Printer Friendly Version - Farmer’s Markets: A Community Hub and a Place to Cross Off Everything on Your Shopping List

Carol Ossenfort of Westbrook hadn’t been to a farmers market in a couple of years. And then her Aunt Loretta came up from Florida for a visit, and they both decided to check out the Ivoryton Farmers Market, on a small patch of a town green next to the Ivoryton Playhouse, on a recent Saturday.

“I don’t know why I waited so long,” Ossenfort said. “I just fell out of the habit. It’s a hometown feeling. The music adds something special. There’s always dogs. People bring their dogs. The people working the booths are really friendly. There’s lots of great food and the other stuff they sell is great.” Ossenfort bought some kale, and then went to find out more about the small batch, artisan vinegars being sold by Deep River Shrub that included flavors like pomegranate, grapefruit basil, raspberry, and elderflower. If she walked to her left, she could check out specialty coffees, hand crafted chocolates, and locally baked bread. To her right were booths with four different kinds of locally grown garlic—including sweet, full flavored, very hot, and mild—along with pure maple syrup, pork roasts, and chocolate covered raspberry chocolate chip ice cream pops.

Years ago, many area farm markets may have started with a simple gathering of local farmers selling produce or homemade products. Now, as eating fresh and local gains more momentum, farmers markets are going beyond offering lettuce, kale, and tomatoes, although those still are staples. Now, many farmers markets, in addition to locally grown produce, offer fresh products like jams and honey, and handmade crafts, jewelry, clothing, and wares, along with a fun environment where people can gather and connect. Customers can often get breakfast or lunch at the markets—from hot dogs to oysters on the half shell from booths or local food trucks, and in one case, a food boat—and enjoy entertainment including music, face-painting, presentations, or other activities. It’s a true gathering of the community, and celebration every week centered around but not limited to freshly grown, local food.

“With amazing vendors, the great people, wonderful music, and local merchants, it’s a great shopping mecca for all kinds,” said Sue Hotkowski, the market manager of the Chester Sunday Market. “All in all our market is a go-to destination on Sundays.”

Dave Sousa, the market master of the Ivoryton Farmers Market, agreed. “People might just come to listen to the music or to have a hot dog and meet other people,” he says.

And the same is true of the East Haven Farmers Market, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Sundays, says Carolyn Bradley, the market master there. “All of our vendors are wonderful people and happy to be here, they love getting to know the customers,” she says. The vendors range from local farmers steeped in the state’s agricultural traditions to a soap maker who also is an expert in gardening, fishing, hunting, and self sustainability, along with being a member of the East Haven Sons and Daughters of Italy. “They come to socialize and get together. People sit on the picnic tables and start talking with you. It’s a nice, friendly market.”

The Branford Alps Farmers Market is in its second year as a non-profit market that doubles food stamp dollars (SNAP) and accepts WIC and Senior FMNP vouchers. It also supports the Branford Food Pantry and distributes vouchers at the CT Food Bank Mobile Market distribution sites in Branford and East Haven.

“Our goal is to provide healthy food options that are affordable to all in our community,” said Martha Maguire, the market manager. “

The “big-top tent” is the trademark symbol of the Alps Farmers Market and all of the vendors are set up underneath. Items available include farm products like produce, meat, poultry, and eggs, as well as breads, cookies, pies, pastries, jams, popsicles, spices, teas, body care products, candles, crafts, and more.

“We are a bit different because our vendors are all under one decorative big top tent, which creates a sense of community and is especially festive in the fall when the evenings get dark and lights twinkle beneath it,” said Maguire. “This is a market to shop and slow down at—to converse with like-minded friends and strangers that share an interest in locally grown foods.”

Maguire noted some unique items available stretch beyond a wide variety of tomatoes and peppers to items like garlic scapes, ginger, rainbow carrots, radishes, eggplants, potatoes, and more. Many of the farmers offer tastings and suggestions on how to prepare different produce.

A number of non-profits also set up booths to build awareness of their organizations or to educate the public about the area of their concern. SolarCity will be at the market to spread awareness about solar energy for people’s home.

