By Jessica Isaacs
Do you love to cook with and enjoy fresh local foods? If so, you’re in luck this winter season! Colder weather may be setting in here in the High Country, but there’s a new farmers’ market in town that will keep your kitchen stocked with local products through the next five months.
The inaugural Boone Winter Farmers’ Market will take place the first and third Saturday of each month through April at the N.C. Agricultural Extension Conference Center, 252 Poplar Grove Road in Boone.
The winter market will be hosted by PHARMN, a local nonprofit that aims to “Preserve Heritage, Agriculture and Regional Markets Now.”
PHARMN brings the Kids’ Corner to the Watauga County Farmers’ Market that takes place in the summer months.
“One of the things we do at the Kids’ Corner is to help expose and teach children about healthy foods and good nutrition,” said Susan Miller, a PHARMN board member.
The PHARMN board of directors has been working diligently for the past two years to establish a new market for the winter months. It will debut on Saturday, Dec. 5 and will be a great way to start the morning before you head to downtown Boone for the town’s annual Christmas parade.
The winter market will feature local meat products like beef, lamb, pork, poultry, and artisanal sausages, as well as root vegetables and storage crops like winter squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, radishes, and hardy greens like kale and collards.
European style artisanal breads from Owl Creek and classic favorites from Joan’s sourdough breads will be available, too, as well as jams and jellies, hand-knotted jewelry, pottery, photography, and so much more.
Enjoy coffee, breakfast foods, and live music as you stroll through Boone’s Winter Market this year and keep your pantry stocked with fresh local products.
“It has become a nationwide movement to have local fresh foods available all year round,” Miller said. “We have seen enthusiasm from summer market customers and from local vendors who can use a winter market as an additional source of income. That combination really pushed us forward.”
Boone’s Winter Farmers’ Market will be held on the following dates:
- Dec. 5, 19
- Jan. 2, 16
- Feb. 6, 20
- March 5, 19
- April 2, 16
For more information, call 828-773-3677 or visit www.PHARMN.org.