June 11, 2020 at 3:45 p.m.
Hodag Farmers' Market features locally-grown produce, homemade crafts, other goods
Hodag Farmers' Market features locally-grown produce, homemade crafts, other goods
By Stephanie Kuski-
About a dozen stalls lined the green at the Pioneer Park Historical Complex (PPHC), filled with plant starters, bulbs, microgreens, mushrooms, asparagus, herbs and an assortment of crafts offered by the various vendors.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to open a few weeks later than planned, the Hodag Farmers' Market will continue every Saturday through the third Saturday in October from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the PPHC.
In order to curb the spread of the virus, patrons are encouraged to wear their own masks and use hand sanitizer available at the various stalls.
In addition, all stalls are kept 15 feet apart to encourage social distancing.
"Me personally as a vendor, as a sign of respect, I'm doing what I can to keep my customers safe," Jinny Mootz of Behm's Country Pickin's and a member of the market board explained. "But as far as a market as a whole right now, we don't really have any restrictions on the customers."
"We're still meeting and trying to work out details," she continued. "But one of the biggest things right now is definitely no samples. We're going to encourage social distancing and everything the health departments are recommending."
Vendors are also encouraging customers to follow best practices when it comes to properly washing produce.
Since it's still early in the growing season, last Saturday vendors offered starter plants, colder hearty greens and other produce in season like rhubarb and asparagus.
By the end of June customers are likely to see more greens like lettuce and kale, while mid to end July and into early August will feature the bulk of the produce - cucumbers, squash, peppers and more. Sweet corn and winter squash will come even later in the season.
"Don't make a one- time stop at the market," Mootz advised. "The market changes with the season, our vendors change with the season. Because our market rules say that what we sell we have to make ourselves, the produce is all seasonal."
At all times of the year, the farmers' market offers something for everyone. But personally, my favorite part is getting to know the individuals who cultivated the crops I bring home to my family.
"My mom came from a farm family, so we had gardens, we canned, we grew what we ate," Mootz recalled. "So I learned to love gardening. I went into teaching as a career... I always told my coworkers, 'If I could, I'd make my living off my garden.' Well my parents moved onto some property about 15 years ago and started getting into farmers' markets because they had the space for it, and I slowly worked into joining them."
"It is a tremendous amount of work, but I do enjoy it," she continued. "It's a little past a hobby... It's a family business."
Family ties to farming was a common theme among many of the vendors at Saturday's market.
Jim Witucki of Mount View Sugar Bush, a long-time market vendor whose term as president of the vendor-run board recently expired, said he's lived on a farm his whole life, which is what sparked his interest in the four-acre garden he now tends alongside his nephew and sister.
"We were dairy farmers, so we had farming in our blood," Witucki said. "I like people, and I love that we're growing fresh produce."
After moving away from dairy farming and turning to gardening, Witucki said he and his family now grow almost every vegetable in their garden. On Saturday he offered rhubarb, asparagus, maple syrup and an assortment of crafts, and in the coming weeks he plans to offer more produce like potatoes, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and strawberries.
"I love this market," Witucki said. "Rhinelander is super to us, everybody is happy - vendors are happy, customers are happy."
Jeff Larson of Skanawan Lake Gardens echoed Witucki's comments about farming being a family business.
"I think it's in your blood," Larson said. "My parents, my grandparents and beyond that, they were all farmers, gardeners, this type of thing... I think that gets in your blood and it's there."
"I've been doing these (markets) for 12 years," he continued. "People get a little excitement when they come here and they have something in common with the vendors. We sit and we chat about all this stuff."
Larson and his wife Karen have a "sizeable" garden plot, and on Saturday they offered fresh asparagus, rhubarb, gladiola bulbs and a full line of pickled products, including jellies, sauerkraut and salsas.
Tabitha Bennish, pharmacist, nutritionist and owner of Pharmher, said she started featuring her microgreens and other goods at the Hodag Farmers' Market just last year when her 8-year-old nephew Dylan Bennish began joining her to sell his plant starters. Last week, Dylan offered a variety of waxed beans, cucumber, pumpkin, squash or watermelon starters for patrons to choose from.
"He (Dylan) started coming with me last season," (Tabitha) Bennish said. "He's always been into planting and growing things. His grandpa and him had a garden a couple summers ago, so last summer when I started growing more stuff and selling at the farmers' market, he came along and just decided to grow his starts and it went really well."
Dylan said after germinating seeds at school, he started planting every seed he could find. Going into the third grade at Washington Elementary in Merrill, Dylan said he's been asked to share his gardening expertise at his school's garden and will be working alongside the fifth graders next year.
"I like to grow stuff and know what it is and that it came from my own garden, and be proud of growing my seedlings from the start," Dylan said. "So that's why I like to grow, just to enjoy it."
His aunt Tabitha said her interest in nutrition and gardening was influenced by her grandma, and she noted that Dylan motivates her to come to market each weekend.
"It started as a hobby growing for myself," Bennish said. "I'm actually both a pharmacist and a nutritionist by trade, but I'm more into the idea of sharing healthy food that tastes great, and that's how I got into selling here as a preventative form of healthcare."
"I have a passion for sharing that information with people," she continued, "and microgreens are a great way to do that because a lot of people don't know what they are so I get to explain the whole thing and expose them to great flavor and nutritional value."
In addition to four flavors of microgreens, Bennish offered oyster and shiitake mushrooms, locally forged ramp butter and locally roasted coffee. She said she hopes to offer more greens like herbs and unique asian lettuces in the coming weeks.
"We've just been really playing around with a lot of different ideas about what we can bring to market to bring unique selections that will keep people coming back looking for more," she said.
Bennish was also recently elected by the other vendors at the market to take over for Witucki as president of the board.
"I'm really excited to contribute more to the market because I've become so fond and connected to it since last year when I started coming," Bennish said. "It takes a lot of contribution to keep something like this going, so I think it's good to give back and give input, then hopefully we can expand to the greater community. Especially with everything that's going on, it seems people are looking for more local stuff."
In talking with many vendors and patrons at Saturday's market, a renewed interest in growing produce at home was a common theme. Perhaps the empty grocery store shelves in the midst of COVID-19 was an eye-opener for many and contributed to this revived interest in at-home gardening.
"I think it might be busier this year because people will want to know where their food comes from and want to stay local," Amanda Puhl, treasurer of the Hodag Farmers' Market board, commented.
Along those lines, talking to the various vendors and getting a better sense of their craft (and the enormous amount of labor that goes into it) has given me a fresh perspective on just how important it is to know where your food comes from. In a world full of big box stores, it's easy to forget the labor of love that goes into cultivating crops grown by local individuals right here in our community. But in a way, that perspective also makes these vendors' fresh, locally-grown produce taste that much sweeter.
For more information about the market and to connect with the various vendors, visit the Hodag Farmers' Market website, hodagfarmersmarket.com.
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