Frost may be glittering in the grass, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat fresh and healthy during the coldest months of the year. And you can support your local grower, too.
Once a rarity in towns such as Brunswick and Saco, winter farmers markets are taking root and flourishing from coast to county.
“It’s exciting to see more and more open,” said Hanne Tierney, chairman of the Portland Farmers Market and a steering committee member for Bangor’s farmers market. “The demand for local food has increased dramatically. Over the last 10 years, more are opening to meet that demand.”
The food revolution coupled with farmers receiving grants for hoop houses to grow hardy veggies year-round has extended the season, said Tierney, who runs Cornerstone Farm in Palmyra. She sells organic vegetables and pasture-raised pork in Bangor, Orono and Portland all winter.
For the second year in a row, farmers take over a convention room on alternate Sundays this winter at Sea Dog Brewing Co. in Bangor. It starts the first weekend in December.
Diverse products from cheese makers, a gluten free baker, apples and cider, and root vegetables, kale and arugula round out the offerings.
The Queen City welcomes a new farmers market this winter at the Bangor Grange Hall. The first winter version of the Ohio Street Farmers’ Market runs every other week starting Dec. 9. And on Saturdays, it’s always a moveable feast at the European Market at Sunnyside Greenhouses on Buck Street. Think pies, greek meals, fresh meat and community.
Speaking of community, winter farmers markets are becoming social hubs.
A new cafe has sprung up this year at The Midcoast Winter Farmers Market at the Topsham Fairgrounds. The Friday afternoon market is loaded with organic farmers selling beans and kale and wholesome wholewheat bread and muffins. Many of these offerings are incorporated into the cafe in the form of paninis and soups. Robust coffee from Big Barn Coffee in Wiscasset and grass-fed beef, chicken livers from the friendly Dick Piper of Piper Ranch in Buckfield make this market a must stop.
The Portland Winter Farmers Market moves to a new location this year. It’s still in East Bayside but in a larger space in a former scuba dive shop at 84 Cove St.
“We will be able to have a few more vendors, and it will have better customer flow,” Tierney said. Around the corner from the Urban Farm Fermentory, there is plenty of parking and more space.
When the farm isn’t running, vendor Lauren Pignatello of Swallowtail Farm and Creamery plans to turn it into “a farm and herbal cafe with a yogurt and elixir bar and apothecary.” Once Pignatello receives necessary permits, she will be aging cheese here, too.
“We’re starting out small but using the space as a workshop for our herbs and products and doing some packaging of our cheese and Greek yogurt there,” she said.
In Saco, the year-round Saco River Market enters its fifth season. Tucked into the ground floor of a former textile factory on Saco Island, the market is free-ranging, varied and ever evolving. From hand-made pasta to Greek olive oil to kale, to wood-fired bread, to alpaca gloves, you never know what surprises await 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays. On average, there are 40 vendors.
“There is no doubt there’s a huge need. Meat growers are open year-round, and they need a venue,” said Irene Lim, president of the market and owner of Fernleaf Bakery and Coffee House in Saco. She sells pastries and fresh brewed coffee from Carpe Diem Coffee Roasting Co. in North Berwick.
“It started out as a winter market, and we kept it going year round,” Lim said.
When it launched, Lim said not many other options existed for direct farm purchasing in the dead of winter.
Now “they have been popping up more and more. When we started, we were the only one around,” she said.
For more information on winter farmers markets, visit mainefarmersmarkets.org.
