Lettuce Go to the Winter Farmers Market

Featuring baked goods, coffee vendors, locally grown produce, meat, eggs and Chef C’s Munchie Mobile, Farmshed’s first winter farmers market has something for everyone.

The seed for the event was planted when Redeemer Lutheran Church approached Farmshed offering to host a winter market in their gymnasium.

Layne Cozzolino, executive director of Farmshed, said that the idea of a winter market had always been up in the air. It was not until they were approached by the church that they secured a location large enough for the event.

Tommy Enright, owner of Black Rabbit Farm, approached Farmshed about a winter market around the same time as Redeemer Lutheran.  From there, Enright began working to set up the winter market as a member of the Farmer Advisory Board.

Photo by Mary Knight.

The winter market offers conscious consumers much of the same fresh produce they could find at the summer market.  Available at the market, Farmshed’s new Frozen Assets program freezes summer produce to make it available year-round.

Cozzolino said, “I think a lot of times people forget that foods are still available in the winter.”

Tony Whitefeather, owner of Whitefeather Organics, hopes to continue selling longer-lasting produce such as carrots and other root vegetables throughout the winter.  In addition to this variety of produce, Whitefeather also sells apple cider and eggs.

In addition to produce, the winter market features two coffee vendors.  Deanna Linzmeier and her husband Jared own Ruby, a coffee company based in Nelsonville.  The company aims to provide coffee drinkers with ethically and sustainably sourced coffee.

Whitefeather hopes to see a lot of community members attending the winter market. “The more customer-based we get, the more farmers will chime in and we can kind of make a nice indoor cultural event” Whitefeather said.

“I want to see this thing succeed,” Linzmeier said.

With the exception of Christmas and New Years, the winter farmers market will be held in Redeemer Lutheran Church every Saturday until March 25 from 8 a.m. to 12p.m.

Olivia DeValk

Reporter

olivia.c.devalk@uwsp.edu