For 16 years, my longest workday was Saturday. At the plant by 3 a.m. to load for the farmers markets, on the road by 5. Home by 3 p.m., unloaded and counted up by 5 p.m.
A long day, but it was how I got my living.
It took years to make farmers markets the core of our business. I started, like many, as a back-to-the-lander who farmed part-time, selling veggies in Farmington and teaching at the University of Maine. Only one vendor at Farmington got his entire living by farming.
Since then, farmers markets have changed, and they differ widely. We went all-Turkey-all-the-time in 1986. We began in 1990 making markets the guts of our business. Today, Maine has something like 143 farmers markets and counting. Markets are increasing because, as in any free economy, they offer what customers want.
My motivation to sell at a farmers market was clear. I went for the long dollar, and my products in a farmers market fetched about 20 percent more than at wholesale. Folks eat every day, so pleasing a retail customer primed the pump for future sales.
Farmers markets let me spread cash flow through the year. In 1986, I got all my income in four days in November. Our last Turkey year, 2015, Thanksgiving was still big, but it brought 23 percent of our year’s income, which spread the other 77 percent through the other 51 weeks. About 60 percent of our sales came at farmers markets.
As Turkey growers — for some time ours was the largest Turkey farm in Maine — we went to lengths to distinguish ourselves from other growers. We grew only Turkeys, because cohabitating chickens and Turkeys often require medication to prevent cross-contamination. We fed, when it was available, gmo-free feed.
We grew our birds on pasture, and we could see and taste the difference between our birds and birds grown in confinement. Besides the fresh air and sunshine, our birds didn’t need all the drugs that confinement animals require to stay alive. For years, I haven’t bought meat or poultry that was raised in confinement. Our birds grew more slowly than confinement birds, which gave the meat better flavor and firmer texture. We were proud of dealing humanely with our animals all their lives, to and through the end.
We know we cannot find meat like that in a supermarket. So, when I shop at a farmers market, I ask questions. I don’t always get answers that make me a customer. But when I talk with the farmer who grew the food, I can learn what I need to know.
Nearing my first anniversary as a retired old faht, my contact now with farmers markets is shopping at six of them. As Lyndon Johnson said, “You dance with the one what brung you,” and farmers markets were the one what brung our farm to success.
In the best markets — more variety, better run — most of the vendors get most of their living at market. Farmers who depend on markets usually have an edge in growing, marketing, service, etc. In the six markets at which we shop (Sandy River in Farmington, Skowhegan, Farmington Saturday, Belgrade Lakes, Crystal Spring in Brunswick and Topsham winter), Crystal Spring has the most vendors who get the bulk of their living from farmers markets.
Of some 37 vendors there, at least 20 get most of their family income at market. About half the others get most of their farm income from markets but have outside sources of earning, such as a spouse with a job. Skowhegan is a much smaller market but about half get most of their family income from market and perhaps a quarter get most of the farm income from market while having outside income as well.
Ditto the Topsham winter market, where several of the Crystal Spring vendors set up, as I did, in the colder six months.
The Belgrade Lakes market and the two Farmington markets are horses of another color. Belgrade Lakes caters mostly to cottage folks. Still, some farmers, such as Wholesome Holmstead (Winthrop) and Moodytown Gardens (Palmyra) get most of their living from their farms.
Of the markets (23) in which we have sold, the ones nearest us baffle us most. We failed in three attempts in Farmington. On the face of it, Farmington should be a good town for farmers markets, and some vendors do OK there. But we didn’t.
Farmington has UMF, with a couple of hundred well-paid professors and professional staffers. It has a regional hospital. Check out the photos of the professional staff that line a hallway at Franklin Memorial. Maybe 100 smiling faces, none of them earning bottom dollar. Farmington is the shire town, which means high-earner lawyers. These are the folks who presumably would seek out better food and be willing to pay for it. They certainly were in Brunswick and Bath, where we drew on Bowdoin College, Midcoast General Hospital and Sagadahoc County’s shire city, Bath.
But we didn’t see UMF people at the Farmington market. Very few from the hospital. Never saw a local lawyer there.
Never figured that out.
Now, when I shop in Farmington, I may be seeing why. In late June, no strawberries. In mid-August, no corn. I seldom see chicken eggs there, and eggs are often my first purchase. So, which came to Farmington first, the Turkey or the egg? Do strawberry and corn and egg farmers not set up there because they can’t sell their wares or do folks not shop there because they can’t find strawberries and corn and eggs?
As a shopper, I look for protein before veggies. I can get fresh-caught fish at both Farmington markets, and I do almost every time I shop there. But only one farm sells meat that was raised on pasture, King & I Angus of Industry. We were charter members with them (Sara and Dennis Wilk) in the Farmington Saturday market.
Sarah and Dennis do well enough at Farmington. But we never could.
The protein selection is wider at the four other markets I visit. Skowhegan has three pork stands, including Moodytown, and two beef stands, Grasslands Farm of Skowhegan and Rowbottom Farm of Norridgewock. Crystal Spring has pork and beef as well as goat, duck, chicken and sometimes lamb. At Topsham, I can get pork, beef and pasture-grown chicken, though I don’t like chicken so I just buy it for the family.
