That's a wrap!
The 2024 Market season was bigger than ever.
We added new market locations this summer and made it through the new Holiday Market pilot with the Mount Vernon Farmer's Market team. Located at the former Siemens site, now called Heartland Commerce Park, we held indoor farmers markets continuing our local
Saturday fare through November and December to give vendors a chance to continue selling fresh local foods and you a chance to easily purchase from local growers. The Holiday Market also added many local artisans selling everything from locally handmade artwork to jewelry.
The market took place indoors (a with restroom facilities!) courtesy of Habitat for Humanity, who lent their Community Room space to the market.
HUGE THANKS TO HABITAT'S BOARD & TEAM!
Weekly features at the market included free popcorn, hot cider, and cocoa for everyone! There was also live music, and one really jamming square dance one Saturday - that day we did our best Holiday sales, rivaling an average summer market sales day, and demonstrating that a local winter market is definitely supported by the community!
Even still, the Farmer's Market crew wants to hear from you directly as they evaluate how the Holiday Market went and what you might like to see in the future should we continue the market extension next year!
Be sure to let them know what you think!
AND JUST BECAUSE THE FARMERS MARKETS ARE OFF-SEASON, DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T PURCHASE FROM US YEAR-ROUND!
You can always find our merchandise through our online shop anytime!
Delivery and FREE Pick-up options are locally available to the Mount Vernon area.
Same for produce & breads!
Thanks to our membership to the Woodward Kitchen, we can sell retail directly to customers and wholesale to restaurants and businesses ALL YEAR ROUND!
When you head over to our shop:
You can sign up for weekly emails that let you know what we have on hand. During market season this allows you to purchase day-after market seconds at great prices and on your schedule! Free pickup in downtown Mount Vernon or at our site. You choose! Delivery to local address for a small fee also available.
This started as a pilot program this summer and worked great!
You can also see what we have on hand anytime through our square shop for produce and breads:
During the market off-season, this online shop allows us to sell to you by order. We will have breads and some produce available coming our our Test Kitchen & Gardens and for purchase (taste testers wanted!), BUT individuals and businesses can also order through this site!
(or continue using the old fashioned way, where you just text/email/holler at us!).
We had a lot of questions during the Markets about whether we could keep selling and so we figured it out this year!
This also allows for anyone out there with coupons from raffles and special events to be able to extend their use.
ALL EXPIRATION DATES WILL BE WAIVED THROUGH APRIL 2025.
Thank you to volunteers who helped so generously with the markets this year.
If you were one of our many dedicates, WATCH YOUR EMAIL for a little show of appreciation from us! We will be sending a special something for you to the email address you used to sign up for volunteering.
And speaking of volunteering...the fun does not stop for the seasons!
Even through the winter months we have projects cooking and brewing:
Compost: collection from business partners, learning to compost for yourself, or developing a routine of dropping of your food waste at our piles - all ways you can help support local resource management and local gardeners!
We also have a data collection project on two different growing sites, monitoring the temperature of our piles. Volunteers can come & go anytime of day to take and record the data. Visit our website, check out our volunteer page and submit your volunteer interest - we will email you with more info and get you started!
or email CommunityRootsVISTA@gmail.com directly for more info!
Seed Library: Coming Back in January! You can help sort donated seeds into free packets available for free to local library patron gardeners!
More info to come, subscribe to our newsletter and/or blog to stay most up to date!
Gardening: we are working on producing a hoophouse-full of yummy greens for the
upcoming Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association 46th annual conference in February (https://conference.oeffa.org)! It's the regions premier sustainable food and farm conference!
Stay tuned to our social media and Signup calendars to follow that project and help us grow all winter long!
So much coming up in 2025 and so many ways to find you outlet for gardening & growing all things community!
We're so happy to help you find a project that works for you at a pace that works for you!
And lots of ways you can stay in touch & updated to jump in & out as you like.
Welcome 2025
The days are getting longer, and the excitement is growing stronger!
Peace, Love, and Gardening,
The Roots Gang
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