Meet the Fox School Farmers Market members

SOUTH PARIS — The Fox School Farmers Market opens this Saturday at nine in the morning; Meadow Ridge Perennials will be the first to arrive, providing the orientation for parking. Sometimes they line up into a nice parallel isle; most Saturdays they are not quite as uniformly positioned as they all dream possible.

Vendors will begin to flood into the market green like a wave; one or two will arrive at the same time as the early-bird customers. Bounding out of their loaded down vehicles, farmers and bakers begin to unload equipment and canopies. A ritual that repeats itself at opening and closing is that everyone helps each other set up their tents. This polite and friendly act may not be unique to this market, but they do take pride in it. The only time one might be neglected is if they show up just after Rising Sun Café & Bakery has their fresh coffee and pastries ready for sale.

On the first market day on May 12 many comments will be thrown out from vendors such as “I know I had that in here last fall," “anyone have tape,” “darn I forgot____.” The laughter and ribbing that takes place during the market mornings is contagious and spills out to customers. Most likely it is the reason why most of them love going to market.

Farmers markets are not for every farmer; attending a weekly market that repeats itself for 27 weeks, spring to fall, demands devotion, discipline and endurance. One might ask, why? What could inspire an individual to forfeit every Saturday for the chance that they will sell enough products to make it worth their time?

This winter and spring each of the vendors provided tours of their establishments and reluctantly agreed to an interview about themselves and the business that they have built. From these farm visits nothing was more different from the variety of businesses and nothing was more similar than the passion for growing, building, creating and sharing what they love with the goal of making a living.

There are 11 vendors attending the market this season; ages range from early twenties to retirees. Three were raised on dairy farms, one on a poultry farm, most grew up in family homesteads that raised their own vegetables and a few farm animals. Three occupy homes that their grandparents owned; Abbotts Maple Syrup in Sumner has inherited high bush blueberry bushes that Steve Abbott’s grandparents planted. Ten of the vendors have a “seedling room” or perhaps “a room taken over by the seedlings.”

These are your farmers, the farmers of the Fox School Farmers Market. Come out Saturday, May 12 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and visit them. They are producing local, selling only what they produce, and loving it and they hope you will too.