Farmers Market....big disappointment....

Thump went the newspaper against the door. Ding went the email. Ring went the phone. All very early this Sunday morning. "This can't be good", I thought to myself as I got out of bed and padded to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and to answer the phone. "Have you heard?" asked a frantic voice on the line. "Heard what?" I asked slurping down the coffee. "The Chattanooga Market is not going to open in April". I almost dropped my cup. No, it cannot be. I immediately went for my email and sure enough our market manager was calling it quits and as usual sent the announcement via email to all 100 vendors. The reason? Money....the market was not turning a good sustainable profit by its sixth year and the money was running out. It is understandable that money is needed to run such a large weekly event such as the Chattanooga Market. 2007 was the most profitable year with attendance averaging 3,000 people each week. Here's the rub, though....those 3,000 people did not all support those vendors that were there in the frigid and hellish hot temps. Many people may "visit" the market to enjoy the chefs events, the music, walk around and visit with friends, but did they always buy their bread, plants, tomatoes, berries, potatoes, veggies and so on there? No, they didn't. We often heard people walk by our display of soap, plants and bath brews or our neighbor's delicious gourmet cookies, or our other neighbor's bright red tomatoes and say "hey, honey, we need to stop at the grocery store on the way home for bread, soap, salad stuff...." Just when I thought maybe I was the last one to get on the local food train I find out that I am no where near the end of the line. Many, many, many people in this town are not getting it. And now the one best source for local foods all in one area will be gone.

Well, maybe not gone. Remember I said in the opening paragraph how the phone began to ring? Well, it has rang most of the day with vendors calling to question, share experiences and bond together. Calls will be going out at the open of the business day to the local powers that be trying to see if something can be salvaged of the market. Time will tell if the campaign will be successful or not. And if it is you can be sure you'll hear about it here.

For now we'll continue as we have to grow our plants for our wholesale accounts and make a plan on how to handle the retail end. The local Chattanooga area can find our plants at The Barn Nursery and Ace Hardware Highway 58 this spring. You will find me starting a vegetable garden this year. Bigger than originally planned since I will grow everything the family needs for summer canning to enjoy next winter. The fantastic breads that we brought home from the market can still be bought locally or we'll learn how to make them ourselves. But, it's those cookies that Jean makes that I will miss the most. Missed will be the friendships and the energy of the space we were in, but, oh those cookies......