Festive and Colorful, farmers' markets offer fresh picked produce and a whole lot moreBy Ellen Ecker Odgen
Photography by Hubert Schriebl
A farmers' market is not just another market-and it's not just for farmers! For a lot of us, it's a big part of life in the country. Festive and colorful, farmers' markets offer fresh-picked produce and farm-raised meat, artisan cheeses, baked goods and breads, flower bouquets, excellent prepared foods and high quality crafts. Plus, a visit to the farmers' market is a lot of fun. At the market, you can meet the farmers who grew the food, talk with the crafts-people and bakers, enjoy entertainment, learn about beekeeping, hear a storyteller or a fiddler entertaining with a few tunes. You also might collect a family recipe or two from a local cook or farmer.
But farmers' markets are not all fun and games. The bottom line is important too: Customers support the local economy, and money spent there goes directly to the farmer or producers, and circulates within the community.
But back to the fun and games: It seems so uncomplicated to wander the grassy aisles, savoring, sampling, filling bags, visiting with friends and being inspired by seasonal food, rather than following a rigid plan traveling up and down supermarket aisles with a shopping list in hand. And now when the colors are beginning to change from green to red, and our own diet shifts to match the season, you'll find displays of tawny squash at the farmers' markets, and russet potatoes side by side with bronze onions, papery shallots and creamy garlic-all designed to lure shoppers into being inspired by ingredients rather than a recipe.
While it may seem like farmers' markets simply evolve, there is plenty of planning and strategy behind the markets in our Northshire region. In 1992, five members of the Londonderry Revitalization committee held a meeting in the basement of the second Congregational church. "The original goal was to breathe new life into the community," explains Penny Bergamini, a member of the founding board of directors, along with her sister Patience. "Forming a farmer's market was one of several ideas spurred by citizens interested in fueling economic growth and encouraging community involvement." .....