Did you know that the Berwick Farmers’ Market is a non profit organization that is run by volunteers? That’s right! Local community neighbors come together and pull it all off!

Did you know that volunteering can provide a healthy boost to your self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. You are doing good for others and the community, which provides a natural sense of accomplishment. Volunteering can help you make friends, learn new skills, advance your career, and even feel happier and healthier!

We’re looking for some additional volunteers. Check out our Work With Us Page to see how you can help!

We are thrilled to announce that Chef Evan Hennessey from Stages at One Washington in Dover will be doing a live cooking demonstration at the Farmers’ Market on March 20th at 11am. Chef Hennessey will use produce from the market to demonstrate how to create something seasonal and tasty. After the demo free samples will be available along with the recipe.

At his restaurant Chef Hennessey uses local ingredients wherever he can and has partnerships with many local farms, including some of our vendors (Flying Goat Farm, for instance). He also supports local food by giving talks at schools, conferences, and farmers’ markets.

Chef Hennessey graduated from Le Cordon Bleu at the Atlantic Culinary Academy in 2001. Since then he has worked alongside some of the best chefs in the country as well as working as executive chef at three restaurants in Portsmouth before founding Stages at One Washington 4 years ago. In 2014 he won two awards: he was a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award in the category of Best Chef New England, and he was the StarChefs.com Rising Star Chef Winner for Coastal New England.

Join us for this unique opportunity to see a master chef in action, and to learn how to make something extraordinarily tasty from simple, local ingredients.

We’ve gotten to that point in the winter where all of the apples I had wrapped individually in newspaper have been eaten or have gone rotten. The squashes in the attic are gone too, and only the dregs of the sage I dried in the fall remain. Local farm stands are closed for the winter and I have to resort to scanning the grocery store produce department labels until I find apples from Maine. Sometimes eating local takes extra work. But this weekend it will be easy to eat local, because there’s the Winter Farmers’ Market! I am so thankful for the farmers who keep growing and storing vegetables to bring to this market. It’s time for me to stock up!

Besides all of the local food, there’s another reason to come along to the market on Sunday – a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Black Trumpet Bistro. We will give away free raffle tickets to the first 100 visitors to the market. After the tickets are gone we will draw a ticket and one lucky person will take home the gift certificate.

See you at the market!

 
At the December 20th Farmers’ Market we will be collecting fresh food donations for House of Hope, a food pantry and soup kitchen in Berwick. House of Hope runs a free community restaurant three nights a week. They served over 15,000 people in 2014 and estimate that they will have served over 16,000 people (3,000 of those were children) by the end of this year. They are doing amazing work at getting food to people in our community who need it. 

Here is how you can help too: When you come to the market by an extra onion, bunch of carrots, potatoes, lettuce or any other fresh food you like and put it in the donation box at the top of the stairs. All of the food will then be taken to House of Hope to be used either in their free community restaurant, or to be given out as part of their food pantry support to local people. 

This holiday season, I hope you will join us in spreading the joy of the season by sharing some fresh local food with our neighbors. 

We are thrilled to announce the following vendors for this season:

