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More Farmers’ Markets
Extend Operations into Winter Months
By
Terri McLean
 VERSAILLES,
Ky., (Dec. 20, 2006) – While many farmers’ markets have closed
for the season, a handful of markets across the state have set
up shop indoors this winter. It’s not exactly business as usual,
however.
Gone is the fresh seasonal produce that is typical farmers’
market fare. In its place are items such as baked goods, jams,
jellies, sauces, eggs, dried herbs, freezer beef, dried flowers
and handmade crafts.
“Shoppers to winter markets won’t find the wide selection of
fresh produce they expect, but oftentimes they will find
products made from those vegetables they love,” said Patti
Meads, horticulture agent for the University of Kentucky
Cooperative Extension Service office in Woodford County, where
one of those markets has made the move indoors this winter.
“Tomatoes and peppers make excellent pepper jelly, shell beans
make great soup blends, for example. Dried fruits and vegetables
make great holiday breads,” she said. “Winter markets give
growers an opportunity to add value to their crops.”
Growers such as Marti and Curtis Congleton of Deuce Springs Farm
in Versailles were all for extending the Woodford County
market’s season into the winter months. The Congletons’ freezer
beef and sorghum are in demand long after the traditional
farmers’ market season ends around Halloween. Marti Congleton
helped secure a location inside the bustling Falling Springs
Arts and Recreation Center in Versailles.
“That way we have continuity throughout the year,” said
Congleton, as she watched a stream of parents, grandparents and
others enter Falling Springs to watch youth basketball games
and, hopefully, make a stop at her booth. “Continuity is really
important because if you like my sorghum you want to have it. If
you like my beef … now you can come here to buy it.”
 Growers
such as the McMaine family of Riverhaven Farm in Mercer County,
likewise, were thrilled to make the move indoors this year so
they could sell their value-added products, including dried
peppers, zucchini bread, pumpkin cookies and bean soup mix.
“We grow everything that we sell,” said Linda McMaine, who
belongs to the Woodford County Farmer’s Market.
Congleton and McMaine are among a growing number of market
vendors in Kentucky who are trying to sell their home-grown,
home-processed products beyond the usual summer market schedule.
Janet Eaton, of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said
several of the state’s farmers’ market organizations are seeking
indoor venues to accommodate them during the winter months.
“The markets are going indoors because they (farmers’ markets)
are not just for fruits and vegetables any more,” Eaton said.
“Many value-added products make up a lot of the customers’
purchases at the market and they want that product year-round.”
Along with the markets that have moved indoors, some are opening
their outdoor markets earlier and closing them later, also in
response to the need for extended seasons. The Boone County
Farmers’ Market, for instance, opened outdoors this December to
sell locally grown Christmas trees and custom wreaths.
“The benefit is what the intent and purpose of the farmers’
market is to begin with – to provide an outlet for the farmers
to be able to sell their products to consumers as opposed to
going the wholesale route or any other way. It does just that,
extends the season,” said Coy Wilson, Extension assistant for
agriculture and natural resources in Boone County and manager
the Boone County Farmers Market in Burlington.
A winter market, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, also provides
benefits to the people who frequent farmers’ markets – a loyal
group who regularly “seek out farmers’ markets” wherever they
are, Meads said.
“They want to know where their food’s coming from. They want to
be able to talk to the people that are raising it. They want to
make that connection between the farm and their table. Farmers’
markets allow them to do that,” said Meads, who sits on Woodford
County’s farmers’ market board and provides guidance and support
to its members.
The Woodford market opened for a “limited” time in a downtown
shop last winter, Meads said, and response was positive enough
to convince them to try again this year. But the organizers
sought a different location, one that would gain notice and draw
customers.
“They picked Falling Springs (Arts and Recreation Center)
because there’s so much traffic there,” Meads said. “They get
something like 25,000 people a month in there.”
Diane Caudell, a.k.a. Granyum of Granyum’s Baked Goods of
Versailles, said it was a no-brainer to locate inside Falling
Springs.
“I think this is going to be a success,” said Caudell, who makes
her fresh-baked items with locally grown products purchased from
her farmers’ market partners. “It’s such a community-minded
building, and we’re part of the community.”
Woodford’s winter market was open three Saturdays in December
and will close until Jan. 6, when vendors will once again bring
out their farm-raised, home-processed, handcrafted goods.
“Whether they’re going to buy stuff, I don’t know,” said Deuce
Springs Farm’s Marti Congleton. “But we’ve got to try.” |
Contacts: Patti Meads, 859-873-4601
Janet Eaton, 502-564-4983 |
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to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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