Ok, so its a little bit arctic, but that shouldn’t stop you, oh intrepid patrons of the Westover Farmers Market, from joining us for the first market of 2014.  We have plenty of options to keep you warm.  Need some honey to go in your warm winter tea?  Tomorrow we welcome for the first time Bees ‘n Blossoms, who will be offering some excellent wild honey collected by their herd of bees in the fruit orchards and berry patches around Virginia.  Or perhaps some piping hot Peruvian-style fried chicken from Rub ‘n Roost?  Just two of our favorites sure to warm hearts and tummies on a cold January Sunday.  See you at the market!

Friends of WFM: we wish you happy and healthy holidays and a 2014 of bounty and prosper.  After a break for the holidays on December 29th, the WFM will return per usual winter hours on January 5th.  See you in the new year!

Tomorrow’s forecast of “wintry mix” is sufficiently ominous that we’ve decided to cancel the market for the day.  We plan to be back the following Sunday, December 15.

With Thanksgiving behind us, it is not too early to begin planning for your Christmas feast.  Black Friday?  Cyber Monday?  No, what you really need is “Eat Local” Sunday.  And what better place than the Westover Farmers Market.  This Sunday, December 1, marks the shift to winter hours for the market – vendors will be vending from 9 am to 1 pm instead of the summer hours from 8 am to noon.

The market managers will have over 20 vendors in the winter market offering seasonal fruits and vegetables; breads and pastries; chocolate; eggs; meats such as beef (both grass fed and grain finished), chicken, bison and pork; and several types of ready-made foods from a variety of culinary traditions. The vendors will be up on the plaza and down on the sidewalk in front of the Westover Library and Reed School. N. McKinley Rd. will not be closed to through traffic during the winter market months (Dec. – April). The market will be closed for the holidays on Sunday, December 29th.

This Sunday, the Westover Farmers Market will again host a raffle for customers of baskets of items donated by our excellent vendors.  How do you partake, you ask?  Simple.  Purchase $5 or more worth of items at any vendor and you will receive a ticket.  Write your name on the ticket and deposit it in the ticket jar at the WFM tent, located in the middle of the market.  We’ll hold drawings on the hour beginning at 9 am and announce the winners in person, as well as on twitter and Facebook.  Visit more vendors, get more tickets, increase your chances of winning.

See you at the market!

Looking for a scrumptious, locally-raised turkey as the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving feast?  Look no further than our friends at Cibola Farms, who have some grass-raised, hormone-free birds ready for you.  Inquire at their tent on Sunday, or order online.  Gobble gobble.

If you’re looking to maintain your Halloween sugar high, look no further than Westover Farmers Market this Sunday.  Three new vendors have joined to offer variations on sweet, guaranteed to warm your tummy with the weather turning chilly.  Bees ‘n Blossoms will be offering hand-crafted honeys and related items. Cafe Delice sells French and American pastries.  And Papillon Chocolate Studio purveys fine chocolates with spices from around the world.  See you at the market!

We’re taught that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But lemons do not grow within 125 miles of Arlington, except perhaps within the halls of Congress. So local fruit growers who sell at the Westover Farmers Market have agreed to donate apples to federal workers living in the area. “In some parts of the country there seems to be little respect for federal employees,” notes Rob Swennes, WFM’s market manager. “But here, near the center of U.S. government, we know better and have great respect for our friends and neighbors who work for Uncle Sam.”

This Sunday, Oct. 6 farmers market volunteers will hand out apples to anyone (essential or not) who shows their federal I.D. or a federal agency business card. “It’s part of American lore that school kids will bring an apple to a favorite teacher,” said Lisa DiConsiglio, a regular market volunteer. “At this time, when so many civil servants are being forced to stay home without pay, or to work with no pay, we want to stand up and acknowledge the many ways these people keep our country running.”  Our local farmers, who operate as small businesses, are also affected by the shutdown as they rely heavily on the regular traffic of government employees and restaurants orders.

So, if you are a federal worker, stop by this Sunday at the WFM booth for your free apples. You deserve it!

No, not the green fruit, rather the good folks from New Zealand.  This Sunday we welcome Kiwi Kuisine to the WFM.  They will be offering their finest and most delicious, flakiest, moist-in-the-center and heartiest meat pies around.  With the Yorktown HS marching band for accompaniment (starting at 10), come on down and enjoy the market on a lovely late summer morning.

Come down this Sunday to check out the latest vendor addition to the Westover Farmers Market – Postmodern Foods.  They offer health-supportive, plant-based organic food and drinks.  Yum!

And if you haven’t been down the market lately, here’s what you’ve been missing (courtesy of Nadya Lutz):