Tuesday Afternoon Delights––

Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market Opens For Summer

By Dottie Evans

Grab your shopping bag and round up the kids because the Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market begins its fourth year in a sunny field behind The Villa Restaurant and St John’s Church in Sandy Hook.

If you’ve been waiting all winter to bite into another one of Priscilla Rose’s chewy “Hedgehog” bars (What’s not to like about dates, walnuts, and coconut bound together by brown sugar?) wait no more. Priscilla Rose Gourmet Baked Goods will be there every Tuesday all summer long with cookies, muffins, and breads that taste just like grandma used to make.

She’ll be a regular farmers market vendor alongside many other vendors from past years and several newcomers, as well. The big change worth noting, however, is the time that the market is open.

After three years of Tuesday morning farmers markets, organizer Mary Fellows of The Little Green Barn said they have decided to try Tuesday afternoons from 2 to 6 pm, instead.

“We’ve been taking an informal poll and people seem to want it. It gives the farmers more time to harvest in the morning, and it gives people who work a chance to get here later in the day,” Ms Fellows said.

Along with all the usual locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables that customers expect to find in the farmers market, there will be some unusual additions this year.

“Look for yellow watermelon, scarlet radishes, and Chinese eggplant,” said Ms Fellows.

“We expect the farmers to begin coming on Tuesday, July 5, when they’ll have enough produce ready to harvest,” she added.

Until then, there will be more than enough other homemade produce and handcrafted items for customers to purchase and enjoy. The exhibiting vendors include Christine’s Natural Soaps, Dawn Cloud-Alter Herbs, Mary’s Roasted Nuts, Harmony Weaving, Sunrise Farms for baskets and pottery, Stoneledge Hollow jams and jellies, and Bear Hills Pottery.

For the children, there will be pony rides and entertainment.

Sue and Jim Shortt of Shortt’s Organic Garden and Nursery off Riverside Road in Sandy Hook say they will be selling their vegetables at the market beginning Tuesday, July 5, as the different crops come into season.

“We’ll be there in two weeks,” Ms Shortt promised, “because with all this sunshine things are coming along fast.”

For information or questions regarding the Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market, call The Little Green Barn at 270-1820, or St John’s Church at 426-9938.