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February 8, 2023

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Local Life Food and Garden Notes

Centreville Farmers’ Market Returns on Lawyers Row Starting May 15th

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As the days become longer and warmer the desire to seek out farm-fresh vegetables and fruits and becomes as much of a need as it does a natural tendency. Sure, you can always turn to your local grocery store in a pinch, there’s nothing like the taste of strawberries that were picked that morning. This basic premise is at the heart of farmers’ markets where customers purchase produce, meats, and value-added products like cheese and honey, and know exactly where it came from.

The Centreville Farmers’ Market continues its tradition and commitment to offering farm-fresh products to local shoppers as it opens its 2022 season on Sunday, May 15th for a 23-week season. The season will extend to October 9th, but will officially cap off the season with a special holiday market on November 13th. The market will be open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to Noon on Lawyers Row, which will be closed to traffic.

Microgreens are a vitamin enriched superfood available at the Centreville Farmers’ Market thanks to Fat and Happy Farms of Grasonville. Stop by their stand at the market and try some. Chances are you’ll get to meet Blake Jackson, left, and his brother Dylan, right, who pitch in to help their parents Brien and Jessica Jackson.

The market’s launch will include a special master gardener clinic courtesy of the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardener program. Shoppers can bring plant samples and photos for identification or Get advice on pruning, vegetables, insects, lawns, trees and shrubs and lots more! The master gardeners will visit the market frequently throughout the season.

“We are excited to welcome new vendors and are looking forward to helping our community discover new ways to shop for locally grown and crafted food as well as embrace a sustainable way of living,” says Hannah Combs, Centreville Farmers’ Market Operations Manager.

The Centreville Farmers’ Market is still accepting vendor applications as well as food truck and musician inquiries. The farmers and vendors at press time include:

  • A Shore Thing Cakery: breads, muffins, pretzels, crackers, brownies and cookies;
  • Beneventi Botanicals: herbal truffles, gran-free dog treats, lotions, balms, and assorted bath products;
  • Carrie Sue’s Cupcakes: cupcakes and baked goods;
  • Chesapeake Shoppe: handcrafted jewelry and other crafted goods;
  • Craft Bakery & Cafe + Night Kitchen Coffee: sourdough breads, bagels, croissants, danish, scones, cookies, coffee and coffee beans, lemonade and iced tea;
  • Dogwood Lane Dairy: 14 different varieties of handcrafted cheese and peach, strawberry and apple jam;
  • Enoch Farms: pork, ham, scrapple, and sausage;
  • Fat and Happy Farms: microgreens, seasonal produce, herbs, and native perennial flowers;
  • Little Cake Empire: cinnamon buns, bagels and bread;
  • Harris Farms: vegetables, fruits, and cut flowers;
  • Nine Chicks and One Hen: eggs;
  • Rosy Side Farm: vegetables and cut flowers.

For more information about the Centreville Farmers’ Market or to request a vendor application or to inquire about food truck or musician openings, contact Hannah Combs, Farmers’ Market Operations Manager at centrevillefarmersmkt@gmail.com or (443) 239-9169.

Easton Farmers’ Market Opens Its 2022 Season on April 16th

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Spring is officially here and that means the opening of the Easton, MD Farmers Market is just around the corner. Every Saturday, from opening day through December 17th, 25-30 vendors set up pop-up shops that comprise the market. This year’s market will feature a variety of locally sourced fresh fruits, vegetables, honey, baked goods and fresh bread, fresh-cut flowers, dog treats, wild-caught salmon, oysters, kombucha, rum and spirits, Maryland wine, fresh-pressed juices, nursery plants, house plants, and hand-crafted items on opening day, April 16th, from 8am to 1pm.

The Avalon Foundation sponsors the successful farmers’ market. “The Easton Farmers Market is a long-standing tradition spanning 40+ years in its current format. Not only is it an opportunity to know your farmer, it’s also a place to connect with neighbors in a festive and relaxed open-air atmosphere,” said market manager Marie Nuthall. The market will feature live local music each week beginning at 10:30am. The opening band will be the Julie Parsons Project with Darrell Parsons.

