Westminster Farmers' Market

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Enjoy a Local Feast, Good Friends and Family…

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Holiday Markets and Beautiful Little Milk Goats…      

Well, even though our Farmers’ Market has closed, I have yet to have a Friday off!  With delivery day for Mass Local Food last week, Friday was as busy as ever as this online farmers’ market takes over as a winter substitute for so many people.  So, I have this Friday off (first one since early May), but the following Friday, we are back in business again with our pre-Thanksgiving market (on November 20^th).

Our Holiday Markets will be at the Westminster DPW barn at 1 Oakmont Ave. 

The Thanksgiving market will be held on Friday, November 20^th from 3:00 until 7:00 and will be stocked with all your Thanksgiving needs.  Vegetables, sausage, cheese, meat, cranberries, eggs (hopefully), baked goods, breads, fudge and plenty of items for Christmas shopping!  Ask your vendors about freezing items to keep the as fresh as possible for your Holiday meal!

The Christmas market will be held on Friday, December 11^th.  More information to follow as I get it!

                         Mark These Dates on Your Calendar

  The Westminster Farmers' Market is running two holiday markets this year. Friday, November 20, 2009 and Friday December 11, 2009. Watch this blog for more information, from Kerrie Hertel.

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Swine Flu Seems to Have Hit Westminster, Make Broth!

Last week many farmers’ markets ended for the season and ours was no exception.  And what a wonderful season it was.  Some of our best memories as we get older will be of our summer of 2009 on Academy Hill.  We met so many interesting and supportive people, and we were able to catch up with old friends every week.  It was a great meeting place, a great socializing place, just a great place to be and I am glad that we had the chance to be a part of it!

Our pre-Thanksgiving farmers’ market will be November 20^th and we plan to have the market overflowing with all your Thanksgiving needs! 

Mass Local Food has a new winter location thanks to the generosity of those that maintain the old Finnish Farmers’ Cooperative building on Leominster Rd.  This building is just below Academy Hill and is less than a tenth of a mile from the light at the Rt. 2 on-ramp.  Stop by to pick up your orders on Friday from 3:00 until 6:00 or just stop and see what we are doing, or to check out this historic building.  This past month we have added veal, Smith’s Country Cheese, some vegetables and dog treats to our already outstanding line-up!

Doing what we can to keep the flu at bay…

I hope you are surviving this swine flu that seems to now be sweeping through our town and schools.  We have been lucky so far.  I hear it is not that bad for those that have a healthy immune system, but I have a high school student (along with three others ages 5, 9, 13) and some of you know how difficult it would be to recover from a missed week of school in senior year!  Especially in the month that college applications are due!  We are hoping to avoid this virus altogether!  In an effort to do this, we are making more broth (beef broth this week).  You can read about the health benefits of broth here.  And judging from the number of bones we have sold this month, apparently a lot of you have done just that! 

In addition to broth and orange juice purchased by the gallon, I have ordered Echinacea (for the first time in my life).  People have recommended it to me over the past ten years – even given me a bottle when we were traveling with our kids to places where we could be exposed to leprosy, malaria, cholera and more!  I never thought too much about it.  Then, Dawn Pavone listed it on Mass Local Food and I did a bit more reading about it.  I decided it would be worth trying through this flu season.  I’ve made it optional in my house; most of us are taking it.  Dawn Pavone has her own herb garden in Boxboro and completed an Herbal Apprenticeship in 1998.  She has studied with some of the world’s most respected Herbalists in workshops, symposiums, etc.  She has explained her sterilization process and the process she uses to make her tinctures.  That is enough for me, and I figure, it can’t hurt!  None of us have autoimmune disease which would be a reason not to take this tincture.  I did a bit of reading online at WebMd and Umm.edu.

