Great produce and a "real" shopping experience can be had at these little markets full of city-grown goodies Posted: July 12, 2013 PHILADELPHIA is lucky to enjoy a thriving array of farmers markets. Their popularity, however, has created an interesting post-nutritional phenomenon, at least in my eyes. Lines of humble tables piled with gorgeous produce can turn into mobbed social gatherings faster than you can mispronounce "endive." STEPHANIE AARONSON / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER A shopper lingering over a basket of peaches might get clipped by a luxury stroller pushed by parents channeling "Fast and Furious 6." A cook surveying the cheese selection runs the risk of a punch to the solar plexus from a self-proclaimed "locavore" vying for the last bunch of asparagus. A woman wearing a scarf that cost more than your rent might box you out like Moses Malone to get her manicured paws on the last of the pawpaws. What if you just want to buy some vegetables? Recently, I had the chance to visit three very different farming operations, all of which have a public retail component operating within Philly city limits. Community-oriented and independently operated, these farms exist slightly outside the mainstream market hype, but each exudes a strong, sincere passion for agriculture, education and, of course, eating. For a change of farmers-market pace, pay one of these places a visit. Farm 51 "Some weeks, it'll be all these hipsters. Some weeks, it'll be families. Some weeks, it'll be everyone." There's no typical customer at Farm 51, now entering its fourth season on a remarkably green Southwest Philly corner. That energizing sense of unpredictability also can be applied to what's living and growing on and around this 5,000-square-foot plot maintained by Andrew Olson, a landscape maintenance supervisor with the Delaware Center for Horticulture, and Neal Santos, a photographer. Patches of zinnia, dahlia and nigella, which Santos is quick to twist into impromptu flower arrangements, sway in dirt a few feet from Chester Avenue, where the No. 13 trolley lumbers by more often than you'd think. On the 51st Street side, built beds are home to almostthere tomato and pepper plants. FARM 51 OPENED: 2009 FIND IT: 51st Street & Chester Avenue RUN BY: Andrew Olson & Neal Santos FARM STAND: 4:30-7 p.m. Thursdays, May to September WEB: farm51.wordpress.com Nearly every inch of land inside the chain-link fence - a lot completely filled with trash and rubble when Olson came here six years ago - is planted to capacity with specialty seeds: Asian eggplants, cylindra beets, collard greens, green rhubarb, even pear and persimmon trees, all raised without chemicals or pesticides. Shady spots are occupied by the farm's handmade rabbit hutch, chicken coop and bee boxes (they're predicting a record honey harvest this year), plus a teeny pond for "Duck," Farm 51's resident mascot and the fowl apple of the 51 boys' eyes. (Three cats and three dogs live here, too.) Olson lived next to the neglected lot for a year before he decided to take his work home with him, clearing out the mess with the help of neighbors and friends. "The landlord was cool with me doing whatever with the yard, and having chickens," he said. "That is what sold me on living here." A City Harvest grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society providing upstart urban farmers with compost, seeds and starter plants made Farm 51, as it stands today, possible. Olson and Santos have ambitious goals. They hope to frame 51 as an event space after some upgrades and renovations, but for now their main conversations with the community at large occur on Thursdays. That's when they recruit enthusiastic "junior gardeners" (neighborhood kids) to help them wheel and deal just-picked bouquets, cukes, kale, eggplants and fresh-laid eggs for cheaper than you'd ever find in any organic market. Neighbor Peter Kromah, who came to America from his native Sierra Leone 30 years ago, makes most of his weekly purchases via the farm stand, but on this day the avid home cook's in immediate need of greens for soup. "I admire them. I know exactly the importance of farming, especially their type of farming. Everything is natural," said Kromah, a licensing analyst who also holds an associate degree in agriculture. "I call them brothers." More: articles.philly.com/2013-07-12/news/40516447_1_collard-greens-farmers-markets-city-harvest