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Visitors can find many organic products at the market including coffee
from Treasure Coast Coffee Traders that is organic, fair trade, shade grown,
shipped fresh and roasted locally.
when hurricanes Frances and Jeanne hit the area. That year,
they rebuilt three greenhouses, but they lost those to hurricane
Wilma in 2005. Tropical Storm Fay hit in 2008 and left 10
inches of water standing on the farm for an extended period.
But the couple have steadfastly overcome these setbacks. They
now have 11 greenhouses that produce organic vegetables. In
addition, they grow organic grapes, papayas, guavas, mangoes
and mulberries, and plan to expand to another 30-acre
parcel and grow more grapes and other tropical varieties.
Brenda and Jim Eaves started Treasure Coast Coffee Traders
and are now celebrating their fourth year at the market.
“We started out making southern-style dessert coffees,”
says Jim Eaves. “My wife, Brenda, created her own recipes
and experimented with different flavors. Her dessert coffees
became popular, and then we decided to expand on what we
were offering.”
The Eaveses now provide fresh-roasted coffee that is 100%
Humanic™ — not just organic, fair trade and shade-grown,
but sales from the coffee go to further humanitarian and
missionary efforts all over the world. “We have partnered
with Seek the Lamb Missionaries who work with farmers in
South America,” says Eaves. “We provide the best of the best
Arabica coffee beans that are high mountain grown. We deal
directly with the farmers and have the beans shipped to Vero
Beach where we roast them to order on Thursday and then
bring the freshly roasted beans to the farmers’ market on Saturday.”
A portion of the coffee sales goes to provide primary
education in Nicaragua for more than 2,300 Miskito Indian
children in 14 villages.
Not only can customers buy freshly roasted Humanic
beans at the Treasure Coast Coffee Trader booth, but they can
also sip freshly brewed pressed coffee. “Pressing is a longer
process,” says Eaves. “It would be easy to brew it in a machine,
but we want to serve gourmet coffee, and we have a lot
of people who appreciate it.”
Seibenick intends to bring more organic goods to the market.
“I’d like to improve on healthier offerings,” he says. He
also wants to get more students involved with helping to enhance
the market’s social media outlet to provide a better connection
with customers and growers. Another goal is to work
more closely with more downtown businesses. With a solid
following of loyal patrons, the Downtown Farmers’ Market of
Fort Pierce will continue to be a Saturday morning tradition
and destination for many people in the coming years.