Rixey's Market, locally owned and operated by one Independence family for 51 years, has some excellent offerings of local food. Rixey's Market is located approximately 2 1/2 miles west of Independence on your left, on Wilson Highway (Route 58). Rixey's sells delicious milk from the Boyer Milk Company in Rural Retreat, VA for only $3.99 a gallon.

Fine, fat blueberries, picked and packaged in Fries, VA, are on sale at the front counter. Other local foods for sale at Rixey's:

• Mountain Made Ice from Meadows of Dan, VA
• "Grayson Gold" Honey
• Honey from beekeepers in Elk Creek, VA
• Apple butter from Hillsville, VA
• Stuffed Peppers from Pinnacle, NC
• "Appalachian Piccalilli" from West Liberty, KY
• Country ham from Winston-Salem, NC

Rixey's also stocks old-country-store style preserved goods (in jars), including jams, jellies, salad dressings, pickled this-and-that, and too many other eatables to list under the Rixey's Market label.

The fruit and veggie truck rolls into Rixey's Market on Wednesdays, with fresher and tastier fruits and veggies than you can buy at the supermarket, and Rixey's sells them at very competitive prices. The best canteloupes and plums I purchased this summer were not bought at Wal-Mart or at Food City, but at Rixey's. For more information, visit the web site at http://rixeysmarket.com.