“I enjoy the community and love our farmers – the more I learn about their profession the more I admire them,” said Maguire. “A farmers’ market is a great opportunity for farmers to network with each other.”

The Chester Sunday Market has been around since the 1990s when the local farmers would gather in a parking lot with their crops. Now the Chester Sunday Market has expanded to include many Connecticut farmers and has turned into something that’s a cross between a street festival and a small neighborhood block party every week, taking over the town’s main street. Shoppers can get anything including vegetables, organic and otherwise; breads and cheeses; milks and eggs; meats and poultry. Sue Hotkowski, market manager, says Little Bird Provisions Company features pickles, sauerkraut, beans, and more, spiced in mason jars. Other regular vendors include Chatfield Hollow Mushrooms and Biscotti and Beyond.

“Biscotti and Beyond has some amazing biscotti—the salted caramel is my favorite,” said Hotkowski. “We also have beautiful bouquets of flowers and even ice cream.”

Frank Andrews Wood Fired Pizza is sold by the bistro and visitors can also dine in the local restaurants. The Chester Sunday Market offers live music from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Shoppers come early and enjoy breakfast at Simon’s Marketplace or The Villager, stay to shop around and then enjoy lunch at the bistro or any of the fine restaurants in town,” said Hotkowski. “We’re also a very dog-friendly environment with water coolers for humans and dogs alike.”

On Thursdays, visitors enjoy the Clinton CT Farmers Market in front of the Congregational Church across from Town Hall as they shop for fresh local produce and goods.

Four Root Farm out of East Haddam offers certified organic produce, while Maple Breeze Farm, which raises grass-fed pork and beef and has pork chops, kielbasa, hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers, and more. Cold Spring Farm offers produce, herbs, and flowers, while Chatfield Hollow Farm has edible and medicinal mushrooms.

Other vendors include Shannon’s Jammin’, Spencer Hill Jewelry, Equinox Flower Farm, the Olive Oil Company, and the Bee Happy Company. For those who enjoy sweets, vendors include Biscotti and Beyond, Andie’s Cookies, Granny’s Pie Factory, and Shayna B’s GF & Vegan Bakery.

Guests can enjoy entertainment and get dinner from Frank Andrews Mobile Kitchen & Brick Oven Pizza Truck.

“While images of fresh flowers, bicycles, and neighbors shaking hands are accurate, it’s time to shift our perception of farmers’ market to include a more utilitarian purpose,” said Sarah Borgnis-Tobin, market manager. “The market is simultaneously a community hub and a place to cross off everything on your shopping list. Who says this part of your weekly routine can’t be fun? So come sample the raspberries and treat yourself to a bunch of sunflowers.”

At Ballek’s Garden Center in East Haddam, visitors can enjoy more than fresh produce—they can get a full meal. Cold Spring Farm will have salads, The Fresh Kitchen features iced coffee and desserts, and Chet’s will serve Italian ice. Cold Spring Farm also has vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruits, as well as cheeses from Cato Corner Farm and Beltane Farm.

The variety of items offered stretches well beyond fresh produce with maple syrup, maple candy, and more from Anderson’s Sugarhouse, flowers from Ballek’s Garden Center, kettle corn by Good Vibes, natural farm-raised, grass-fed Beefalo from Millington Beefalo Farm; pickles, relishes, stewed tomatoes, and more by Touchstone Pantry. Other vendors include NoRa Cupcake Company, Jon Fish, Grainne Baking Co., Shannon’s Jammin’ Jams, Spencer Hill Jewelry, and Studio B. Handcrafted Pottery.

In addition to shopping for food and goods, the East Haddam Farmers’ Market has entertainment that includes scavenger hunts, face-painting, lawn games, and more.

