Send comments, attend workshops on more local food

The US Dept. of Justice is asking for comments and holding workshops around the country about consolidation in the food industry and the need for less corporate and more local food producers. If you are interested in this issue, you can find more here.

More workshops from Cooperative Extension

Workshops on Growing Your Small Farm into a Profitable Business, and for all the women in NH going into farming, Balancing Farm and Family (although I suspect men have some of the same problems nowadays, but this was listed under Women and Agriculture).

Answer to the poll

The White House vegetable garden produced 740 pounds of food for an investment of $180 dollars.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

More pictures of the final market here.

Not only was the last market a resounding success, this whole 2009 season for the market has been so wonderful. All our fabulous vendors, all the regular and just-passing-by customers, the music, the local groups who came to share what they are doing for the community, everyone made this a truly awesome community project. We supported local businesses, made lots of new friends, learned mind-boggling amounts of stuff about food, on and on.

And we aren't done yet. We won't take much of a break before we start planning for next year. We have lots of ideas, and we hope you do too, and you will share them with us. You can find our contact information on the right side of the blog, at the top. And if you would like to join us to plan, we would love that, too. There is plenty to do, and it makes spring come sooner.

Stage backdrops

Every old hall in the area has its locally oriented stage curtain or backdrop. These are fascinating bits of history and if you get a chance to visit them, take a long look at all the businesses and see how many are still around.

This is in the Masonic Hall in Northwood, where we have had the last three of our farmers markets. The backdrop had not been on display before, because this hall is also the home of the Northwood Theatre Workshop , and the first two weeks we were there they were in rehearsal for a play and then performing it. It was fun to have it as a special addition to the market.

Need more winter vegetables?

Dan Comte went back to his farm in Nottingham and dug more carrots for our hungry customers, but he still has a bit more of his late crop left. If you are looking for potatoes, onions or carrots in the next couple of weeks, until his supply is exhausted, please call Dan on his cell, 608-5272, or at his home, 942-1297, and he will fill you in on what he has to sell and give you directions to his place.

UNH Hospitality Gourmet Dinner

The Gourmet Dinner is back!

UNH Hospitality is presenting a "Simply Southern, The Heart of Hospitality" dinner

Local ingredients where possible will be used. Special diets are accomodated (please notify in advance)

This Friday Nov. 20 & Saturday Nov. 21 pm

For more information

A book signing with Mollie Katzen, author of the ground breaking best

seller, Moosewood Cookbook, will take place during the cocktail hour.

ONE MORE TIME!

The Northwood Farmers Market will hold their last market of the season at the Masonic Hall on Saturday, Nov. 21st, from 9 am to 1 pm.

Please come enjoy all the local products, shop for Christmas, decorate your home, and celebrate a remarkable year for the market.

Rain or shine (even snow!), we will be in the warmth of the hall, thanks to the Masons.

A special potter

Shawn Christman has this to say about his work:

"I first started pottery five years ago while living in Colorado as a means of therapy after a traumatic brain injury. It is an outlet for me to be lost in the moment and focus on nothing but the piece I am working on."

You can reach Shawn when he is not selling at the market at 603-717-4807. He lives in Strafford.

Take the poll!

I posted a new poll, scroll down the right side to find it. This is to check your research skills. I will post the correct answer on Dec. 1.

Holiday Shopping at the Northwood Farmers Market - INDOORS!

It won’t matter if it rains (or even, dare we say, snows?), you can still find local produce for your Thanksgiving feast and pick up jams, wine, honey and goats milk soaps for those special gifts, wreaths and other decorations, all while staying warm and dry in the Masonic Hall on Rt. 4 in Northwood. Join us Saturday, Nov. 7th, and Saturday, Nov. 21st from 9 am to noon. Parking at the municipal lot at the corner of Rts. 4 and 202/9.

Celebrating vendors

Here are some pictures of some of our vendors at the indoor market.

It was raining but we were INDOORS!

What a lovely day for an indoor farmers market it was! While it poured outside, we got to shop for produce, honey, wine, goats milk soap and cheese, etc. Click the link for some pictures of the goodies.

Risk Management for Farmers

Risk Management Workshops Set for New Hampshire Farmers

UNH Cooperative Extension 24.OCT.09

Small farms in New Hampshire grew by nearly 4,200 in recent years, with an increasing trend towards organic and small-farm production.

