I view the Farmers Market season with a mix of dread and joy. Dread, because it means I have to give up my Friday nights and get up at 3:30 or thereabouts on Saturday, and joy, because it financially supports my place of employ through the summer in a town where a huge chunk of the population leaves around the first of May and doesn't come back till August.
The Bakery has been in attendance at this market for several years, but if you go tomorrow morning, you won't find us there. Seems we are caught in a political argument of sorts, and the directors/organizers of the shindig still haven't given my boss the green light to come on out and set up the tent. Some people want the Farmers Market to make a statement I guess, that's why they have set up guidelines they can use to exclude vendors who aren't Local enough.
Some of the vendors do not like the fact that we don't grow our own wheat. I guess that's the biggest issue, and it kinda makes me mad. We do have a bread featuring wheat grown in WV. The Local Wheat Growers aren't growing hard red wheat, or anything really that is high enough in gluten to make decent bread, so I have to add bread flour (not Local) to the dough to get it to be bread and not dense cracker-like pancakes. The bylaws of the market, last time I checked, stated that 25% of the products you sell have to be local. Our WV Wheat has about 40% local flour. Can I count the water I use, cause it comes from the Mon River? We have local eggs in our scones & cookies, local honey, and local fruits and veggies when they're in season... And the biggest thing for me is that we're a community business. Everything we make is produced In Morgantown. How much more local can you get?
If you go to the Market, and you miss New Day Bakery products, please let someone there know. Maybe if the Local Community wants us there, it will help the board make up it's mind. And remember, we're only a few blocks away from the Market, so if you have a hankering for a good cup of coffee and a scone we can hook you up, whether we have a stall at the Market or not.
Disclaimer : The views expressed in this personal essay are mine and mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of New Day Bakery LLC or it's owners.
5 comments:
I think you should open a stall at the farmer's market that is not run by Nazi's.
Can you put up signs directing people to your shop? Or get a permit to set up a cart in the parking lot next to the market??
Have you thought about writing a letter to the editor? or calling the TV stations?
That is so ridiculous! Hey! Jason's chickens are laying...We could bring up a few eggs you can throw in the mix and then you can use the term "free-range, locally produced, almost-totally WV bread". My question is this: Is there someone else selling baked goods??? If so, do THEY use all the WV products...
We almost went there on saturday...now I'm glad we didn't! I'll go when you get to!!!
i did notice that something seemed to be out of place at the market this morning. that is a shame about that. next week if you guys aren't there i'll definitely mention it.
thanks for stopping by my blogs. it is nice to find a fellow blogger from morgantown :)
I crosspost these entries on Facebook, and a pal of mine on there wrote to the President of the Farmer's market board. That nice woman assured her that we were not banned and that my employer hadn't yet submitted an application. I must admit, I wasn't aware of that tiny piece of info, so I feel a bit silly. I do still feel like the board has been jerking us around, but I am not interested in getting political about it. If the president of the FM tells a newspaper reporter we are invited, then I am satisfied that we'll get to go. I don't want my boss to think I'm broadcasting frustrated workplace gossip over the internet (which in a way I guess I was, since I obviously didn't know the whole story).
I never go to the FM anyway, because I work Saturdays till about noon (when the shindig closes).
Thank you ladies for listening to my hot headed rants! :)
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