Carolyn Bradley’s enthusiasm for the East Haven Farmers Market is an extension of her love for anything home grown or Connecticut-made. She is with Borelli Farm, on the North Haven/Northford town line, and she sells fresh vegetables, fruit, and fresh cut flowers. Her co-market master, Chris Vaiuso, is with Vaiuso Farms of Branford, and they also sell vegetables, along with plants and herbs. You can also find a wide variety of fun foods at the market as well, she says, including Elm City Kettle Corn and ice cream from Frozen Moments ice cream truck. This year, they’ve also expanded into original, handmade jewelry from Laura Dixon of East Haven, and Carol Olsen, who also sells handmade children’s clothing. Jacklyn Trickett-Sargent sells lip balms, face creams, herbal salves, body lotion bars, and soaps made without chemicals and with all natural, food-grade ingredients. DiSorbo’s Italian Bakery of Hamden also is on hand to sell its wares, including freshly baked bread.

Bradley says the market also might add a few more food trucks and a fishmonger later in the season. She says the first market, a few Sundays ago, was a big success. “I was very happy to see the crowd. There were returning customers, and new customers,” she says.

Vendors interested in participating in the market should contact Carolyn Bradley at 203-710-2760 or dinaglide2000@yahool.com, or Chris Vaiuso at 203-444-1373, or chrisvaiuso@gmail.com.

The Hamden Farmers Market features local farms, specialty foods, arts and crafts, and food trucks on Fridays. Regular farm vendors include Flowers from the Farm, Shulze Farm, Tuttle Ridge Farms, Amelia’s Greenhouses, and Borelli Farms.

While shopping for produce and more, visitors can also grab lunch as regular food trucks are DiSorbo’s Bakery, Spuds Your Way, Firedog Food Truck, and Sugar Bakery & Sweet Shop. Elm City Kettle Corn, PopCentric Gourmet Ice Pops, and Garden Groove are also regular vendors.

The Hamden Farmers Market also offers a number of activity tables with visitors from Hamden Youth Services, local police departments, Friends of the Earth Club, and more.

Now in its eighth season, the Higganum Village Farmers Market is held on Friday afternoons featuring local farmers and artisans. Products available include produce, meat, eggs, honey, syrup, and crafts.

According to its website, “Buying locally conserves resources by reducing shipping and packaging and providing fresher food without or with less preservatives. Additionally, you help save valuable Connecticut farmland, which is increasingly being lost to residential and commercial sprawl.”

Vendors include Wellstone Farmhouse, Newberry Farms, Scarpa Ledge Farm, Chet’s Italian Ice, Good Vibes Kettle Corn, Biscotti & Beyond, Hometown Bakery, Auntie Arwen (spice and seasonings), Dough on Main (fresh pasta), and June’s Knit Goods.

Set next to the picturesque Ivoryton Playhouse, the Ivoryton Village Farmers Market features a selection of Connecticut-grown produce, local products, meats, and more. There is also live music every week.

In addition to produce, the market offers garlic, baked goods, fresh eggs, fresh herbs, coffee, honey, maple syrup, flavored oils, prepared food, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, milk, and local beef, pork, and seafood. There is also prepared food, soap, crafts, flowers, and more. A full list of the more than 20 vendors is available online at ivorytonfarmersmarket.com.

Local groups and organizations also are welcome to set booths up at the weekly fair. The Ivoryton Alliance shares information on local business, civic groups, and more at its table. Visitors can buy shopping bags the market’s 2016 Christmas ornament from the Ivoryton Alliance.

The Ivoryton market is also a great place to grab lunch on a Saturday. There are sandwiches, along with hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill from the Ivoryton Tavern. There is also Jon Fish, a fishmonger. You’ve heard of food trucks? Jon Fish has a food skiff, a 12-foot replica of the legendary Earle Brockway skiffs, and he sells shrimp cocktail and freshly shucked oysters from his boat, along with several kinds of mignonette sauces for the oysters. Read more about Jon Fish in this week’s Food Court.

Located on a 110-year-old working farm, the Lyme Farmers Market is a member of the Connecticut Farmers Market Trail. Regular vendors sell items such as vegetables, fruits, baked goods, flowers, cheeses, grass-fed beef, seafood, and more. Guest vendors, artisans, food trucks, and bands appear throughout the season.