Making Juice…

Well, our grape juice (a few weeks ago) was so delicious and easy, that I decided to experiment a bit.  I’m sharing this with you to save you the bother of my failures.  Crabapples, not so great.  I have three trees that are loaded with berry sized crab apples.  The juice was really a beautiful bright red, but it was very tart.  I’m sure a concentrate of this would have great use in many recipes, perhaps where lemon flavor is desired, but too tart for the group of preschoolers that I had here that day!  Then I tried Autumn Olive.  We did not drink the juice.  There was not color to it at all (the berries are bright red).  It was a milky gray and very little flavor.  Perhaps I strained it too much.  I will say that the pulp had a nice flavor and I think would be delicious in a sauce, perhaps the constancy of apple sauce.  I probably will try that at some point.  I did read about an Autumn Olive sauce in last winter’s “Edible Boston”.  I do think that would be worth a try.  My Kousa dogwood is missing every single berry so I don’t have the opportunity to try that this year.  So, I’m out of ideas until next September.  It is already on my calendar to collect grapes around September 1^st.  The grape juice was that good!

Kerrie Hertel    mapleHeightsFarm@verizon.net

                                       Thank You

  I would like to thank everyone that made the first full year of The Westminster Farmers' Market a huge success.

  Thanks to our Market Manager, Al Magane. Al keeps the market running smoothly every week. He does all the things that nobody notices, but we wouldn't have a market if they weren't done. Thanks Al, we notice.

 Kerrie Hertel has done a great job keeping our customers and vendors informed by writing this weekly farmers' market report. She has also worked tirelessly during the market each week, chatting with vendors and customers, getting information and opinions, recruting tallent, to make our market even better.

  Thanks to our performers/buskers; Sue, Steve Ann, Lauren, The McGuires, Tess, Dr. B, Gibby, I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. You have helped to make our market into an event. The place to be in Westminster on Friday afternoon!

  Thanks to our vendors, who have grown from a group of five on our first week in 2008, to thirty-one on our best week this year. These vendors show up every week rain or shine with a great variety of locally grown and crafted products.

  And of course we thank the people that make it all possible. The people we do it all for, our customers. It is because you show up so faithfully, every week, to visit with friends, be entertained, and ready to buy local products, that we are so successful.

                                                    Thanks Again,

                                                    Dean W. Johnson, Chair

                                                   Westminster Agricultural Commission

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Farm Fresh Food for the Holidays and Beyond!

This week is the last regular season farmers’ market for 2009, but don’t worry, I have the answer to your fresh food needs for the Holiday season and beyond!  Our market is looking for an indoor location for a pre-Thanksgiving (November 20^th) and a pre-Christmas (December 11^th)  market.  And Mass Local Food will be open all year, providing delivery once per month (next delivery November 6^th – check the website for the soon-to-be-determined Westminster delivery Location – or Berlin or Sterling for that matter).

Massachusetts Local Food…

Orders are closing for Massachusetts Local Food on Monday so don’t forget to place your order.  Membership fees are refundable through the end of this year if you decide this program is not for you, so you can try it risk free!  All products are locally produced and offered directly from the producer – just like at the farmers’ market.  We are adding more eggs this month and we hope to have pastured veal and organic yogurt online soon.  Go online and read about each producer and consider your food needs for the winter.  Orders close on Monday and Delivery day is Friday November 6^th -- after our farmers market has closed for the season.

What’s in the market…

  I've put off this post for some time. We were unsuccessful in our request for an FMPP Grant from USDA-AMS. The main part of the request was for an EBT (electronic benefit transfer) machine. An EBT machine would enable us to take SNAPP (food stamps), credit cards, debit cards, and ATM transactions, at the Westminster Farmers' Market. There was only one award in the state of Massachusetts.

 The state Department of Agricultural Resources is offering an EBT grant program. We plan on applying for this program. If we are unsuccessful, we will do it the old fashioned way, DIY. 

  Check out this link to see who got what in your state. Congratulations to the Rochester N.Y. Public Market. But $ 100,000 for a trolley system to cart people to and from the parking lot? Really, it's not sour grapes; it's just that our customers walk.

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Preparing your Pantry for Thanksgiving

Our Pumpkin Festival has been postponed due to a chance of showers predicted for tomorrow. Painting pumpkins gets incredibly messy if the weather is at all wet. So, plan on next week for our harvest activities. Come this week to enjoy the market, work on your Christmas shopping, and stash a few more morsels for Thanksgiving.

Drizzle and a chill did not dampen the spirits of our vendors or shoppers last week! The market continues to thrive as shoppers seek out the last of the great summer flavors. Our free raffle was a great success! We gave away two bags full of farmers’ market treasures, fine food and gift certificates! Congratulations to our winners Francis Landry from Westminster and Jean Brady from Gardner.