To help navigate the inherent risks and learn new strategies for managing production, marketing and financing, a team of UNH Cooperative Extension staff will offer a series of workshops beginning November 2, and continuing through spring of 2010.

Over the course of these workshops, UNH Cooperative Extension, partnering with the USDA Risk Management Agency, the N.H. Dept. of Agriculture, Markets & Food, and the USDA Farm Service Agency, will provide tools and techniques for managing business risks while explaining the benefits of participating in crop and revenue insurance programs.

“UNH Cooperative Extension professionals have extensive experience in educational programming for farmers and a proven record of successful partnering with other agencies,” says Extension agricultural business management specialist Mike Sciabarrasi. “Extension educators believe outreach education is the best way to help New Hampshire farmers discover what’s available to them.”

The first workshop takes place November 2 with 10-plus Marketing Strategies and Tips to Consider When Selling Farm Products, at the Rockingham County complex in Brentwood. Featuring a panel of expert growers, those attending will learn more about potential farm markets for next season and the importance of branding and pricing products, while hearing different views about the pros and cons of crop insurance.

The workshops continue through the fall.

Tree Fruit – Year in Review and Planning for the Future, will be held November 14 at the Hillsborough County complex in Goffstown. Early December features a weekend seminar on ethnic crops, and in January the N.H. Small Family Farm conference takes place in Concord and the N.H. Women in Agriculture conference in the Keene area.

The workshop series focuses on reaching beginning farmers, women farm operators, fruit and vegetable farmers who market their products directly to consumers, and farmers interested in growing ethnic crops. In the winter and spring of 2010, additional programs will be offered for organic producers, dairy farmers and nursery operations. Financial support from the USDA Risk Management Agency has enabled UNH Cooperative Extension to offer these programs at minimal cost to participants.

What's growing in Maryland?

I am sure you are wondering why in the world I would put news of Maryland in this blog. Well, it is selfish. My daughter is a contributor to a blog about growing your own food in Montgomery County. She is a master gardener and volunteers with the Cooperative Extension Demonstration Garden there. I thought some of you might be interested in what is going on in another part of the country, and of course, as a mom, I love to showcase my child's work!

IT ISN'T OVER YET!!!!

It’s not over yet! The Northwood Farmers Market is moving indoors for three “off season” markets at the Masonic Lodge right next to the municipal lot (Rts. 4, 202/9 and Rt. 43 at the traffic lights) where we have been reveling in good local products all summer. Our local farms still have fall produce, there is still jam and salsa, wine and soaps, eggs and wool and more, all local, all fresh.

Come support your neighbors, meet friends and enjoy some more of the Northwood Farmers market - INDOORS!

9:00 a.m. to noon

Saturday Oct. 24th

Saturday Nov. 7th

Saturday Nov. 21st

Parking off Rte. 202/9 in the municipal parking lot.

USDA supporting local agriculture

An article in the New York Times brings to our attention a plan by the USDA to connect small farmers with local consumers.

Warriors in the battle for more local, sustainable food have long been suspicious of the Department of Agriculture and its relationship to large agricultural interests. But even the most dedicated political agrarian has to admit that the U.S.D.A is getting local food fever.

This week, the top people at the U.S.D.A. announced they would be handing out almost $65 million to help connect small farmers — especially those using sustainable practices — with people who want to eat local food.

The money is part of their new “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” campaign which includes a series of programs to help farmers better market their food and the people who run large institutions buy it.

“Americans are more interested in food and agriculture than at any other time since most families left the farm,” said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan in a statement announcing the initiative.

Organic farming - the reality

Great information on the finding that organic farming is good for us and for the planet, and also good for the crops and the farmer:

....Organic farming — one way of carrying out agro-ecological farming — has been shown to increase carbon sequestration in soil relative to non-organic methods. Furthermore, extensive research, most recently by agronomist David Pimentel of Cornell, has shown that transitioning to organic and local farming could cut energy inputs into the U.S. food system by 50 percent.

"United States agriculture is driven almost entirely by these non-renewable energy sources. Each person in the country on a per capita consumption basis requires approximately 2,000 liters per year in oil equivalents to supply his/her total food, which accounts for about 19 percent of the total national energy use," Pimentel said.

In addition to cutting fossil fuel use and decreasing carbon emissions, a shift to organic farming and the resultant increases in carbon sequestration will make agriculture more resilient and more resistant to onrushing anthropogenic climate change.