Regular vendors include Hidden Brook Gardens, Four Mile River Farm, Little Bird Provision Co., Market Brew, Burgis Brook Farm, Howards Bread, Four Root Farm, Melissa Punzalan Jewelry, Last Green Valley Garlic Growers, Upper Pond Farm, Mayflower Soaps, Dondero Orchards, Zest Fresh Bakery, CT Gourmet Bread, T.A.L.K. Seafood, Lyme Juice, Charter Oak Scanning, The Olive Oil Factory, Black Swan Baking Company, Sunset Hill Vineyard, Market Lemonade Stand, and The Chicken Lady.

Regular vendors at the Madison Farmers Market have returned this year, including Barberry Hill Farms, which sells a wide variety of locally grown produce, and flowers. Hidden Brook Gardens, a certified organic farm out of Ledyard, also is offering its produce and goods, as is Newgate Farms out of Windsor. Four Root Farm, also certified organic, out of East Haddam, also is a participant at the Madison market, with offerings that inlcude kohlrabi, dried red flowers, beets, and Hakurei turnips. The Four Root Farm website offers two recipes for the turnips, including tempura fried, and pickled. Aaron Taylor, one of the farm’s owners, says the Hakurei’s are like a sweeter version of a radish. “You can eat them raw, or cook them,” he says, adding that he likes to encourage shoppers at the market to try new things. “I feel good if I can help expand people’s palates. Try it, you’ll be back.”

Two Guys from Woodbridge, with its motto “a perfect salad is just one green bouquet away,” sells a wide range of herbs, shoots, microgreens, and edible flowers. Selections, which vary from week to week, might include purslane, mizuna, mustard greens, sorrel, watercress, lovage, sunflower shoots, amaranth, and shiso.

Summer Hill Catering is selling its popular fruit pies, and mini-pies, almond cloud cookies, peanut chocolate cookies, doughnut muffins, and six different kinds of scones including lemon cornmeal, apricot oatmeal, blueberry, mango raspberry, cranberry oatmeal, and almond, along with its other cookies baked goods. It is also offering ready-to-eat entrées this year including Thai Pork Salad with rice noodles, a sweet and spicy sauce, lettuce, and peanuts.

Bee Happy Happiary in Clinton sells lip balms, creams, face serums, and other products that incorporate products from their honeybees.

A new participant this year is Chatfield Hallow Farm, which sells edible and medicinal mushrooms, which are forest grown and cultivated with organic spores on wood chips and logs on the farm. Mitch Bankston, who works the farm for its owners, said he became interested in mushroom cultivation after a relative developed borderline diabetes. Shitake mushrooms are supposed to help with that, he says, along with boosting overall immunity. The farm also sells Dove Oyster, maitake, yellow chanterelle, and hon shimeji mushrooms, among other products. For those would like the health benefits of shitake mushrooms, but who don’t like the taste or texture, the farm also sells roasted shitake and coffee that can be brewed.

Another new participant this year include Farm to Gold Ayurvedic ghee, which is high quality butter cooked for several hours until the milk solids separate and the milk proteins break down, creating a shelf-stable, lactose- and casein-free fat that be used for cooking at very high temperatures. Connecticut Gourmet is also new this year and it sells a variety of items including smoked Faroe Island Salmon and a variety of energy bars.

Four Mile River Farm out of Old Lyme is a long time market participant, but they have a few new items, including bone broth, and compound butters including bacon butter, garlic bacon butter, and bourbon bacon butter.

Other market participants include Frank Andrews Wood Fired pizza (which sells pear pizzas, beet pizza with carmelized onion, and other innovative creations), Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farms, Wave Hill Breads, and Beltane Farms, which sells goat milk, cheese, and yogurt,

On Saturday, Aug. 1 the Dudley Farm Market will celebrate its 20th anniversary. The market, which is held at the historic Dudley Farm, draws vendors with fruits and vegetables, flowers and herbs, meats and eggs, honey and syrup, jams and jellies, and more. In addition to food offerings, there are nearly 25 artisans with handmade items, including crafts, artwork, soaps, quilts, and more.

