This week’s Savvy Market Shopper photo was sent in by Bill Fenske who bought these canned tomatoes at Jen Ehr.  He has a double reward: tomatoes for the pantry and a market gift certificate for sharing the photo.  You’ve still got time to earn your own reward: send your photo, a poem, a crayon drawing [...]

“By all these lovely tokens,September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather, and autumn’s best of cheer.”
-   Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885
Autumn’s best of cheer is available everywhere in the market.  Country Bloomers has these gorgeous chrysanthemums and flowering kale to renew your summer containers or start new ones for fall.   Add [...]

This week’s market photo was sent in by Jenny Chipault, who writes: “…we woke up at 6:45 AM on Saturday to get to market.  Goal: Green’s cider!  We secured our gallon of cider and also picked up lots of other fruit - ground cherries from Blue Moon Community Farm, two kinds of apples from Green’s Pleasant [...]

Last week, we featured the photo that Savvy Shopper Julie sent of her market cornucopia and offered a market gift certificate to encourage other local foodies to share the bounty.  Here is a portion of Cheryl B’s shopping–she went back for more.  The tomatoes are scratch ‘n dent, she says, but they look pretty tasty.  [...]

Gather ye sunflowers while ye may….I’m not going any further with that thought.  You know where it leads.  For now, warmer weather returns next week and these happy sunflower faces are pollenless, no shedding.  September icons during the pause that is not summer, nor yet autumn, they remind you that there is still time to [...]

August leaves us with a hot and sweaty hug just the way my Great Aunt Ugly used to say goodbye when I was too dutiful a kid to hide from her. Aunt Ugly resembled a female version of Quasimodo (Google the reference kids) but hadn’t his endearing qualities, so her visits were an ordeal.  Now [...]

This is how we began the Market last week…with a steady rain much appreciated by gardeners and early shoppers .   The earliest shoppers don’t mind a warm rain; their hardiness is rewarded by first choice of the best products off the  truck and easy conversation with the vendors.  After a morning that began moist and [...]

I wrote the words, “The Best of Summer” and then nearly took them back because I could say that of the market every week.  But at this point in August, while the stores are ready to sell you autumn at the cost of ending your summer, the market cornucopia begins to overflow.
Driftless Organics returns to [...]

After you’ve shopped the market on a still and sultry August morning,  reward yourself with a picnic in the soft shade under the Norway maples at the west end of the market. Or leave a reluctant  shopper with a  relaxing  cup of coffee–the WCM vendors offer coffee at no charge in the Information Tent– and [...]

They make it look easy….the farmers, bakers, cheesemakers, the gatherers of honey, fruit, flowers and mushrooms, the vendors, these alchemists in workboots and blue jeans stand between a truck and a table heavy with sunshine made food…smile and talk about the weather: sure is hot;  bad for machines, people and chickens; no rain, or a [...]