• Annette’s Gardens – Rivards Farm: jams and jellies, vegetables, eggs
• Beedandy: pure & natural products for body, bath, and home
• Berry Best Farm: jams from their fruit, baked goods, raw honey, tote bags from recycled animal feed bags
• Buddha’s Burning Buns: Granola, cookies, bars and other baked goods, recycled cork trivets
• Cricket Corner Soapworks/Vintage Garden Jellies: herbal and goat milk soaps, skin care products, herbal teas, herbal & wine jams, jellies, pickles, preserves, relishes, baked goods
• Flying Goat Farm: goat cheese, chevre, feta, hard cheese, select cuts of goat meat and pork
• Frelsi Farm Icelandics: grass fed Icelandic lam, pasture raised whole chickens, eggs, Icelandic wool yarn
• Hickory Nut Farm: cave aged goat milk cheese, yogoatgurt, goat milk fudge and waddles, goat milk soap
• Chef’s Cove: pies, quick breads, pastries, cookies, brownies, coffee
• Karimah’s Kitchen Lebanese Cuisine: Lebanese/Middle Eastern food, hummus, tabouleh, falafel, grape leaves, pita breads, and pastries.
• Late Light Farm: seasonal vegetables and herbs, dreamcatchers, handmade hemp jewelry, sheepskins, handmade wooden toys
• Leaven: bread
• Maine Herb Farm: chicken and duck eggs, garlic, specialty potatoes, root vegetables, herbal products
• Maine Saltwater Creations: gluten-free foods, seafood cakes, soup, chowder, small casseroles, fresh haddock (when available)
• Our Farm: Grass-fed beef, pork (heritage breeds & pasture raised), chicken and duck eggs, organic mushrooms, baked goods
• Pies, Pickles, and Potions: unscented lotions and creams, fruit pies, frosted cakes, whoopie pies, cookies, bars, pickles, and jams
• Riverside Farm: vegetables, apple cider and potato donuts, relishes, fruit spreads, honey brussels sprouts, dry beans
• Shady Mountain Farm: maple syrup; honey; chaga mushroom tea and tincture, and salve; herbal tinctures and salves; foraged mushrooms; wild nuts; wooden bird houses & boot jacks; African market baskets
• Shagbark Farm: organic vegetables, root vegetables, greens, squashes, leeks and shallots
• Silvery Moon Creamery: cows’ milk cheese and yogurt, wooden cheese boards, wooden gift boxes
• Spiritwind Farm: eggs, goat milk soaps, moisturizer, and lip balms
• The Soup Guy: gluten-free, vegan soups
• Top of the Hill Farm: beef, pork, lamb, whole chicken, maple syrup, apples, winter squash, eggs
• Two Toad Farm: vegetables, herbs, fruits, eggs

Please help us spread the word about the Berwick Winter Farmers’ Market! Put up a flyer at your place of work, favorite coffee shop, church, toddler group, school, etc. You can download the flyer here: Flyer 2015-16 Season

Thanks for your help! See you at the market!

This season we are grateful to have received the generous support of 11 local companies. Their donations mean that the market days will have live music, kids’ activities, and seasonal recipes. Moreover, their  contributions help to ensure the future security of the market.

Please support these local businesses as they are supporting our local food system!

Our season sponsors are:

• York Hospital
• Salmon Falls Nursery & Landscaping
• Kennebunk Savings Bank
• Brown Industrial Group

Our market day sponsors are:

• Mayo’s Restaurant
• One Sullivan
• Hall Brothers
• Salmon Falls Garden Center
• Boulanger Paving
• American Legion Post #79
• Spence & Mathews
• Guy and Sons Construction

Thank you all!

Not just a fat pig, but vegetables, meats, cheeses, jams, pickles, bread, pie, cakes, soap and many more products! At our January 17th market we will have over 24 vendors, so come down to the Berwick Town Hall between 10am and 1:30pm to stock up on fresh local food.

There will be live music by Meg Josalen.

Kids can join in a free craft project to take home.

When I picked up the latest batch of vendor applications from the Town Hall yesterday, I also popped up stairs to look at the market hall. The shiny polished floor and huge windows all seem so big without anyone there. But I could imagine what it will be like on market day: stands full of winter squash, root vegetables, pies, pickles, and meat with people in winter coats milling around. I am so excited! We have so much fun lined up for these markets – wonderful food vendors,  live music, kids activities – I am really looking forward to seeing people come out for good food and good fun.

If you also love good food and have some time to give please consider helping out. We have two ways for you to help out the farmers’ market.

First, join the farmers’ market committee! If you live in Berwick and want to join, get in touch!

Second, we would love to have some helpers around to unload and load with the vendors. Any teenagers who want to help are more than welcome to as well (they can get community service hours for doing it too!). We need helpers from 8-10am and from 1:30-3:00pm on market Sundays-the third Sunday of the month. Get in touch if you can help!

Enjoy the fall! See you at the Winter Farmers’ Markets!