The market is located in downtown Easton, in the municipal parking lot on the 100 block of N. Harrison Street – north of Goldsboro Street. The market will operate through December 17th, rain or shine, and will continue to offer seasonal produce and other locally grown, produced and hand-crafted items. An interactive map where you can view vendor assignments for the current day or weeks in advance is available online: EFM Interactive Map

Currently, there is a waiting list for new vendors in the Saturday Market. For more information, contact the Marie Nuthall, Market Manager, marie@avalonfoundation.org

Centreville Farmers’ Market Hosts Live Market & Sunday Brunch September 27th

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When it comes to places that serve to connect people to each other and to their community very few places do it as well as community farmers’ markets and independent restaurants. At a farmers’ market shoppers connect their purchases to the people that produced them while restaurants serve as gathering places to break bread, to celebrate special occasions or simply to relax and catch up with friends and family. Both serve to anchor communities and create a sense of place.

This year restaurants and farmers’ markets shared another important thing in common – they’ve worked through sweeping and often dramatic operational changes due to the pandemic.

Both these special institutions will join forces on Lawyers Row in downtown Centreville on Sunday, September 27th, from noon to 3 p.m. to present the Centreville Farmers’ Market & Sunday Brunch.

This market day will be presented as an in-person market, the first one this season for the Centreville Farmers’ Market, who has been operating as an online market for pickup or delivery on Wednesdays. The online market will continue through September 30th.

Friends of the Centreville Farmers’ Market volunteers Liza Watson, and Zach Troyetsky.

“Coincidentally this special market day and brunch will take place on the final day of the inaugural statewide restaurant week. Since this may be the only live market day, we do this year we wanted it to be a special one,” says Carol D’Agostino, Centreville Main Street Manager and liaison to the market.

Shoppers will have a chance to shop socially distanced market stands and also enjoy brunch from Centreville restaurants. Farmers/producers and shoppers 5-years-old and above are required to where facemasks at all times except when seated to drink or eat.

A selection of food will be available at onsite food trucks operated by Centreville brick and mortar restaurants. Other brunch entrees will be available for online ordering by September 18th through a new website on the same platform that currently handles the market’s online market orders. Current market customers can use their same login.
Shoppers will select and prepay for an entrée, and then choose whether they want to pick up their meal at the market to take home or reserve seating in the socially distanced dining area on Lawyers Row. The dining area will also include open tables where market goers can enjoy any food or beverages they purchased at the market. An onsite volunteer will sanitize tables and chairs as they turn over.

As of 9/9/20, farmers/producers include: Arlene’s Creations of Greensboro, baked goods & sewn items; Coops & Crops of Kennedyville, eggs, and certified naturally grown vegetables; Lucky Dog Treats of Centreville; Night Kitchen Coffee of Denton, small batch locally roasted coffee and spices; Rhonda’s Beaten Biscuits of Wye Mills, traditional Eastern Shore beaten biscuits; Starr Flower Company, cut flowers, houseplants and herb plants and more; Quarter Acre Farm of Tilghman Island, certified organic vegetables, pico de gallo (special salsa) and guacamole; Where Pigs Fly of Centreville, pasture-raised chicken – whole birds as well as cuts. Participating restaurants include Commerce Street Creamery Cafe Bistro, O’Shucks Irish Pub, Sugar Doodles Sweet Shop and Yo Java Bowl.

Opening Weekend for St. Michaels Farmers Market

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On Saturday, April 25 at 8:30 AM, the St. Michaels Farmers Market emerges from a winter rest for its twenty-second season of offering farmer-grown and locally-produced items to the people of Bay Hundred and beyond. With more than fourteen producers displaying their veggies, meats and more in the public parking lot at 204 S. Talbot St., there is always something beautiful and delicious to take home.

Farmers and vendors returning this year include: Spirit Grower Farm, Sand Hill Farms, The Bay Mushrooms, Little Fields Floral, King Berries, Cottingham Farm, Blades Orchard, Windon Distilling (known for their Lyon Rum), and, the springtime favorite, Kreider’s Tomatoes. Shoppers can find meats, eggs, tomatoes, berries, jams, jellies, pastries, cakes, pies and of course fresh-from-the-farm spring vegetables like greens, lettuces and asparagus.

The Market also welcomes its 2020 staff person who makes sure farmers, vendors and customers are all well taken care of. Says the new Market Manger, Amanda Kidd, “I am both honored and excited to serve the prestigious St. Michael’s Farmers Market and all community members. I cannot wait to see what this journey has in store!”

Under Governor Hogan’s Stay at Home order, farmers markets are considered essential operations to ensure communities can have access to safe, healthy foods. “We believe the Farmers Market experience is just as safe or even inherently safer than any big box or chain grocery shopping experience right now,” explains Randy Royer, SMFM President. “It’s simple: You are buying right from the farmer, so there are just fewer hands in the operation. It’s farm to table shopping.”

