modern American supermarkets.

“When we introduced farmers to the idea that we were willing to pick up their produce, everyone was really excited, and a few mentioned that this is the missing link,” Hovey said.

As Hovey learned, farmers try to do everything on their own, from the growing to the selling to the marketing. With 12-hour days, seven days a week, it's hard for small farmers to find time to create a new market such as the Vail Valley, Hovey said.

Ripe is doing it for them. But more than just the “middleman,” Ripe is truly the missing link between farmers and people. Schramm and Hovey know all their farmers' stories, such as the DeVries, a farming couple in their 70s who just can't give it up because watching things grow brings them so much joy, Hovey said. And then there's Farmer Blaine and his tomatoes, the hottest item yet around Ripe. Farmer Blaine uses bees to pollinate his greenhouse tomatoes and uses good bugs to the kill the bad bugs. It's a method Schramm and Hovey are happy to share, along with all their farmers' stories.

“Small farmers have so much love and joy in what they're doing, even though it's insane hard work,” Hovey said. “I can just fall in love with them, and I want to support them, and help them as much as I can.”

Cassie Pence is a freelance writer based in Vail who goes gaga over local cherries. Contact her at cassie@organichousekeepers.com.