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):

Two special events will take place on the plaza area of the Westover Farmers Market this coming Sunday. Capitol Kettle Corn will arrive as a new market vendor, providing several varieties of popcorn for those who love a good salty/sweet treat. Nearby, in front of the Westover Library entrance, the Westover librarian (Shari Henry) along with the librarian from the Aurora Hills branch library (Sarah Daviau) will highlight special library initiatives. One  is Lit Up, a new effort to create  outreach opportunities for “metro renters” (often people in their 20s and 30s) to increase their use of the library. The librarians will be on hand with Lit Up coasters and more information. They will also have available gardening and nutrition books for market customers to check out. For those of you who haven’t joined the library yet, they will also have on-site registration library cards. Popcorn and a few good books to read: doesn’t get much better.  See you Sunday.

Need some adventure to spice up your August?  We need a few volunteers this weekend to spread the good word about Westover Farmers Market and to help run this Sunday’s raffle.  If you can spare a few hours, please contact us at [email protected].

Jill, one of our regular market patrons, shared an interesting idea worth passing on: Farm to Party.  Jill writes:

For my birthday I’ve invited friends to celebrate with me at what I’m calling Farm to Party. I will be sourcing the food and drinks locally. Many items will be coming from vendors at the Westover Farmers Market. This party is a way to let my friends know how important I believe it is to eat fresh local natural foods. We’ll have a great time because the food will be fresh and delicious and I’ll have the evening to talk about how much I’ve enjoyed planning the party, in part from getting to know many of the farmers and vendors better. I see this party having a positive impact on my friends, the market vendors, and more. I’m not only educating my friends and supporting my community, I’m also raising funds for a good cause.

In lieu of birthday gifts, my guests can make a donation to the Farmer-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. The FTCLDF (http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/) protects the rights of the nation’s family farms, artisan food producers, consumers and affiliate communities to engage in direct commerce free of interference from federal, state and local government. It protects the rights of farmers and artisan producers to make their products available and the rights of consumers to access the foods of their choice from the source of their choice. I’m excited about my Farm to Party event and the positive impact it will have on others. Everyone should do what they can to support the local farming community and the farmers markets they depend upon.

Thanks Jill!

Have ideas about other ways to tie the farmers market to a party or other event you’re throwing?  Feel free to drop us a line to share your thoughts.