FARMERS MARKET, WEEK 1 & 2

the middlebury farmers market is in full swing. currently, the market is open on saturdays. starting in mid-june, it will also be open on wednesdays. our first two markets were a lot of fun. it's a wonderful opportunity to introduce ourselves and share the elmer farm story. some people already knew about our relocation from the intervale and farm purchase through the land trust. the sale of the elmer farm was made public in various newspaper articles. there were also about a dozen community members involved in the process of reviewing farm business plans and selecting a buyer. we feel welcomed by the other market vendors and customers. it was also refreshing to see a few familiar addison county faces since we are still fairly new to the area.

our first week, we brought black beans. we definitely made an impression by bringing something different completely new to the market. we sold over 50 pounds of dry beans. we answered many questions about growing them in vermont and preparing them for various dishes. we displayed them in a beautiful wooden bulk bin that spencer made. i used lunch sized brown paper bags with a simple label to sell about 2 pounds of beans or 1 quart to be exact. this mislead many people into believing this was coffee. we drew in many curious people and disappointed some. i guess a new coffee roaster would do well at the market.

it was a soggy day for the second farmers market. there was more activity than i anticipated and several black bean customers came back to report how they did or didn't use their beans. we brought more to market this week. plant starts were a big hit with home gardeners... tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, lettuce and cucumbers. in addition, we brought our first harvest of spinach and radishes. many more greens are coming along... chard, kale, lettuce and beet greens. next week, i will sell my photo cards. the craft jury approved the sample cards i sent for their review. these cards were a hit when i sold them at the market in grand isle two years ago.
last wednesday was a huge planting day and we couldn't have done it without the help of spencer's parents. we planted 250 tomatoes, 100 eggplant, 75 more tomatoes, 20 cherry tomatoes, 50 zucchini & summer squash and 50 cucumbers. then we had to put wire hoops and row cover over all these crops. this is a lot of work and is by far the biggest planting day of the season for us.

as of last night, our dry bean crop has been planted. aside from black beans, we planted several other dry bean varieties. these beans will mostly be used to grow a larger seed bank for the following year. we also want to sample other beans to determine how they will yield and taste. these varieties have great names like calypso, painted pony, tiger's eye, vermont cranberry, boston's favorite, jacob's cattle and the good ole' solder bean.