Fresh Pasta will be available from Valicenti Organico!

The outside summer markets are over and it’s time to turn our thoughts inside with the first Exeter Winter Farmers’ Market of the 2010-2011 season. The holiday season is in full swing and eating healthy, local food with every meal is more than possible. Come and visit the farmers’ market community for a soul warming Saturday overflowing with irresistible food and food gifts for the season.

Saturday, December 4, 40 farmers, fishermen and food producers will be in the cafeteria of the new Exeter High School in Exeter, NH from 10am-2pm, selling their meats, cheeses, milk, eggs, vegetables, fish, prepared foods, baked goods, honey and maple syrup! You can find a full list of participating vendors and the products they will be selling at www.seacoasteatlocal.org. The new Exeter High School is located at 1 Blue Hawk Drive, or 315 Epping Road for GPS.

Seacoast area farmers and food producers have expanded their offerings in response to customers seeking fresh, wholesome, sustainable foods and this season’s winter markets include a wide diversity of local products. Shoppers can look forward to filling their tote bags with a wide variety of vegetables including salad greens, broccoli, bok choi, kale, radishes, cabbage, lettuce, winter squash, carrots, potatoes, turnips, onions, garlic, and parsnips. Local, sustainable meats and seafood will be for sale such as beef, pork, chicken, lamb, duck, goat, turkey and lobster as well as dairy products including eggs, milk, and cheeses. Honey, maple syrup, prepared foods and baked goods round out the farmers’ market making the market a one-stop shopping opportunity for local food.

Share the harvest

As in year’s past, each Seacoast Eat Local winter farmers’ market will feature an area food pantry collecting donations of food. You are encouraged to purchase fresh foods to donate; pantries are seeing a sharp increase in demand for their services and those in need are also eager to eat wholesome foods. Potatoes, carrots, onions, salad greens – any product available for sale at the market would make a welcome donation. Financial donations are welcome and will be used to increase purchases of local food for the pantry. Farmers generously donate hundreds of pounds of foods at each market and the combined efforts of shoppers and farmers makes a significant positive impact in our community.

Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmers’ Market

December 4th, 10am-2pm
Exeter High School, 1 Blue Hawk Drive or 315 Epping Road, Exeter, NH
For more information, including a complete schedule of area Winter
Farmers’ Markets, visit www.seacoasteatlocal.org

For more information contact: Sara Zoë Patterson, sarazoe@seacoasteatlocal.org, 603.498.6934

Saturday April 24, 10am – 2pm at Heron Pond Farm, 299 Main Ave, South Hampton

You don’t have to wait for the farmers’ markets to open in May and June!  Heron Pond Farm will be hosting a Spring market featuring a wide variety of locally grown and made foods on April 24.  You’ll find fresh greens and other spring vegetables, plants for your garden, farm-raised meat and eggs, honey, maple syrup and delicious prepared foods and baked goods!  The market will be held outside the Heron Pond Farm farmstand which is now open on weekends.  Come check it out!

Heron Pond Farm – the farm stand will be open with lots of spring vegetables! Fresh greens, cilantro, potatoes, carrots, parsnips. www.heronpondfarm.com
Yellow House Farm – chicken and duck eggs, farm photo cards, feathers. www.yellowhousefarm.com
Moriarty’s Greenhouse – potted perennials, herbs and houseplants. www.moriartysgreenhouse.com
Forty Five Market Street Bakery & Cafe – cookies, scones, bread, muffins, pies
White Heron Tea – organic tea beverages, organic + fair trade packaged teas, ready to eat breakfast and lunch foods. www.whiteherontea.com
Kellie Brook Farm – farm-raised pork, beef, veal, turkey, chicken, prepared meals made with their own meats. http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13157
Harrison’s Poultry – eggs, maple syrup, honey, chicken and guinea fowl meat, garden baskets, feathers and maple candy. www.harrisonspoultry.com
The Soup Guy - Gluten Free, All Natural Soups and Chili made with locally grown ingredients. www.thesoupguy.net
Eastman’s Local Catch – Sign up for a local fish share! Carolyn Eastman will be there with information about CSF shares. www.eastmansfish.com

If you have questions about this event, email kate@seacoasteatlocal.org. For more information about Heron Pond Farm, visit their website, www.heronpondfarm.com

Do you like to eat lots of fresh vegetables and try new things? Do you want to support a local farm and get to know the people who grow your food?

Join a Farm!

Seacoast Eat Local will be hosting a CSA + CSF Day at their upcoming Winter Farmers’ Market on Saturday, February 27th, at the Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford. Residents will have the opportunity to learn more about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and CSF (Community Supported Fisheries), meet the farmers and fisherfolk offering shares, and sign up for the 2010 season.  Fifteen CSA farms are signed up to take part in this event.

Community Supported Agriculture and Community Supported Fisheries offer a terrific way for people to get a steady supply of local food directly from the producers. Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a partnership between consumers and farmers in which members buy shares of the farm’s harvest and receive regular allotments of food throughout the growing season.

For farmers, this provides much needed cash flow for the beginning of the season, as well as a ready market and community of supporters. Shareholders join in the risks of the growing season but reap the benefits of the harvest.  Community Supported Fisheries, or CSFs (modeled after CSAs), are a way to buy seafood directly from fishermen, and support our local fisheries by purchasing seasonal shares.

Each CSA and CSF has its own pricing structure and distribution schedule, and some farms have work requirements. Signups for CSA and CSF shares often begin in February by directly contacting the farm or sponsoring fishery. A list of CSA farms in the Rockingham, Strafford, and York Counties is available at Seacoast Harvest, www.seacoastharvest.org, an online guide to local food sponsored by Seacoast Eat Local.

Participating Farms & Fisheries:

Brookford Farm, www.brookfordfarm.com
Connolly’s Organics
Eastman’s Local Catch, www.eastmansfish.com
Farmer Dave’s CSA, www.farmerdaves.net
Heron Pond Farm, www.heronpondfarm.com
Meadow’s Mirth, www.meadowsmirth.com
New Roots Farm, www.newrootsfarm.com
Riverside Farm, www.riversidefarmstand.com
Riverslea Farm, www.riversleafarm.com
Stone Wall Farm / Osprey Cove Organic Farm, ospreycoveorganicfarm.blogspot.com
Touching Earth Farm, www.touchingearthfarm.com
Two Toad Farm, www.twotoadfarm.com
Wake Robin Farm, www.wakerobinfarm.com
Willow Pond Community Farm, www.willowpondfarm.org
Wolf Pine Farm CSA, www.wolfpinefarm.com

More information about CSA + CSF Day can be found at www.seacoasteatlocal.org. The website also provides details about Seacoast Eat Local’s series of Winter Farmers’ Markets, including a list of the 35+ other vendors you can expect to see at the February 27th market in Rollinsford. Wentworth Greenhouses is located at 141 Rollins Road, Rollinsford, NH, a mile past Red’s Shoe Barn of Dover.

Seacoast Eat Local connects people with sources of locally grown foods and advocates eating locally for the health of our environment, community, culture and economy. Through advocacy, organizing and education, they work toward a sustainable local food system that meets the needs of both producers and consumers. They organize winter farmers’ markets, co-produce Seacoast Harvest, sponsor workshops and events, and provide information through their email newsletter, blog and website, www.seacoasteatlocal.org