It's the Last Smart Markets Lorton Farmers' Market Until March

This Week at the Smart Markets Lorton Farmers’ Market
Thursday 3–6 p.m.
Workhouse Arts Center
9601 Ox Rd.
Lorton, VA 22079
Map

Dear Shopper,

We are looking forward to the market today. On hand will be Uncle Fred’s BBQ, The Kettle Korn Guy, Ignacio with his gorgeous veggies, Kylie with her creative and delicious cake pops, Arka with his aromatic holiday blend of coffee, Terri with her Comfort Mix stocking stuffers, Mehdi with the last pasta of the year, Nyall with a full menu of pasties, Valley View Bakery with their holiday goodies, and Russ Anderson from Wicked Oak Farm with chicken, pork, and great country eggs.

That’s the good news, but we have some disappointing news, too. Several of our vendors at this market were not prepared to participate in a year-round market. That’s not to say that they would not like to participate, but they did not plan ahead for enough product or staff to get through the winter. We have also lost vendors who are leery of continuing to come out in the cold and the dark for the next couple of months. It is definitely a challenge to learn how to cope with the cold, and we think we have come up with a solution for this market.

We are going to close temporarily for the months of January and February, but we are going to be busy during that time working to bring in new vendors as early as March, when we would like to reopen with the hours of 3-6 p.m. We expecting that by then the daylight hours will have expanded to cover our business hours. We will retain those hours until May, when we will begin to stay open until 7 p.m.

We already have a commitment from our Mennonite co-op, Heritage Farm and Kitchen, which now participates at our Reston and Oakton markets, to join us in March. They will bring chicken, pork, lamb, Trickling Springs Dairy, produce, and a wide variety of specialty foods. All of our present vendors will rejoin us in March, and we will look forward to the return of our farmers, including Steven Stoltzfus, Ignacio, Alma, and Dan from Shenandoah Seasonal Farm in April and May.

You can continue to shop with many of the vendors whom you have come to know and appreciate over the next two months at our Oakton market Saturday mornings from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. You will be able to buy your milk, eggs, chicken, and more at Heritage Farm. You will recognize Kylie, Uncle Fred, Nyall Meredith, Oli Denegri, Ignacio for as long as he is picking veggies, Arka, and Emmanuel and Betsy with Valley View Bakery. You will see the Kettle Korn Guy there and Max Tyson Sr. who brings West Virginia apples all winter long. We look forward to seeing you there! I will continue to send you a weekly update about that market until March.

From the Market Master

Earlier this month I received an email from the Farmers Market Coalition that highlighted the value of local food for our urban and suburban communities, especially during the aftermath of a natural disaster. Check it out and think about what that meant to those folks who had no other way to get food.

We had our own similar experience this past summer. One Saturday morning in June I was on my way to our Springfield market and Oakton Market Manager Diane Blust was opening the Oakton market. After a early-morning phone conversation about what was going on, we lost contact and each of us went to market where in both cases we opened as normal. We were not even aware at that time of the extent of the power outage caused by the derecho that had passed through the previous evening.

Several days later we discussed that we were the only enterprises open anywhere around us. We had milk for the babies, meats for the grill, wine for the weary, and freshly picked fruits and vegetables for all those families who could not open their refrigerators.

Those of you who are planning for a future where we may depend even more on locally produced food and energy could have used that day after the derecho as a prime example for your arguments. But in the real world right then, we demonstrated that you can count on your local farmers to show up and the markets to operate when all around us the retail businesses were at the mercy of an ever-unreliable electrical grid. Farmers don’t need electricity to farm, though obviously it helps with plowing the field and planting seeds. We don’t need electricity to sell at a market, and you don’t need it to buy at a market, either.

Please think about that in the new year as you plan your grocery shopping each week. Our local farmers from Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland need your support all year long. Here in Northern Virginia, we have the population to support hundreds of local farmers with our buying power. Shopping regularly at your nearest year-round market will encourage them to do what it takes on the farm to extend the growing season for the benefit of all, which will lead to even more variety in your winter markets in the future.

Keep those farmers in mind over the winter and continue to show your support for farmers’ markets, even when there is not so much to purchase over the next few months. We can use that show of support to save the farms and farmers we have and maybe even inspire new ones to plow a field or build a hoop house. And then when you need them, no matter the time of year, they will be there for you.