What’s in the market…

Westminster grown cranberries, all the fall (cool weather) vegetables that taste so good this time of year, beef and pork roasts, cheese and most of the usual items that you expect to find. Don’t forget to get your last meal of corn in (if we are lucky enough to have it available), and get an extra dozen for your freezer (remember to blanch it first). I continue to hear a buzz about Robin’s (Honeybee Baking Company) scones. I would appreciate it if you all would finally leave a few for me to try! I’m hoping this is the week I can get some before they sell out. I have visions of Saturday lunch (in between FOUR cold soccer games) of some hot tea with a warm scone slathered with fresh Farmers’ Market raspberry jam and some of Brenda St. Claire’s chocolate goat cheese at room temperature.

Have a Local Thanksgiving…

  The Pumpkin Festival scheduled for this Friday, October 16, has been postponed until next Friday, October 23. We had to postpone due to the forecast of an abnormally early New England Nor'Easter.

  Current forecasts call for between a dusting and one inch of snow. Not much of a snow storm, but not very nice for the children to be decorating pumpkins in either.

  The Westminster Farmers' Market will attempt to open, unless the weather gets to darn severe. You know we are a rain or shine market. It is yet to be seen if we are a snow market also. It may be a good dry run (?) for the holiday markets we are planing.

Westminster Farmers’ Market Pumpkin Festival! The Westminster Farmers’ Market will be hosting a Pumpkin Festival this Friday, October 16^th with a rain date of October 23^rd. 

 Stop by for some fun, pumpkin decorating, chowder, coffee, donuts, hay rides, entertainment, face painting and more fun.  Prizes will be awarded to elementary age students for pumpkin decorating. Vendors will be selling a variety of local products including: 

Vegetables, Fruit, Beef, Pork, Eggs, Jams, Cheese, Bread, Baked Goods, Fudge and Confections.  And for your Holiday shopping pleasure: you will find hand crafted cutting boards, birdhouses, hats and purses, art tiles and earrings, soaps and lotions/hand-creams, hand painted tin pieces including mailboxes and antique reproductions, ornaments, quilted items and tote bags.

 I have listed our farmers' market on "going boston", a social network for venues and events in the Boston area. This should give our market some exposure to a younger urban population, that isn't really represented yet. If you can, go to this site, (you may have to register first), please click on that you like our market, and leave some positive comments. This will hopefully create some "buzz", and get a new group attending the market.

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

It’s Still Easy to Eat Seasonally!

Our market is still as active as it has ever been!  We had several new vendors last week and I hope you were able to find them and visit their booths.  This week we expect a new soap/lotion vendor and also a vendor who will be selling salsa kits!  Don’t think for one minute that our market is slowing down!!  A bit of a nip in the air, a few raindrops, no matter -- you still have to eat and you deserve farmers’ market fresh!  In addition, keep in mind that it is your patronage that keeps our vendors coming.  The reason that you are able to find such great food at our farmers’ market (when many area markets are closing for the season), is simply because you shop there!  Keep up the good work!

I hope you have been able to time your visits to enjoy our market entertainment!  So much thanks to Dr. B and the Homemade band and the father/daughter team of Ron and Megan McGuire for performing at our market over the past few weeks!  The music has been fantastic and makes the afternoon incredibly enjoyable for everyone!

This week Warren Rasmussen will be performing.  He is raising new awareness about ground nuts in this area and will also be selling his book, The Mary Rowlandson Story, which is a piece of local history involving Mary, Wachusett Mountain and Redemption Rock!)

And don’t forget that this is the week for our free raffle.  We will be raffling off 2 bags of farmers market products (each worth about $100).  Included in the raffle we have everything from Nancy Sampson’s pottery to a beautifully handcrafted cutting board from Bob Richard.  We have gift certificates from vendors, meats, cheese, a beautiful birdhouse donated by Bob Richard’s adorable grandchildren, spice rubs, photo cards and more.  These items will be divided into two baskets.  To enter the raffle, bring your free raffle ticket (handed out during the parade) and drop it in the picnic basket by the cooler.  We have extra forms by the picnic basket if you forget yours.  At 6:00, Dean Johnson will draw the 2 winning entries!

