Winter farmers market coming to Morristown

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By Kevin Coughlin

Foraging for fresh, locally grown food should become a lot easier this winter in Morristown.

The  Morris County Winter Farmers Market,  a monthly affair at the Fosterfields Living Historical Farm in Morris Township for the last two winters, is moving to the Alexander Hamilton School.

foodshed alliance logoIt will be open for business every Sunday, between 10 am and 2 pm, from Dec. 6, 2015, through April 2016.

Shoppers should find meats, cheeses, eggs, bread, honey, winter root crops, baked goods, and hydroponically grown greens from area farms and shops.

Freshly caught seafood also will be offered, said Kendrya Close, executive director of the nonprofit  Foodshed Alliance, which runs the farmers market.

Between 18 and 25 vendors will participate, she said.

Alexander Hamilton School. Photo: Morris School District.
The Alexander Hamilton School, new home for the Morris County Winter Farmers Market. Photo: Morris School District.

“The farmers all said, ‘Why can’t we have the markets more often?’ You should eat locally year-round,” said Close.

While expressing gratitude to the Morris County Park Commission for the use of Fosterfields, Close said the Winter Farmers Market has outgrown the space. Monthly sessions were drawing up to 900 shoppers, she said.

Vendors will fill Alexander Hamilton’s gym and cafeteria.  The elementary school is ideal, she said, because it has no sports schedule to compete with.

Paul Miller of Sustainable Morristown,  a partner in the venture, suggested the location. Close then discovered she already had a friend at the school, Principal Josephine Noone.

“A year ago Josephine was trying to start a farmers market in her town, Washington Township, where she serves on the township committee,” Close recounted. “So this played out really well. Everyone could not have been easier to work with.”

Shoppers check out the debut of the Winter Farmers' Market at Fosterfields in Morris Township. Photo by Katharine Boyle.
Shoppers check out the 2014 debut of the Winter Farmers’ Market at Fosterfields in Morris Township. Photo by Katharine Boyle.

“We’re thrilled,” said Miller, who suspects many Morristown residents will feel the same way.  They should find the Mills Street school more accessible on foot than Fosterfields, he said.

The Morristown Farmers Market, a separate operation run by the Morristown Partnership, winds down its 25th season on Nov. 22.

Established in 2001 and based in Blairstown, the Foodshed Alliance strives to convey the message that eating locally grown foods is healthier for the consumer, the economy, and the planet, Close said.

Food does not have to be transported as far, so there is less damage to the environment. And it’s “much better for local economies to keep our money in New Jersey,” she said.

Farmers markets also enable consumers to meet the people who grow their food, and size up their farming practices. Providing farmers with winter revenues helps them stay in business, Close said.

“Farmers have a hard time making a living. We need to find value-added things to keep people interested in farming,” said Close.

Consumer habits also need reshaping, she suggested.  Buying strawberries and peaches out of season, for example, is bad, because these items must be shipped long distances. They’re not fresh, and the transportation adds to our “carbon footprint,” Close said.

In winter especially, “you have to be flexible. When you go to the market, it can’t be, ‘I have my list.’  It’s more like, ‘I’ll plan my meals around what I find.'”

 

 

 

 

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