Resistance and resilience are technical terms: as ecologist Alison Power observes, resistance is a system’s ability to not be affected by a “perturbation,” such as a sudden drought or hurricane. Resilience is the measure of the agricultural system’s ability to respond to a “perturbation” that does affect it—in other words, how quickly it returns to its former level of functioning, or how close to its former level of functioning it can get to.

There is strong evidence that organic-farming systems, which are usually a mix of diverse-plant communities—the furthest thing from the plains of monocultures that are the mainstay of American agriculture—are both more resistant and more resilient than other types of planting systems.

BearPaw Regional Greenways at the market

Our local land trust, BearPaw Regional Greenways, brought their wonderful maps to the market. BearPaw is a land trust with a mission to permanently conserve a network of lands that protects our region’s water, wildlife habitat, forests, and farmland. Bear-Paw works to conserve open space through outreach, education, and land protection project assistance in Candia, Deerfield, Epsom, Northwood, Nottingham, Raymond, and Strafford, New Hampshire.

How fast is the farmers market movement growing?

If you can't make our market on Thursdays, you may be able to try at the White House!

And here is some follow up: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/michelle-obama-buys-groce_n_290522.html

Meet some more vendors

Brieghan Gardener added dried flowers to her great collection of perennials, plus apples and plums.

The little milkman also has ginger beer and other Squamscott beverages, tea, bread, pancake mix and other goodies, besides milk in real glass bottles. (Yes, I am old enough to remember them outside the door with the cream on the top.)

More music

Deanna from Deerfield and a friend provided our music this week, a great beginning to September.

Two vendors and music

Two of our many vendors, ME Garden and Spice Market and Crooked Birch Kitchen, with music in the background.

Local, organic, grass-fed beef

I can speak to the quality of this beef! Despite the misgivings of my husband about tenderness, we splurged on tenderloin steaks from the Miles Smith Farm and ate them Saturday night with potato salad made from Dan Comte's potatoes and tomatoes from our own containers on the deck. The beef from the grill was very tender, and very tasty, and I felt a whole lot better about eating it, knowing the steer it came from had had a happy ruminant life, eating what a steer is supposed to eat, grass. No corn laced with antibiotics, no standing in a manure pile in a stockyard with hardly room to move.

Thank you for coming to the market, Miles Smith Farm!

News flash from the market

We have 3 pieces of news, for this week's farmers market (08/20).

We are very pleased that the Miles Smith Farm will be joining us at the Northwood market, this week. They have an excellent reputation for beef that are raised in a natural and kind environment, free of chemicals and hormones.

They are in great demand and may not be able to be at every week's market - so take advantage while you can :) Here is a link to their website, if you'd like to check them out.

August 27th market (NEXT week) - we will be accepting donations for the Northwood Food Pantry. Their inventory is particularly low right now and are in need of non-perishables (canned goods, cereals etc.), paper products (toilet paper, diapers) and toiletries. They will also be accepting donations of products (including produce) purchased at the market.

We are happy for Linsay and Ryan - who both start teaching jobs next week ... but sad that this means that this week is the last week that "My Street Bakery" (pies, cookies and whoopie pies) will be joining us this season .…they plan to be back next year. They also have a website, if you're interested. Congratulations to both of them.

See you at the market, on Thursday,

The Cable Advisory Committee Visits the Market

The Northwood Cable Advisory Committee visited the market on Aug. 13 with a video of selections of shows taped, information about Public Access TV, and notice of a Videography Workshop coming up in Oct. at the library. For more information about the workshop you can use the links at the bottom of the page here or contact the library here.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Public Access TV in Northwood please contact the cable coordinator through the Northwood Town Hall at 603-942-5586.

USDA Conservation Stewardship Sign-Ups Begin

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has begun continuous sign-up for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) in New Hampshire. The first cutoff for ranking purposes is scheduled for September 30, State Conservationist George W. Cleek, IV., announced today.