Next week (October 16^th) is the pumpkin festival so come along, enjoy the festivities, bring your children to enter the pumpkin painting contest and enjoy a hayride.  Have a hot cup of soup or coffee and enjoy a homemade pumpkin donut!

It is still easy to eat seasonally 

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Farmers’ Market Value?  You Bet!

This week for your entertainment we bring you the award winning, father daughter team of Ron and Megan McGuire!  We are thrilled to have them and they will be playing and singing from 4:00 until 6:00!  So, stop by and enjoy the afternoon, grab a cup of coffee, linger with your friends and neighbors and shop, shop, shop for Christmas!  Please remember that tips are always appreciated for all our performers.

The delivery day for Mass Local Food is this Friday and this is going to be THE place to get your farmers’ market fresh food this winter.  Mass Local Food runs like an online farmers’ market which uses preordering and monthly deliveries to Westminster, Berlin and Sterling.  If we can get volunteers, we will set up deliveries wherever you want them!  Currently listed on the website, you can order from over 450 products including beefalo, pork, beef, jams and preserved fruits, breads, pies and pastries, award winning cheeses, eggs, cereal, garlic, squash, herbs for your winter windowsill, honey, soaps, coffee, tea, pesto and many handmade products.  Many of our producers can be found right in our local farmers’ markets.  There is a $25.00 fee for a temporary membership (refundable if you don’t like the co-op) and a 5% order fee.  This cooperative is run by volunteer effort and all money received is put back into the coop by purchasing software and supplies.

The parade went off without a hitch, if you don’t count the weather!  It was loads of fun and if you didn’t get a free raffle ticket handed out as the Agricultural Commission fleet passed, stop by the water cooler at the farmers’ market and fill one out (or drop off the one you got at the parade).  This raffle will be held on October 9^th and we will be raffling over $200 in farmers’ market items.  You don’t want to miss this one

  Today is the big parade celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Westminster Massachusetts. The parade has three divisions, with over one hundred groups participating. Our Agricultural Commission has three floats, seven tractors (with implements), and a half dozen marchers.

  The first float is The Mass Local Food Coop. Their theme is "from our farms to your fork". It is a dollhouse sized barn with farm animals and equipment. This scene is decorated with plants and trees. It is on my 1950 Chevy one ton platform dump truck. This truck was purchased new by my grandfather Hjalmer Johnson in 1950. It was used for years on our farm, hauling shavings, live poultry, eggs, and manure (not all at the same time). This will be the third anniversary parade this truck has been in. A youth group staged a sock hop on it in 1959, for The Town's 200th Anniversary Parade. My farm  (Johnson & Sons Poultry Farm, Inc.)  used it as our float in 1984, for the 225th Anniversary Parade.

  The next float is our farmers' market reenactment. Marsha Foster and Cathy Magane will be riding this float that is a mock up of our Westminster Farmers' Market. It is full of colorful produce; white and brown eggs, pumpkins, gourds, red potatoes, corn shocks, butternut squash, summer squash, acorn squash, zucchini, etc. all displayed on bales of hay and a table under a market umbrella.

  The last float has some of our most frequent market performers. Sue Nickerson will be playing her fiddle, accompanied by her husband Steve, on Guitar. As the music plays, Lauren Denen will be step dancing.

  The tractors will be between floats. The walkers will be carrying a banner out front; "Westminster Agricultural Commission". Other walkers will be handing out fliers for the pumpkinfest, with Mass Local Food Coop and a free raffle ticket ( for food baskets) on the reverse side.

  As you can see we have all put a lot of time and effort into this event. The weather was near perfect yesterday when we assembled the floats. All the floats were either parked under cover or covered with tarps. It is raining now as I write this.

  The weather forecast calls for 100% chance of rain, up to 3/4" total rainfall today. Possible thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon between 2 PM and 5PM. The parade starts at 1PM. We are the 15th group in the 3rd division. By the time we march it will probably be near 3:00.

  Please say a prayer that the weather is not too severe for the marchers or spectators.

   Thanks

  This Seattle area couple visited visted our Westminster MA farmers market three weeks ago. I stumbled upon their local eating blog while doing a websearch of our market.

http://www.cooklocal.com/?p=1828&cpage=1#comment-1574

  They wrote a very nice review, even though their locavore area is almost 3000 miles away!

  Thanks Patricia and John! I hope we have better weather the next time you visit us.