During the winter months, farmers are busy planning and preparing for the upcoming season. Vegetable farmers are planting seeds, dairy farmers are awaiting new births and the renewed flow of milk, bakers and chefs are testing new recipes. In the root cellar and freezer, supplies are starting to run low, but at the market, there is still much color to be found.
The Market is hard at work planning for the upcoming season with our annual winter business meetings. This is when we take care of necessary market business: advertising and outreach, insurance, entertainment, schedule, by-laws, fundraising to support the EBT table, and new vendors. Our market vendor membership is holding steady, and we had come to the reluctant conclusion that there was no space to invite any new vendors. With the success of the summer Art Market, there is no wiggle room for market expansion.
So, in our continuing efforts to bring Belfast area customers the best of the best, the market has voted to add an additional market day, on Tuesday afternoons, right there at Waterfall Arts. We will then be able to accommodate new farmers as well as any of our current vendors who have product to bring to you twice a week. This is still in the planning stage, so we do not yet have a list of who and what will be available on this new market day. Stay tuned! If you or someone you know might be interested in joining this market, please email the chair of the Tuesday market committee, Eric Rector, at erector@tilth.com. (A reminder: Farmers' markets by law are for farm, ocean, and forest products, only, not crafts.)
Keep looking for the Winter Market at Aubuchon through March. At that point, we need to turn the greenhouse back over to Aubuchon for spring things, and the market moves back to Waterfall Arts on April 3. We have our fingers crossed that the giant snow mountains will have melted by then!
The market is planning some fundraising efforts to support our EBT program. We are very grateful to Maine Farmland Trust for partnering with us to get this program up and running, but their role is winding down, and we must look to ways to keep this very valuable program sustainable. We rely on volunteers to man the information booth at market, and we must raise funds to cover the real money costs of the program.
Look for a May Day celebration at the May 1 market.
Spring is coming!
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