The slogan of farmers markets for some time has been “the face of the farm.” One hesitates to celebrate one’s own face, but in time I came to accept that folks looked for my stand. The rare days I sent someone else to run my stand, sales fell by $100 to $600.
Further evidence. At Bath, I hired a Morse High School student. In summer, she worked alone, but in winter, I worked with her. Each winter, I watched customer after customer come to her with questions and purchases. With me standing right there. Bryanna, to the folks in Bath, was the “face of the farm.”
For years, I checked out customers as they checked out the offerings at market. Now, I check out the farmers. Both sides of the bench at farmers markets still appeal to me. And tomorrow is market day!
Bob Neal lives in New Sharon. He misses the social life he had at farmers markets, but he sleeps in now on Saturday. Sometimes till 7 a.m.
The Saturday Farmington Farmers’ Market has King & I Angus and Island Farms beef and pork. Several vendors have eggs.
A good, informative article, Bob. Like you, I don’t care much for chicken, either, unless it’s fried. Unfortunately, I am not too good at frying chicken. My dad used to have hens and he fed them cracked corn and maybe something else, too. I don’t remember, since it’s been about 45 or so since then. Now, farmers can’t afford cracked corn, probably. I don’t know what they feed them. Maybe soybeans or something but chicken doesn’t seem to taste the same anymore. I guess frying it kills the taste. I was thinking that maybe if home deliveries (for a fee) could be made? Some people don’t have easy access to transportation. If the vendors got prepaid in advance, including the transportation fee, maybe they could sell more stuff? If the vendors transported stuff to a town, say, Wilton, they could tell the customer a due date for delivery but the vendor would have to accumulate enough sales first, in order to be able to afford to deliver. And how do they pay? Only cash? Credit cards? Money orders? Ebt? If a flyer was sent to boxholders, with a phone number, people could call in and order without even having to actually go to the market and it would cut out the middle man.
frumpleton, here is a good start. I think some even deliver. https://harvesttomarket.com/
I would love to invite everyone to some very fantastic events the Saturday Farmers’ Market has planned for the next two Saturdays. This Saturday, August 20th, we will have Ashley Montgomery, a UMF professor and culinary wizard, at the market to do some cooking demos and sampling to give our market customers some ideas for what to do with the bounty of the season. Free food with fresh, local produce, what could be better?
My favorite event of the market season is happening on Saturday, August 27th when our market welcomes the 4-H Open Air Market to join the Saturday Farmers’ Market. This annual tradition dating back to 1914 (not really, I’m not really sure when it started, but it has been going on for a long time. Fun fact, my first ever farmers market selling produce was when I was a 17 year old 4-Her selling sweet corn out of the back of my mom’s minivan next to the BLC in 2001 at that year’s 4-H Open Air Market) gives local 4-H youth the opportunity to produce and sell products for one market day. What an opportunity to encourage young entrepreneurs in our community! I strongly encourage everyone support our 4-H youth on the 27th.
Lastly, I wanted to note that our farm has always felt very supported by community members representing many different walks of life. We see many regular customers every Saturday who are senior citizens, UMF students, families, young professionals, young parents, veterans, and retirees, and who represent a wide variety of professions in our community. One of the things I love about this community is that more and more people are buying local. Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members, where the bulk of our farm income comes from, are dedicated local eaters who have made a significant investment in money and time to buy produce from a local farm. In our four years of farming, we have made incremental gains each year both in our CSA membership and in our market sales. While we always seek to increase our CSA membership and to see more foot traffic and gain more regulars at the market, we are so thankful and grateful for the community we live in and the customers who allow us to be their farmers!
See you on Saturday where I’ll have our first picking of sweet corn!
Erica Emery
Owner, Rustic Roots Farm
Co-Market Manager – Saturday Farmington Farmers’ Market
A wonderful essay about an inspirational element of our Maine culture and economy.
Bob has written a well thought out article. Thanking him. However, to be accurate in the last two weeks, I have counted two local lawyers, one lawyer’s wife, three UMF professors, some students ( come on students when you get back) and some tourists, and local people wandering through both Friday and Saturday Farmington Farmer’s Markets. Every year is different. This year the drought and heat have both influenced vegetable and people conditions. We need more vendors period. It’s not meat and fish protein that’s going to bring shoppers, despite the popularity of the Paleo and Atkins Diet ( these are actually fading, less customers this year request gluten free foods- another fad, except for the real gluten allergic people. It’s fresh fresh veggies we need. Tons of them. Rustic Roots is doing an awesome job with their new greenhouse. Kudos to them. We brought more chicken eggs this week, as well as our duck eggs. I bring my dried herbal tisanes now for winter use. We make money ( a little bit ahem) on baked goods but they do draw people in and bread- a bit of that enticement too- our fresh jams and jellies we grow the berries and fruits naturally. Our honey bees pollinate the fruit and give us honey with which we bake. – Farmers Markets are building up a social structure- which you say you miss, dear Bob. So – I say, we need a few chairs under our tents for people to sit and talk, mingle and share ideas like an old fashioned country store- Maybe this kind of thing is needed as well as proteins, veggies, etc.
Just sayin’.
Margaret ( Meg) Collinson
Hi Bob,
I miss seeing you at your turkey farm and our very “deep” conversations on politics, sports and education. Looks like retired life with you and the Mrs. is well deserved.