“The Farmers’ Market not only reflects an old-time practice of selling produce at a roadside stand, it also provides an opportunity to build a community of supporters who return again and again to the Dudley Farm,” according to its website. “People can purchase produce, home baked goods, and handcrafts; they can bring their children to visit the livestock and romp on the hillside, visit exhibits in the Farmhouse Museum, attend workshops, listen to music, or just come to have a cup of coffee and visit.”

Vendors include the Dudley Farm Community Garden, Sweet Sage Bakery, Joseph Falcone (vegetables and flowers), Half Mile Acres, Leap Frog Farm, Naples Farm, Hometown Bakery, Pond’s Family Farm, Maple Grove Farm, and Bitta-Blue Farm.

There is no lack at entertainment at the Old Saybrook Farmers Market with a wide variety of musicians performing at the Saturday markets, as well as demonstrations and educational activities. There is also scheduled entertainment for children such as face-painting and kids’ activities with the Old Saybrook Library.

With more than 26 vendors, the growth of the Old Saybrook Farmers Market over the past two decades is evident as it started with just two vendors. Now visitors can browse fresh produce, USDA meats, seafood, canned goods, sauces, fresh baked items, eggs, hand-crafted items, and more.

“Old Saybrook has become a part of each of the vendors who participate in the market,” said Christine Bassette, market manager. “We feel a huge sense of pride to be a part of such a wonderful community. We have build long-term friendships over these 20 years and look forward to each week seeing our friends. It holds a special place in our hearts.”

New 2016 vendors include Still Delicious, Goji Cookies, Biscotti & Beyond, Granny’s Pie Factory, George Hall Farms, Back for More BBQ, and Turkeywoods Farm.

Returnign vendors include Great Bread, Hall’s Farm, Killam & Bassette Farmstead, Meriano’s Bakeshop, Naturally Gourdgeous, Sandi’s Mini Desserts, Secchiaroli Farm, Shenstone Gardens, T.A.L.K. Seafood, The Farm on Grindle Brook, Three Sisters Farm, Van’s Blackberries, Wayne’s Organic Garden, Woodward Greenhouses, and Woof n’ Wheels. Crafters include Barb and Linda’s Crafts, Griffith Parrott Pottery, and June’s Knit Designs & Stuff.

As there are a number of lesser known vegetables and food items offered at the market, there is a “Market Recipes” page on the website. The recipes focus on what’s fresh at the market. “We couldn’t do any of this without Bill Childress who owns the property the market is held on,” said Bassette. “He is such a wonderful person to help support making local so accessible to the people of Old Saybrook.”

On four days throughout the summer, Parmalee Farm, a 132-acre town-owned property, will host a farm market. The 2015 season was the market’s first year of operation and local and statewide vendors and artisans will be featured. Entertainment includes live music and children’s activities. Items available include fresh produce, eggs, dairy products, honey, breads, soaps, and jams, as well as hand-crafted items.

Scheduled food vendors are Dough on Main, Lupi Marchigiano Bakery, Norm’s Best BBQ, Olive Oil Factory, Bowl’d Creations, Sugar Bakery, Howard’s Bread, Stonewall Apiary, Biscotti & Beyond, Andie’s Cookies, Frank Andrews Mobile Kitchen, Savvy Tea Gourmet, Sage Hill Farm, Wellstone Farm, Chatfield Mushrooms, and Maple Breeze Farm.

CT River Candles, Nutmeg Naturals, Touchstone Pantry, Purring Pottery, Lavender Pond Treefort Naturals Soap, Spencer Hill Jewelry, and Now & Then Oil Cloths will offer their Connecticut-made wares.

Seaview Productions presented the third annnual Broadway in Branford to benefit the Legacy Theatre featureing the Broadway Boys.Nick Cartell(Phantom of the Opera), Donald Webber Jr. (Motown), John Krause(Fun Home), Brent DiRoma(Jersey Boys), Shaun Mykais(Dreamgirls), and Matt DeAngelis(Hair) put on a great show that entertained the crowds of people gathered to see them at the Owenego.