Farmers Market Update, News Articles, Photos and Video

To all my readers and friends, it has been a very busy spring and summer. So busy that I have had to take the past several months off from blogging and my newsletter. I can't believe that it is already September. I will do my best to catch you up!

2010 can be considered my year of the farmers market! In February 2010, I joined with a group of people in my hometown of Longview, Texas to form the Historic Longview Farmers Market. The first three months were spent developing the board, the board bylaws, the market application and rules and regulations as well as the logo and the website. 

Because bringing fresh, local, sustainable food to my hometown community is so very important to me, I took the lead on researching area farmers, contacting them and acquiring them for the market. In just two months we grew from five vendors to 20 vendors that rotate in and out of the market. This is remarkable since these farmers are not wholesalers but are all high quality small independent farmers who truly love to farm and are conscious of how they are growing their crops and making their products.

On Saturday, May 15, 2010, the market opened with a sell out success! Joycelyne Fadojutimi of the East Texas Review and Bob Hallmark of KLTV Channel 7 News both attended to report on the market opening. I would like to thank both of these reporters for doing such a great job of covering the story. To read the East Texas Review article "Eating, Living Well," online click here or download the newspaper pdfs page 1 and page 2. Watch the video of Bob Hallmark's story below.

"Historic Farmers Market Opens in Longview"
Bob Hallmark KLTV Channel 7 News (Tyler/Longview/Jacksonville)

If you would like the opportunity to read the story transcript while watching the video, please click here to view the story on KLTV's website.

Throughout the season, additional articles have been written on the market by the East Texas Review as well as the Longview News-Journal in order to keep the community updated on the status of the market. Please see my newsroom to read the additional articles, click here. We are so grateful to our local media for their support.

As the Vice President of the Board for the Historic Longview Farmers Market, I have also been responsible for the scheduling, training and coordination of the market managers and volunteers along with managing the vendor schedule of attendance each week. On most of the days the market has been open, I have been getting up at 5:00 AM to go and help setup the market. I have also been organizing the board meetings, managing the Historic Longview Farmers Market Facebook Page and photography.

One aspect that I really enjoyed this year was farm inspections. It was interesting visiting with individual farmers to view their crops and learn all about their methods of farming. I have had the opportunity to visit with some really wonderful area farmers on their beautiful farms and it has inspired me to get back to gardening again. I have started with some herbs and arugula. Since I have very little time for gardening, I have selected plants that I am hoping will not require a lot of care. I hope one day to have a beautiful farm with an organic garden and also a great apartment in Manhattan.

As you can imagine, the market has been a lot of work in addition to running my business, working with clients and time spent helping care for my family. I have not had much time to write articles, newsletters and recipes. 

Despite East Texas having very extreme weather, the Historic Longview Farmers Market has done very well and we are all very proud of what was accomplished this year.  It snowed late in March causing a delay in planting for the spring, and this summer East Texas has had very little rain with many consecutive days of extreme triple digit heat preventing popular farmers market items like tomatoes from producing.

The market is scheduled to remain open each Saturday from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM through December 2010 but this plan will depend on mother nature.

Here is a preview of what is coming to the market: figs, flowers, herb plants, micro greens and salad greens, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, melons, peas and peppers throughout the summer. This fall cabbage & Chinese cabbage, broccoli, bunching onions, sugar snap peas, spinach, collards, turnips, salad mixes, parsley & cilantro, bok-choy, tomatoes, cutting celery, catnip, salad burnet, lavender, shiso and arugula along with a fresh new crop of all the other standard herbs, acorn squash, butternut squash, decorative field corn, gourds, pumpkins and more!

I have taken a lot of great photos of the market this year. You can see many of them in the Farmers Market Gallery, click here.

We appreciate all of the wonderful people and community volunteers who have been coming out each week to support us. If you are in the East Texas area and have not visited the market, please stop by and see us! For more information visit www.historiclongviewfarmersmarket.com.

Lowell Tanksley, Farmer and Owner of Tanksley Farms and President Historic Longview Farmers Market with his spring vegetables on opening day!

If you would like to create a more vibrant and healthy life and need personal support and assistance to help you get started, please contact me today! I can help you 866-330-5421. Services are provided nationally via telephone sessions. In person sessions are currently available for those living in the East Texas area!

Thank you very much for reading my blog and please continue to visit often.

I wish you good health, happiness and love!

Danielle

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