WATERVILLE, Ohio (AP) – Ken Baumhardt sells about a dozen varieties of peppers of varying degrees of heat and color along with nearly as many different kinds of tomatoes and eggplants at his farm market stand.

“I grow all kinds of weird stuff,” he said. “It sets you apart.”

Farmers operating roadside produce stands and markets are broadening their menus to compete with supermarkets by offering organic and hard-to-find produce to attract people who want to experiment with new foods or eat healthier.

Some are adding other items to the mix, including fresh-baked pies, doughnuts and homemade ice cream.

It’s small farmers’ way of staying in agriculture at a time when large-scale farming is taking over the industry.

“Everybody has had to diversify because small farms are struggling to survive,” said Judy Sedor, who sells fruits and vegetables grown on her farm in East Granby, Conn. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s really a way of life.”

She makes scones and pies filled with apples and berries from her orchard and next year plans to sell homemade ice cream flavored with her berries.

Apple butter, pies and doughnuts are almost as popular as the fresh apples at MacQueen Orchards near Toledo. The family market sells soup and salsa, too – some of it prepackaged.

“If you want to be open year-round, that’s what you have to do,” said Marlene MacQueen, the manager. “You can’t just sell apples and peaches.”

The number of farmers’ markets nationwide has more than doubled from 1994 through 2004, coinciding with an increasing demand for organic foods, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

There were just over 3,700 markets a year ago.

“Customers love knowing it’s a local product,” said Noa O’Hare, president of the Oregon Farmers’ Markets Association. “A lot of markets are at the crossroads of the community.”

At some markets, products such as homemade pies and jellies account for more than half of all sales.

Julie Schedeen, who runs a farm with her husband in Boring, Ore., makes jams and syrups with many of the 26 kinds of berries they grow, including yellow raspberries, marionberries, boysenberries and olallieberries.

Three years ago, she made 10 cases of jams and syrups. This year, she’ll sell more than 1,000 cases.

“It’s all about niche marketing,” she said.

Immigrants and minorities shop at produce stands to find foods they often can’t get in supermarkets. They pick up habanero peppers for salsa and okra for soups and side dishes at bargain prices compared with supermarkets.

Wayne North, of Detroit, was disappointed when he couldn’t find what he needed to make fried green tomatoes after stopping at Jeffers Garden, a roadside stand south of Toledo in Waterville.

He left with a brown bag of peaches, some red tomatoes and a bottle of berry-flavored soda. The stand also sells beer, wine and bags of salt-water taffy.

“I won’t go to the grocery store anymore to get this stuff,” he said while lugging a watermelon to the counter.

North didn’t stay disappointed. The market’s manager promised to pick some green tomatoes and have them ready when North dropped by the next day.

In northeast Ohio, Baumhardt sells his vegetables at Jamie’s Flea & Produce Market in South Amherst, about a 40-minute drive west of downtown Cleveland. Five or six produce dealers set up shop every Wednesday and Saturday.

Staples such as sweet corn and green beans are still the top sellers, but Asian eggplants and acorn squash will grab a customer’s attention and keep them coming back.

“People want to try something new,” Baumhardt said. “They’ll just stop by to see what it is.”

One of the biggest challenges, produce stand operators say, is that most folks don’t know how to prepare squash or zucchini.

Sandy Nauman, who runs a country market out of her two-car garage near Bucyrus, is writing a cookbook so her customers can learn what tomatoes and hot peppers make the best salsa or how to fry a cucumber.

“You have to know what you’re selling,” she said. “When I throw in something extra, like an extra ear of corn, it brings them back. They think that’s the greatest.”

Market operators say customers often want what they find at supermarkets – tidy displays and blemish-free produce – along with the personal service.

Sedor, who also is executive director of the Connecticut Farm Fresh Cooperative Association, said she puts out produce on tablecloths and makes sure everything is organized and priced.

She also likes to spend time educating customers about just how much it costs to farm today and how to pick out their produce.

“We help them understand that a vegetable doesn’t have to be a perfect shape or color,” she said. “You’re still going to chop it up.”

What customers like most is “they get to talk to the farmer,” she said.

Savvy produce stand operators know that marketing is a key to their success.

At Jim Dandy Farm Market in Banks, Ore., workers slice up vegetables such as squash for nibbling.

“Sometimes it pans out and sometimes they go back to the tried and true,” said May Trussell, a part-owner of the market.