Farmer’s Market offers diverse wares
Jan 12, 2019
Johnathan’s Sprouts of Rochester have two ingredients: seeds and water. Photo by: Grace Ballenger
Finley McDonald plays with a stuffed chicken while his mother visits the Weatherlow Farms table. Photo by: Grace Ballenger
Hank Poitras usually plays with his dad, but played solo at the Jan. 12 farmer’s market. Photo by: Grace Ballenger
Deborah Joyce’s soaps with children’s toys included. Photo by: Grace Ballenger
Joyce also offers homemade creations crafted from driftwood.
Frank Tamarro talks with customers. Photo by: Grace Ballenger
Three vendors at the Jan. 12 farmer’s market offered produce, but two of them offered additional products, and many other vendors diversified by offering offered soaps, essential oils, clothes meats, baked goods, and other products.
Hank Poitras offered violin music in the center of the ORR Junior High School gym, as customers made the rounds between the tables that circled the gym.
Three of the vendors were from the tri-town.
One was Johnathan’s Sprouts of Rochester, which sells organic sprouts, sprout salads, and has also created a line of creams that take advantage of the antioxidants in broccoli sprouts.
At another table, two members of Old Rochester Regional High School Model United Nations club sold handmade candles, jewelry and bath salts to raise money that will send the club’s 18 members to a Model United Nations conference in April.
Jody Larson started her business Plaids and Tweeds, which repurposes used clothing into new accessories, three or four years ago. For Larson the business grew out of a lifelong love of textiles and thrifting.
The Mattapoisett resident also apprenticed herself as a weaver years ago.
“I am aware of what it takes to make some of these fabrics, and the thought of people throwing them away or them becoming rags is upsetting,” she said.
So instead she creates bags, with belts as handles, hats, fingerless gloves, and yoga bag mats.
She said the best place to get lots of fabric is long skirts and kilts, though she also repurposes jackets and wool or cashmere sweaters as well.
Other vendors put twists on classic baked goods and hygiene products. Frank Tamarro of Frank’s Cucina in Sandwich bakes traditional Italian sweet biscotti, but also offers savory biscotti with ingredients like parmesan and pine nuts, or kalamata olives and lemon.
And Deborah Joyce of Debbie’s Soaps has started incorporating children’s toys like matchbox cars or small plastic figures into some of her bars of soap.
“They have to scrub a little harder to get to the toys and they don’t know that they’re doing,” Joyce said.
