This winter, Pinwheel Farm is at the Cottin’s Hardware Indoor Farmer’s Market (Thursdays, 4-6 p.m.), selling mutton and natural-dyed wool/silk products.
We are also at the Brookside Farmer’s Market every other Saturday from 9 to noon, with natural dyed fiber products only (no meat). If you haven’t been here before…it’s easy to get to, there is plenty of parking, and you can find an abundance of amazing organically grown produce and meat, plus local crafts from local materials.
The Kaw Valley Seed Fair (Feb. 10 from 9 to 3 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds) is always one of our favorite events! We’ll have natural dyed fiber products for sale, as well as mutton. In addition to a great assortment of gardening-related vendors, there are many family-friendly educational activities and, of course, the free seed exchange.
We’ll skip the last indoor Brookside Market to attend the annual Kansas City Food Circle Expo from 10 to 3 on March 31, 2018, at Johnson County Community College.
Starting April 14, visit the Pinwheel Farm booth at the Downtown Lawrence Farmer’s Market! Look for the green table cloths and white canopy near the north end of the east side of the west lane of the east lot. We’re here just about every Saturday morning from Opening Day (usually the second Saturday in April) until the weekend before Closing Day (usually the last Saturday before Thanksgiving).
MOVING FORWARD
Personal tragedies have taken several long-time volunteers away from Pinwheel Farm’s Farmer’s Market booth in the last few years. We miss them terribly because they were good friends whom we enjoyed spending time with each week. But we also miss their reliable help to operate the booth. Would you like to volunteer at the Pinwheel Farm booth on a weekly basis? Volunteers have typically earned a “market breakfast”, free produce from the booth, and discounts on meat and wool products.
Also, Pinwheel Farm has the potential to host a small neighborhood farmer’s market or on-farm retail store at the farm. It’s an ideal location–the adjacent North Lawrence neighborhood is classed as a “food desert” due to lack of a near-by grocery store. It’s accessible by bus or bicycle, and on foot. Many neighbors grow their own vegetables and eggs, but many don’t. A small, festive market could be a fun addition to our eclectic community, and provide a social gathering place.
Some form of on-farm retail area will be essential if/when Pinwheel resumes dairying, since Kansas law only allows raw milk to be sold at the farm where it is produced. Dairying would bring a lot of customers to a farm store, as it has in the past.
However, one person just can’t do it all. Would you like to organize and manage a farm store or farmer’s market at Pinwheel?
