Naturally, farmers market's a find in winter
Editor' note: This story corrects an earlier version.
Stonington — Fresh lettuce. In the middle of December.
That was one of the many attractions Saturday at the Stonington Farmers Market, which migrated in November from its outdoor, Town Dock-side location to the spacious confines of The Velvet Mill on Bayview Avenue.
In an adjacent room, a flea market was in full swing, too.
“It’s a really good venue for bringing the community together to get locally grown products,” Noreen Kepple, a Stonington resident, said as she perused the market’s offerings. “It’s full of vitality.”
Karen Laczko, Kepple’s friend, agreed, saying the market’s vendors sold high-quality breads and produce, all of it fresh and virtually all of it organically cultivated.
Over the years, she said, the market has grown into one of the best in New England.
She said she’s seen some of the same vendors’ products on display at farmers markets in New Hampshire.
The market, which the Stonington Village Improvement Association launched in 1997, became a year-round event in 2008, moving inside toward the end of each year.
Currently, it’s open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Robert Burns, owner of Aiki Farms in Ledyard, said he’s been manning a booth at the market since 2000 and believes it’s about to become the biggest farmers market in Connecticut in terms of customers and vendors, overtaking one in Coventry.
“They’ve added the flea market this year,” he noted. “It keeps growing, gathering steam.”
Aiki Farms grows a variety of organic vegetables in the summer and supplies several restaurants in the area, including Noah’s and the Water Street Café in Stonington borough.
According to its brochure, Aiki is the sole Connecticut producer of such winter crops as pea shoots, buckwheat shoots, sprouting mung and lentil, red winter wheat berry and garbanzo seeds.
Burns said a good number of his customers are turning to sprouting seeds and shoots after undergoing chemotherapy for cancer or as an alternative to such treatments.
Jace Becker, an assistant manager for Long River Farm in Old Lyme, said the people who shop at farmers markets tend to be knowledgeable about the different ways foods are grown, organically and otherwise, and know that food sold at such markets tends to be better for them.
In addition to vegetables and fruits, jams, breads, pies and baked goods, cheese, eggs, poultry, beef, pork, shellfish, wine and flowers, the farmers market features some handmade crafts.
Betsy Drake Bierkan, who runs Spencer Hill Jewelry from her Killingworth home, said she occupied one of two spots reserved for artisans Saturday at the market .
“People in this environment appreciate things that are handmade,” she said, displaying necklaces, bracelets, earrings and the like, all of which she designed and fashioned herself using precious and semi-precious stones.
She said she displays at farmers markets throughout the state and has grown particularly fond of Stonington’s, adding, “I grew up in Westerly, so I’m familiar with this neck of the woods.”
Kim Yahara, co-owner of Summer Hill Catering, which she and her mother operate from a kitchen in the garage of her Madison home, served up breakfast to the market's visitors.
Music provided by "Studio 91,” a three-man band consisting of Larry Chevian, Sean Griffin and Lenny Bellet, added to the market's festive, holiday atmosphere.
Chevian, a carpenter who rents Unit 91 at the Velvet Mill, joked that the band hoped to provide music suitable for “milling about and purchasing vegetables.”
Twitter: @bjhallenbeck
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