So 2 years later things are better but not perfect. This year we received celery that looked like it was grown next to Chernobyl. I can live with that although it slows the process of producing celery sticks. The bigger issue was that they were old. Two different prep people, one each weekend, complained about the quality. What I found out from my good friend in the kitchen that lives in the same town she does was disappointing. She goes to the farmers market with the worst reputation in town. This is in the middle of a major agricultural area. There are lots of choices. As for the celery I started sourcing it from Costco.
When the veggie-buying person saw that I took celery off the list, she brought it up and when I told her why (old celery) she took exception. Too bad.
One item does stand out for very high quality that she has been buying; Romanesco Cauliflower.
edited to remove a redundant statement.