"The Conservation Stewardship Program changed dramatically in the 2008 Farm Bill," said Cleek. "NRCS took the time to develop a program that would appeal to our diverse customers and offer them an equal chance to participate. We hope that agricultural and forestry producers in New Hampshire take full advantage of the benefits this newly revised program offers." The average maximum assistance is $15 per acre with lesser amounts determined by the program criteria. "If you are already doing a good job with conservation stewardship, this program may be the right fit for you", said Cleek. Any interested landowner should first work with his or her Farm Service Agency office to establish or update their farm records. Once that is complete, the landowner should contact the local NRCS or Conservation District office to file an application. Both steps must be complete by September 30 of this year to be eligible for the first round of ranking.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) authorized the Conservation Stewardship Program. Congress renamed and revamped the former Conservation Security Program completely to improve its availability and appeal to agricultural and forestry producers. The Conservation Stewardship Program will be offered in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Pacific and Caribbean areas through continuous sign-ups with announced cut-off application dates for ranking periods. The maximum annual enrollment is capped at nearly 12.8 million acres nationwide.

NRCS administers CSP, a voluntary conservation program designed to encourage agricultural and forestry producers to adopt additional conservation practices and improve, maintain and manage existing ones.

To apply for the newly revamped CSP, individual producers, legal entities and Indian tribes will be encouraged to use a self-screening checklist first to determine whether the new program is suitable for them or their operation. The checklist is available on NRCS Web sites and at NRCS field offices.

After the self-screening, the producer's current and proposed conservation activities are entered in the conservation measurement tool (CMT). This tool estimates the level of environmental performance to be achieved by a producer implementing and maintaining conservation activities. The conservation performance estimated by the CMT will be used to rank applications.

A producer must treat at least one resource concern and one priority resource concern during the length of the CSP's five-year contract. The New Hampshire NRCS has identified five priority resource concerns used to rank applications and will establish ranking pools to rank applications with similar resource concerns. The priority areas are: animal, energy, plant, water quality and soil quality (agricultural land) or soil erosion (non-industrial private forest land).

NRCS field staff will conduct on-site field verifications of pre-approved applicants' information provided for the CMT.

Another major change in the program is the method of payments. CSP will offer two possible types of payments-annual and supplemental. The annual payment will be established using the conservation performance estimated by the CMT and calculated by land use type for enrolled eligible land. A supplemental payment is also available to participants who also adopt a resource-conserving crop rotation. The annual payment limitation for a person or legal entity is $40,000. A person or legal entity cannot exceed $200,000 for all contracts entered into during any five-year period.

Individual producers, legal entities and Indian tribes must meet several requirements to obtain a Conservation Stewardship Program contract. They must be listed as the operator in the USDA farm records management system for the operation being offered for enrollment. They must document that they control the land for the term of the contract and include all eligible land in their entire operation in that contract. They must comply with highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions and comply with Adjusted Gross Income provisions.

Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, improved pastureland, non-industrial private forestland-a new land use for the program-and agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe.

Land enrolled in the Conservation Security Program, Conservation Reserve Program, Grasslands Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program are ineligible for the new Conservation Stewardship Program.

The new CSP is very different from the old Conservation Security Program. Under the old program, producers were eligible if they were in the selected watersheds. All contracts under the old CSP will be honored until the end of the contract term.

For more information about the new CSP, please visit the Conservation Stewardship website. For more information about conservation programs in New Hampshire, please visit the Natural Resources Conservation Service website.

Girl power!

The Northwood Girl Scouts joined us at the market on Aug. 6th. Northwood has a large contingent of Girl Scouts, Jane Thul, scout leader, told me. Jane has been involved with the Girl Scouts for 50 years (I hope she doesn't mind me telling you that!) and recently traveled to Colorado for a reunion with women from all over.

If you want more information on the Northwood Girl Scouts, click here .

"Once Upon a Farm"

Rebecca Horan was our guest at the Northwood Farmers Market on Thursday July 30th selling and signing her newly released book: “Once Upon a Farm – A Fairly True Tale”.

In this quaint farm tale, Horan relates her story in a unique way. Rebecca uses the rehabilitation of an injured fawn as her excuse to start the farm she's always wanted. Along the way, she falls in love with life again ... and the handsome farmer next door.

In this heart-warming tale with characters both real and imagined, Rebecca leaves the reader to decide where the truth lies and the dreams become reality.

If you missed getting your copy at the market you can contact Abby Anderson at abby@publishingworks.com or at 603-772-7200.

OUR SIGN

The sign is up! Many thanks to the NH Master Gardeners Association for the grant, to Sign Spectrum and Linda Smith for the design and construction, and to Meg and Ted for putting it up.

NO ONE CAN MISS US NOW!

July 16th was a lovely day!

And here are the pictures. Everything gets more colorful by the week!

