What's new at the Midland Farmers Market?

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1 What's new at the Midland Farmers Market? Cindy Crain Newman for the Daily News Updated 7:00 am, Monday, May 11, 2015 Sarah Longstreth packs up after the Midland Area Farmers Market closed on Wednesday. This is Longstreth's first year being at the market with organic goods from Good Stead Farm. Becoming certified as an organic fruit and vegetable grower was a lengthy process. But Sarah Longstreth completed it successfully and is offering her Good Stead Farm organic products for the first time at this year s Midland Area Farmers Market. I strive to grow food that excites people to eat well, to eat vegetables, to cook and to share with others, said Longstreth who leases about five acres of land from a farmer in Hope. Her farm is less than two miles away from where she grew up.

2 It will be slim pickings in early May, Longstreth admitted. It s been a cold season, she said. I will have herb seedlings. Hopefully, I will have greens, as well. I will have onion sets, both red and yellow. I m really excited about the onions, because it s hard for people to find locally-grown onion sets to plant on their own. I ll have heirloom tomatoes and peppers. All sorts of lovely annual flowers in six packs. Basil, oregano, thyme, some medicinal herbs and some broccoli. She also raises pastured hens and plans to have eggs at the market. After growing up in Midland and graduating from Dow High School in 2003, Longstreth spent about 12 years out of state before returning to the area to farm. She apprenticed at a small organic farm in Maine, apprenticed at a dairy farm and worked as a livestock manager. Longstreth has named her new farm venture Good Stead Farm, because when I think of a homestead, I think of a grounded place, a place of home, a place of comfort. My farm is very familyand community-oriented. I run a CSA (community supported agriculture) program, and people come on Tuesdays and Fridays to pick up their vegetables. I want people to consider this their food home. For information on the farm, visit Sarah is our first official organic certified fruit and vegetable grower at the market, said Kristy LeVasseur, Midland Area Chamber of Commerce director of communications and Farmers Market manager. We have a number of vendors who grow with organic practices. Many say they are no-spray or pesticide free. But it s the law that they can t say they re organic vendors without the certification. The organic certification is very difficult and costly to get. We always tell customers to talk to your vendor and ask them how they grow. You might find that their growing practices fit with what you want without that certification. This market season, there will be around 70 vendors filling about 90 stalls, with some vendors buying two or three stalls, LeVasseur said. We have a giant waiting list, LeVasseur said. It s about 4-6 years long for vendors to get an annual

3 stall. The early market days will have some early greens and plants of all varieties, including basil, herbs and tomato plants. There will be not just flowers, but every other kind of plant you would want to start your garden that you don t have to grow from seeds. Hosta of the Year One returning plant vendor will be Fred Buchholz of Midland who operates Blue Pot Hostas, a hosta garden and nursery. This year he will have some varieties that he has not had before in Midland, including Victory which is the 2015 Hosta of the Year according to the American Hosta Growers Association. It is called a Giant, a variegated plant which can grow to 30 inches in height and 70 inches wide. I will be at the market later in May when the plants are fully leafed out and when people are doing their planting, Buchholz said. I will have about 90 different varieties of hostas this season. We ll bring five pots of each variety and about 20 to 25 varieties on a given day. I rotate some different varieties every few weeks. People can always come to the garden if they want more units or different varieties. For more information, visit The early market days will also have baked goods and maple syrup, although LeVasseur said that Gary and Lynne Jacques of Jacques Orchard suffered a horrible loss. Their barn burned down and took their maple syrup-making equipment with it, LeVasseur said. Their orchards were untouched. They just won t have the maple syrup they normally would have at the beginning of the year. They are rebuilding. Shoppers will find a variety of products at the market. We have diversified the products a bit beyond a true farmers market, LeVasseur said, because family farms are shrinking, and the kids aren t taking them over. Once they re done, they re done. We are trying to ensure the longevity of the market by diversifying the products, but also by staying true to having that local artisan-quality food. Chamber of Commerce staff are discussing plans for a farm-to-table dinners program which would

4 take place sometime in the summer. We want to get people out to the farms to see actual things growing in the ground, to meet the farmers and see their operations, and to really begin to understand how important local food is, LeVasseur said. We want people to have that connection to the Market vendor knowing who is growing their food and learning how it is being grown. We do have a number of local farms represented at the market, and we want to help support them in every way possible. In addition to local farmers, returning popular vendors later in the season will be Mel and Carol Christofferson of Maple Hill Farms of Ludington. They come the farthest away of any vendor. They specialize in tree-ripened fruit, and I swear to God, their peaches fall from heaven! LeVasseur said. They come to market with pre-orders in late July and early August, because they are so popular here. They come with cherries earlier. We just don t grow their kind of stuff around here. They have trees from the 1800s, they ve been farming for so long. Fresh fish and bacon The next-farthest-away vendors are Dan and Mega Sodini of DMS Fish Supply from Hubbard Lake. One of Dan s family members is originally from Midland, and that s why they started selling here, LeVasseur said. They are family-owned, licensed fish catchers and sellers. Dan s uncles are the captains. The fish at the market was caught the day before and processed. It s mostly fish caught in the Straits of Mackinac and Lake Huron. People love their salmon. They have whitefish, walleye and lake perch. When they have their whole salmon sale they do it once or twice during salmon season people will be in line 30 deep by 7 a.m. We have to put them in a different location because the line will disrupt the market. People really like the fish and the meat. We didn t always have that. It s only been in the last three or four years. Middleton Farms is the Market s meat vendor that has been at it the longest, LeVasseur said. Their bacon comes with the Christofferson s peaches from heaven, she said. They don t feed hormones or antibiotics to their animals. It s a true family farm in Coleman. Every vendor at the market has something special, LeVasseur said. The knowledge of these

5 hundred people who come every Wednesday and Saturday is amazing. They can tell you everything about the most bizarre seed or how to cook the weirdest thing you ve ever seen. Starting in June, the market will participate with the Double Up Food Bucks Program of the Fair Food Network. The whole purpose of their organization is to get as much access as possible to fresh local food to a broad number of people, LeVasseur said. When customers buy SNAP-eligible foods at the market with their SNAP Bridge Card dollars, the Fair Food Network will match what is spent with free Double Up Food Bucks up to $20 each market day. The Double Up Food Bucks are good specifically for Michigan-grown food. The Midland Area Farmers Market is located at the structure at the end of Ashman Street near the Tridge. The market will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays through October 31. Hours are from 7 a.m. to noon. Onsite food trucks may stay open until 1 p.m. Vendor lists, maps and Michigan fruit and vegetable ripening schedules are available at: Hearst Communications, Inc.