Yes, spring has sprung and greens are starting to show up at the market.  Tomorrow is the last “winter” market, from 9 a.m. to 1 pm.  Beginning next Sunday, May 5, we’ll transition to the summer market.  What does that mean?  More vendors.  New hours (8-12).  And a new configuration.  As with last summer, N. McKinley Street will close except for traffic filtering into the Westover parking lot (for shoppers at local stores).  The market will occupy part of the street, as well as the plaza in front of the library.  More announcements about the summer market to follow next week.  In the meantime, come celebrate the end of winter tomorrow from 9 – 1 pm.

Bison and free-range hogs in Arlington! This Sunday Cibola Farms of Culpeper, Virginia will begin selling its bison meat and free-range pork at the Westover Farmers Market. A large variety of all cuts of buffalo and pork will be available, including gourmet sausages such as Bourbon Fennel and its very popular Cranberry Wine buffalo sausages. A selection of jerky, trail sticks and summer sausage is also available. Customers will often find eggs and seasonal specialty items such as grass-range chicken and turkey available. Please come give Cibola Farms a warm Westover welcome this Sunday morning!

Spring may not be sprung, but Spring Valley is stirring.  We welcome this weekend Spring Valley Farm and Orchard from Augusta WV.  Their produce is lovingly fed from cool mountain springs and farmed by sustainable practices.  They have 9 greenhouses on site and produce crops year round – come check out the selection this Sunday!

Intrepid visitors to the market last Sunday will have noticed a new vendor on the plaza: Shells Yes! Crab Cake Company.  Based in Chester, MD, Shells Yes! offers a range of fresh, local Chesapeake cuisine, their speciality being Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes. You’ll also find Maryland Crab Dip, Maryland Crab Soup, Crab Chowder, and Crab & Corn Hummus.  With Snowpocalypse III the Snowquester come and gone, and good weather on the way (partly sunny, 59F), come down to WFM this Sunday to say “hi” to the crab folks and all your other favorite vendors.

The days are getting longer. Though some wintery weather is still hanging around, activity is increasing at the market. Several vendors have been added since our winter market began in December. Gotta Have Chocolate became our new chocolatier just in time for the holidays. Grace’s Pastries joined the market a week or two later, bringing a new assortment of sweet and savory breads, tarts and pastries. GrohNola, LLC began selling at the Westover Farmers Market in late January. Sam Groh sells four different types of granola: Original, Blueberry, Sour Cherry & Chocolate, along with specialty GrohNola flavors. He uses all natural ingredients, a tiny bit of sugar and no preservatives or additives. The next two Sundays we will be hosting a guest doughnut vendor offering a new assortment of freshly prepared doughnut bites. Mac’s Doughnuts is scheduled to return to the market the beginning of March. And several of last year’s summer vendors providing fresh vegetables and other products tell us they should be back at the market soon with new produce. So come check out the market again, and look for signs of the coming spring!

Bundle yourself into flip flops and a t-shirt and come on down this Sunday, January 13, to the first market of 2013.  Hang out in Westover for the morning, visit with our vendors, trade recipes, grab a coffee at Toby’s, eat al fresco at Lebanese Taverna, whatever.  BBQing this weekend?  Even better.  Who knows how much longer this kind of “winter” will last, so enjoy it while it does.

In the holiday spirit?  If not, what better to put you in the mood than this “12 Days of Westover Farmers Market” video, courtesy of area photographer-extraordinaire Nadya Lutz and carolers Anna Trainum and Mikayla Lutz.

Come on down this Sunday from 9-1 for the last market of 2012 to stock up on goodies, staples, gifts or stocking stuffers.  After a short hiatus, the market will resume on January 13.

The Arlington County Board gave approval Tuesday evening to expansion of the Westover Farmers Market to a year-round Sunday-morning market. The board also endorsed the license agreement negotiated between the market manager, Field to Table, Inc., and the Arlington County Public Schools to permit vendors on the plaza area in front of the Westover library and Reed School. A big thank you to all of you who wrote to the Board in support of the market and the opportunity to continue to buy locally-grown and made food from our excellent vendors.

The winter market begins this coming Sunday. The hours of the winter market will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from December through April. In May the summer market will resume, and its hours will switch back to the 8 a.m. to 12 noon time period that the market has been open up till now. This one hour time shifts in the spring and fall help insure cooler shopping during the summer months and warmer shopping in the winter. The market will take a three-week break for the end-of-year holidays. The last market day before Christmas is December 16th. The market will resume on Sunday, January 13th. During the winter market months N. McKinley Road will be fully open during market hours.

Current vendors who have indicated they will participate in the winter market are:

–Allie & Trish Sweets (home-made chocolates)
–Atwater’s Breads
–Baguette Republic
–Bigg Riggs Farm
–Black Rock Orchard
–Borekg (baked Turkish goods)
–Chef Eloy’s Kickin’ Salsa
–Gypsy Hill Foods (soup mixes, rubs, and seasonings)
–Mac’s Doughnuts
–Number One Sons (all things sour)
–Ole Pioneer’s Kitchen (sausage, bacon, pasta)
–Smith Family Farm (hormone-free beef, poultry, eggs)
–The Mushroom Stand

Additional vendors may join the market in the early spring prior to its switch over to the summer market mode in May.

Dear Friends and Patrons of Westover Farmers Market,

Today was our penultimate summer market; it hardly seems possible that time could pass so quickly. We eagerly hope to bring you a winter market to pick up where the summer market is leaving off. Pending approval from the Arlington County Board (which will decide the matter on November 27th), the winter market would begin December 2nd. If approved, the market would take place Sundays 9:00-1:00 and run from December-April (with a break from December 16th-January 13th for the holidays).

If you have a moment, please consider writing the Arlington Country Board prior to November 27th. Any discussion of WFM’s importance to you/your family or its impact on the surrounding neighborhoods would be genuinely appreciated. Comments can either be emailed to [email protected] or sent by regular mail to County Board, Suite 300, 2100 Clarendon Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201.

Thank you for your continued patronage and support – we (and our vendors) hope to continue seeing you throughout the winter season!

Sincerely, WFM

Allie & Trish Sweets, a Northern Virginia-based chocolatier, will offer chocolate treats at our market beginning tomorrow. The vendor creates unique sweets, often inspired by their South American roots. The signature confection is a brigadeiro (bree-gah-day-ro), a Brazilian treat that is similar to the American chocolate bon bon. So when you are buying your fall vegetables and crisp apples and picking up a fresh loaf of bread, check out the chocolates as well. Please give Allie & Trish Sweets a warm Westover welcome!