Friends of the Chesley Memorial Library

Doug Chamberlin of the Friends of the Chesley Memorial Library took our non-profit/community organization table at the July 9th market.

If your non-profit or community organization would like to join us , please contact us, our contact information is at the top right of the page.

It finally stopped raining

And here are some pictures from the best market yet!

Food, Inc. at Red River Theater in Concord

The NH Premiere of FOOD, INC on July 24. The premiere event will feature a pre-film "local food" reception, screening, post-film discussion with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm and book signing! To order tickets online or at the Box Office (take your chances for the premier). Tickets for the Premier are a little pricy at $25.

A 2nd date for the movie on Aug 5th includes a Local Farmer Discussion Panel following the film ..and is more affordably priced at $10

Link to Red River (includes showtimes and link to official site with trailer): http://redrivertheatres.org/box_films.php#foodinc

Vote for our market!

Help the Northwood Farmers Market win $5,000 (or weekly prize of $250) in Care2’s online "Love your Farmers Market Contest."

Use the link below to vote for the Northwood Farmers Market - your favorite Farmers Market!
http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/27116

Pass the message along to your friends, family, and email buddies to help make your market even better.

Our musicians

Our musicians at the previous markets have been the Faiellas and Sandra Koski. We thank them for making our market most festive.

Non-profits

Our non-profit for June 25 was NALMC, a collaborative of local land owners. You can learn more about them at their website, just follow the link. They are hosting a celebration of Northwood Meadows State Park on July 11th from 11-4, and all are welcome.

If you are a non-profit or community organization and would like to participate in our market please contact us. Contact information under About Us.

The Wisdom of Small Farms

Friends of the Northwood Libraries to Host Free Program:

The Wisdom of Small Farms and Local Food: Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic and Sustainable Agriculture

July 14, 2009 - 7:00 p.m.

This event will take place at the Chesley Memorial Library in Northwood, NH, and will feature John Carroll of the University of New Hampshire department of Natural Resources.

John E. Carroll is professor of environmental conservation in the department of natural resources at the University of New Hampshire. In three decades at UNH, he has taught and done research on national and international environmental policy, diplomacy, ethics, and values as they pertain to sustainable agriculture and food systems.

"It is not meant for all of us to farm. But it is meant for all of us to eat. And we all have a right to nutritious food to keep us 'healthy, wealthy and wise.' To the greatest extent possible, this means local food." -- John E. Carroll

Using his book "The Wisdom of Small Farms and Local Food: Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic and Sustainable Agriculture", Professor Carroll explores with the audience the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the growing movement toward sustainable agriculture. Focusing on the land grant universities, particularly in New England and in Leopold's own Midwest, their work in sustainable agriculture and their increasing attention to small-scale farming and local food, this book, provides a vision of where our public land grant universities might go, in research, in teaching, in outreach, inspired by the farmers who know best from their own experience, and providing vision and hope for many who want to play a role in increasing their own food security. The book is available through the author who can be reached at carroll@cisunix.unh.edu.

This program was made possible by the University of New Hampshire Speakers Bureau which connects faculty and staff speakers with non-profit organizations to share the research and knowledge of the university with the people and communities of New Hampshire. For more information on obtaining a speaker for your organization, contact the UNH Speakers Bureau at (603) 862-4401 or on the web at www.unh.edu/speakersbureau.

For more information on this event, contact the Chesley Memorial Library at 603-942-5472 or chesley1@worldpath.net.

Market in the rain - June 18

Yes, we can!

More pictures

Pictures of the second market on June 11th, 2009.

First market of 2009

Pictures of the first market can be found here.

Looking for a place to farm?

New Hampshire Farm Link to Merge with New England LandLink

Today, more than ever, there is a need to match farmers who want to sell or rent their farms with people who want to go into farming. Farmland is expensive and hard to find, and there is a younger generation with a desire to farm and supply local food. Some landowners might even make special arrangements for people who showed promise of carrying on their enterprise.

The New Hampshire Farm Link program was organized on June 21, 2000 with the purpose of joining willing farmers to willing renters or sellers of farmland; however, it never really had the financial backing or staffing to fully do the job. After several years of being somewhat dormant and looking for a home, the New Hampshire Farm Link program is going to merge with New England LandLink, run by the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) in Belchertown, MA.

