Instructions: It is 6 a.m. at a weekend farmers market and already there is movement: hanging scales wink in the sunlight and awnings ripple in the breeze. Farmers bend and straighten, filling woven baskets with salad greens and polishing sun-warmed onion bulbs.

A grower in baseball cap and pigskin work gloves piles cantaloupe in a perfect pyramid, high above the bed of his dusty truck. The first customers are like the vendors themselves: earlybirds who begin their day before the sun.

Customers come for field-fresh products, and the farmers waste no time getting their product from field to market. Chris Burke, director of four farmers markets called Colorado Fresh Fields, is like most farmers: he hand picks the produce he sells the night before each market and drives, at most, an hour to the farmers market. In contrast, the produce I buy from the supermarket has traveled an average of 2,000 miles.

Selling salad greens at four markets a week is an exhausting business. Every Tuesday, Burke and his farm manager handpick until dark. Wednesday morning, Burke departs for the farmers market while his employee stays behind to water the fields. By evening, they are out picking again, ready to repeat the whole process. "Some days youre really dragging," he says.

But farmers who dont sell at enough markets often have trouble sustaining themselves. "Youve got to make hay while the sun shines," Burke says.

Farmers who do best not only sell at several markets each week, but beat-out competitors by offering better quality, a unique product, or a variety that comes to harvest earlier. To compete with the supermarket, some farmers have developed products (such as hydroponic tomatoes) to sell when the markets first open in spring.

I was tempted to stock my larder at the farmers market. I saw several varieties of cheese, a wide range of artisan breads, dried jerky and frozen meat, jams and honeys, fresh-cut flowers, and, of course, produce of every shape and size. The only thing missing was milk, and Burke plans to add that to his markets within the year.

The earth clinging to the produce told me the food was fresh. But Burke assured me it was also clean and safe. In order to sell products at any of the Colorado Fresh Markets, farmers must have scales approved by the Colorado Weights and Measures Division, labels that meet state requirements, and approved kitchens for prepared foods. Burke provides hand-washing facilities.

Customers arent the only ones who reap the safety measures: I spied several vendors unwrapping steaming breakfast burritos and sipping hot coffee in the minutes before their first customers appeared.

Prices at Burkes Cherry Creek location seemed competitive with those at my supermarket. But prices did vary from one stall to the next, depending on the quality and rarity of the product. "Prices are constantly changing," advises Burke. "You gotta find your deals."

While the gold-fleshed beets I bought cost about $2 a pound (and worth every penny), an enormous sack of broccoli rabe cost me a mere $1.50. Sweet corn and melons were going fast and cheap.

Although the farmers gladly parted with their products, none let them go carelessly. "Steam them for a few minutes, no more," they caution.

"They go great with tomatoes!" they promise. Chris Burke hands his customers recipe cards and instructions on storing the produce they buy.

Colorado Fresh Markets hosts a different educational event each month. In August, a featured chef will guide shoppers through the market and provide tips on how to select seasonal produce. In October, kids are invited to trick or treat from market booths, make corn husk dolls, and paint pumpkins.

In the winter months, Burke does the legwork for Colorado Fresh Markets, developing signing and advertising and obtaining the permits they require. He receives two or three calls a week from farmers interested in renting space the following spring.

Like other businesses, farmers markets will need to evolve to succeed.

Burkes fourth market under the Fresh Markets umbrella is new this year. The East High addition has all the makings of a great market: a location in the heart of Denver, a beautiful park setting complete with Roman columns, and a product mix that provides something for everybody. Burkes next challenge is to open a year-round market at an indoor facility.

Things do change. For 25 years, Chris Webster sold fruit from a truck on Boulder County Road 53. I can no longer spot the parachute he used as an umbrella, but I can take the quick jaunt down to Cherry Creek each Saturday and bite into one of his plump, juicy Colorado peaches.

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