To ensure that both farmers and Market customers feel comfortable and safe during their visit, the Market is putting several measures in place.

● Both farmers and customers are asked to wear masks for Market.
● Everyone is asked to respect social distancing guidelines, staying six feet apart.
● The first hour of market, 8:30-9:30am, is designated for vulnerable customers.
● Handwashing stations will be a new addition this year – farmers and producers will be provided with sanitizer donated by Windon Distilling .
● Farmers and producers will facilitate all produce and product transactions, providing items to you as you select them.
● Bring your change! Having exact change will be helpful to reduce the handling of money. Electronic payments are even better.

The St. Michaels Farmers Market’s success over the years is largely due to its ‘producer-only’ focus (meaning everything sold at the market is grown or produced by the vendor selling it), high-quality products, volunteer commitment, and its history as a place for people to come together. Although there won’t be any food tastings or eat-in seating for the Market’s opening or in the weeks to come, the spirit of being a vibrant community gathering place is still part of the Market’s intent. As their Facebook page says, “The mechanics of the market are going to look very different for a while, but the SOUL of it won’t change. We are still all about creating opportunities for positively local farmers to connect with positively local shoppers.” You can find weekly updates about SMFM happenings and what’s in season on their Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LoveYourFarmer. You’ll also find an option to sign up for their weekly e-newsletters.

St. Michaels Farmers Market is a non-profit, producer-only market and community gathering place for residents and visitors, that also provides economic opportunities for farmers and food producers, offers local food education and gives everyone access to healthy, fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs and other products.

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The Indoor Farmers’ Market From Sprout by Georgia Foster

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Being surrounded by friendly faces, good food, and people passionate about what they do doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend a Wednesday night, does it? Well, this was the atmosphere created when a local business, local farmers, and the community came together at the recent Sprout’s “Valentines Farmer’s Market”. The Spy stopped by to check it out and learn more about the event.

Sprout is a fast casual, healthy, food company founded in Easton, Maryland, by husband and wife team, Ryan and Emily Groll. Their locally sourced ingredients are a staple of their business, as is supporting local farmers and assuring that their customers know exactly what they’re getting and eating.

Last year, Sprout held a “Farmer’s Appreciation Day” at its Easton location to spotlight the farmers that they are partnered with in the area. Upon opening their much larger St. Michael’s café, the Grolls decided to host an indoor farmers market in December, and another on Valentine’s Day 2020. Sprout is now in the planning stage for a Farmer’s Appreciation Day in April and a weekly indoor farmers’ market beginning in March to be held on a weekday evening.

“We do it for the farmers”, Groll says, “It’s important to create trust and transparency between the customers and the people growing their food.” Sprout doesn’t charge a fee for farmers to participate in the market. Groll says it is a win-win situation because it allows the farmers to market themselves and benefits Sprout by bringing a new crowd of consumers into the cafe to showcast Sprout’s healthy food options.

A farmers’ market is no easy task for the farmers; packing up, driving to the location, setting up, and marketing one’s products is time-consuming work. So why do the farmers choose to participate? According to Jenna Paice from Spirit Growers, an organic eastern shore farmer, it’s about “building relationships and connecting the dots” between the people who eat the food and those that grow it. Taylor Hale, another participant, looks forward to Sprout’s farmer’ markets as an “opportunity to promote his products out of season” and claims that it is a “new market for his spice blends”. Others in attendance, included: Abundant Grace Farms, Federal Brewing Company, Lyon Distilling, among others. According to Groll, Sprout allows all farmers to attend to help grow the local economy and convey a sense of community togetherness.

 You may be wondering if an indoor farmer’s market like this is for you. According to  Carol Chisholm, a consumer in attendance, there’s no question you’ll love it. She said that Sprout’s indoor market is a great idea as she gestured to the rain and looming, dark clouds in the skies outside the cafe window.

Eating locally sourced, healthy food and knowing where your food has been before it ends up on your plate is a growing trend in the modern food business. It would appear that the Sprout farmers’ markets, in partnership with local farmers and other businesses, is a creative way to increase such understanding and also have a good time. 

Georgia Foster is a Spy student journalist. She is a senior at Easton High School and plans to attend Salisbury University in the Fall where she will continue to pursue her interest in journalism.