There will be no more harvests for Harvest Time Market, the star-crossed Lantana farmers' market and u-pick stand that got hit with a passel of code violations and was forced to shut down after a difficult year in business.
Founded by four local agriculture vets, the market featured fruits and produce grown on its own land as well as from other area sources; an outdoor garden store; fresh-baked pies and pastries; juices bottled on-premises; and strawberry and tomato u-pick fields. From there, it grew to include fresh-squeezed sugar-cane juice, a variety of prepared foods and weekend barbecue, with plans for everything from a specialty farm to supply high-end restaurants to a mini petting zoo for the kiddies.
But the original partners and management team quickly broke up. And though the market remained popular, it struggled through equipment failures that for a time drastically reduced its stock before being forced by county code enforcement to take down its signs and stop selling its juices and prepared foods.
That, as they say, was the kiss of death, and earlier this month, the market closed. But, hey, there's always Publix.
Follow Clean Plate Charlie on Facebook and on Twitter: @CleanPlateBPB.