The New England LandLink program serves all of New England and eastern New York. Its database currently has 510-plus seekers and over 60 farm offerings. Merging with this regional program will provide a considerably larger pool of prospective farmers and available land and be a win-win situation for everyone involved. There will also be a director, Warren Hubley, available by phone and email, to provide personal contact (warren@smallfarm.org or 413-323-4531).

People who want to list their property or who are looking for land can obtain application forms from any UNH Cooperative Extension office or other cooperating agricultural agencies around the state or from NESFI’s website, www.smallfarm.org, under NE LandLink. It costs $10 to register for the standard LandLink services, which include contact information for any web site listings and advice about new properties.

The New Hampshire Coalition for Sustaining Agriculture, a committee comprised of a cross-section of people dedicated to preserving agriculture in the state, originally proposed the idea of the Farm Link Program. 

Tony Mincu, a member of the committee and law student at the time, took on the task of formally organizing the New Hampshire program as part of a community law project in coordination with Franklin Pierce Law School. There have been a few applications kept on file over the years and some informal match-ups, but there wasn’t enough staff time to maintain a full-service program.

New England LandLink is a great way to match up new farmers with those wanting to exit the business and maintain a viable agricultural industry in the region. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity.

For more information, contact John C. Porter, UNH Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist/Professor, Emeritus at john.porter@unh.edu.

UNH Cooperative Extension programs and policies are consistent with pertinent Federal and State laws and regulations on non-discrimination regarding age, color, handicap, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veterans status.

The signs are here!  Look for them around town.  

Many thanks to Sign Spectrum for a wonderful job and to the NH Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Markets for their grant to pay for them.

Ready, set, eat! - News Release

The Northwood Farmers Market starts the fresh, local eating season on Thursday June 4th from 3 to 6:30 pm at the corner of Rts. 4 and 202/9.  The market will run through October 1st every Thursday afternoon.  Come shop for a bounty of locally grown and produced products and get to see those neighbors you’ve missed and meet some new friends as well.  

You can keep track of what’s going on at the market at our blog http://northwoodfarmersmarket.blogspot.com/ .  If you are a local non-profit please contact us (contact information on the website) for a chance to showcase your organization at our non-profit table.

We look forward to seeing you at the market!

The Northwood Farmers Market and Non-profits

The Northwood Farmers Market partners with local non-profit organizations by offering a free space to such organizations at the market.  Our aim is to have one non-profit at each market.  If you would like a chance to present your organization to the local community and perhaps even raise funds or offer memberships, this is your opportunity.  

Please contact us  here.

A honey of a prize

George Dean, of Cordwainer House in Northwood, is a member of the NH Beekeepers Association,  At their recent spring meeting at Lake Shore Farm in Northwood, he entered his honey in their first ever tasting honey tasting contest, along with about 30 other beekeepers.  And he won first prize!  

George sold his honey at the Northwood Farmers Market last summer, and will be joining us again.  Besides his regular honey, he also makes creamed honey, which is a treat on toast, etc.

The Market Got a Grant!

The Northwood Area Farmers Market Association is pleased to announce the award of a $500 grant from the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food.  The grant will be used for outreach to local farmers and for signs and advertising for the Northwood Farmers Market this summer.  

The market will begin on Thursday, June 4th, 2009, and run weekly through Thursday October 1st, from 3-6:30 pm, at the parking lot at the corner of Rts. 4 and 202/9 in Northwood.  Join us to meet your neighbors, both vendors and shoppers, as we celebrate the local bounty and promote a sustainable local economy.  

Getting ready!

The Northwood Farmers Market group has been meeting regularly to organize for our second season, and we are so excited about having the market every week from June 4th to Sept. 25th!  We have a great group of vendors already.  Even though the snow is still on the ground, we are all reading seed catalogues, thinking about baby chicks, and remembering how good everything tasted last summer. 

We hope everyone is putting the market on their weekly schedules.  We have such a convenient location, on the corner across from the Chesley Memorial Library at the lights where Routes 4, 43, 9 and 202 come together in East Northwood.  We are easy to find, there is plenty of parking at the municipal lot, and we have lots of new signs in the works as well.  

Welcome!

The Northwood Farmers Market inaugural year was a great success and 2009 will be even better.  We will be gathering at the parking lot at the corner of Rts. 4 and 202 starting in June and going through September, every Thursday afternoon from 3-6:30 pm.  

Keep your eye on this site, we will be posting our news as we prepare for a tasty, fun and sustainable summer.