Farm Market Report for March 15, 2016 Keith Helmuth
After her regular winter break, Val Flewelling’s sausage and buffalo burger business is back under the Farm Market canopy on Fridays.
Despite March 5th being one of the coldest mornings of the winter, Val and her family kept to their schedule of being back in place on the first Friday of March. Hopefully, the coming Fridays will be warmer and the barbeques and crockpots won’t have such a struggle to cook and keep those delicious sausages and burgers good and hot.
The return of the outdoor BBQ is always a sign that momentum is now building toward a busy new season at the Woodstock Farm and Craft Market. But, in fact, the months since the Christmas holiday have not been that slow this year. In times past, January, February, and March have been pretty quiet at the Market, but not this year.
What has made the difference? For one thing, a good supply of local eggs at $2.50 a dozen. In addition, it’s evident that repeat shopping for staple food items in general is keeping up the trade. Customers are regularly returning for meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, baked goods, jams, jellies, pickles, dry beans, Speerville Mill products, winter storage vegetables, honey and maple syrup.
Hand made crafts, sewing, jewelry and knitted goods appear to be moving well, not just at holiday times, as new items keep appearing and spark shoppers interest.
The next special event at the Market will be the annual family Maple Fest on Saturday April 2nd with taffy on snow outside and pancakes and syrup inside, courtesy of Laurie and Roy McLellan.
New Developments
Lady J, the baker, has taken the initiative to set up her stall on Saturdays with a lunch menu of homemade soup and biscuits or rolls. That’s pretty basic food, but I can tell you that, coming from Lady J, the soups are delectable and the breads are superior. She may also have loaves of bread, dinner rolls, or bags of croissants that can be picked up for the weekend.
The Market now has a new vendor with specialty paints for craftspeople. The Market has always made a small amount of space available for appropriate, non-local products that are especially appealing to customers. Two brands of craft paints are now available: Easy Peasey mineral based paint and Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint. These paints are highly favoured by craftspeople and are not otherwise available in the area.
Two new vendors with new products are in the wings at the Woodstock Farm and Craft Market. I’ll make the announcement here as soon as they are set up. The Market is open from 10 AM to 4 PM six days a week. The doors open at 8 AM on Friday.