Goodbye Summer

And hello autumn. Pumpkin spice and flannel weather is here…almost. The Han Solo look-alikes have yet to show up to market in their tall boots, leggings, and vests over chunky sweaters.

We welcomed autumn this year with the cold air bumping up against the last of seasonal warmth, their rumble apparent with thunder, lightning, and rain. Maybe it was the threat of precipitation, or it could have been lower temperatures, but it was obvious that shoppers’ weekly habits changed with the season.

Gone were the race walking patrons for figs and muscadines as their season has passed, in some cases so much that the vendors themselves are gone for the season. Did you catch those paw paws? Unlike many fruits, their season only lasts weeks, not months. The usual die-hard first shoppers of the day where there and always will be come heat wave or polar vortex, but the crowd was definitely off by a good 90 minutes.

But it’s not only our shoppers who schedules are shifting. Farmers are changing gears, too. Afterall, our business is the ultimate when it comes to seasonal.

You may not be thinking about Thanksgiving, a good two months away, but it’s first and foremost with turkey farmers right now. While they’re gearing up, the row crop farmers are slowing down. With each crop and every row completing its lifecycle, those farmers are putting their soils to bed until next year. For them, the finish line is in sight.

The greenhouse and high tunnel folks who keep us in fresh greens during the winter months are in planting mode. With their production also comes infrastructure maintenance to ensure optimal growth and durability during the harshest conditions.

The livestock farmers are assessing their flocks and herds, choosing who gets to stay, reproduce, and get fed over winter versus who gets to go to ahem…market. True story: I was a grown adult well into my agrarian endeavors when I realized what this little piggy went to market was all about. In my mind it was always a Peppa Pig-like character skipping through the stands with basket on her hock, until my butcher echoed the nursery rhyme when my first piggies disembarked from my livestock trailers. It was right up there with realizing there was no such thing as the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause, and the Easter Bunny.

What would life be without paperwork. The shift from summer to fall means time for your vendors to apply to the winter market. Did you know that vendors have to apply to the market each season? Kind of like signing up for the college semesters that keep going and going. Fortunately, we have a well-run market using technology to the best of our ability making the process less painless than it was years ago when we’d have to rustle up copies of licensure and insurance, and then get it all in the mail. A few clicks online and it’s done.

For the markets throughout the region, we’re still in the regular season. While Central Farm Markets’ main season runs until the end of the year before switching  to a winter market line up and opening a half hour later than usual, many of the area’s seasonal markets close at Thanksgiving. That means those customers will begin shopping  at year-round markets and increasing our customer traffic. So be prepared to get to market early for the best selection.

As the equinox fell on a market day, there was something special about watching the sun go down as I paused to enjoy that magical moment of color now that the market gear had been put away, the evening chores completed, and the garbage taken out, the signal that my Sunday is officially over. But as the glowing pink sun slipped below the blue mountain ridge I knew also it was the start of another season.