Farmer’s markets are some of the best places to find the best deals on local food and produce, especially if you really enjoy buying local and supporting family-owned farms and businesses. Mark your calendars, April 12th will be here before you know it! That’s right, April 12th is when Lawrence’s farmer’s market will be opening for the 2014 season!
The Lawrence Farmer’s Market meets every Saturday at 7 am and local farmers and vendors meet, set up their booths and help customers with any questions they might have regarding their products before they sell them. Sure, it can be a serious pain waking up so early on a Saturday of all days, especially if you celebrated the end of the week on Friday night but the quality of your product and the variety of choices that you can have depend heavily on when you get there; the market if first come, first serve.
One of the vendors that contributes to the LFM is a small bakery called The Yeast We Can Do. How could you not support such a cute name, let alone turn down a baker like Judy Gilman who creates scrumptious treats like Neapolitan Birthday Cake, spiced brown butter pumpkin pretzels with coffee cream cheese icing or chocolate toffee cookies? Go get a napkin and wipe your drool off of your chin, ladies. This bakery also sells a variety of gluten-free specialties, for all of my fellow Celiacs out there.
Another interesting vendor is Janice Nesler-Loux, who owns STiCKS and sells delicious artisan fudge made in small batches. STiCKS uses local fruit and markets to create their delicious fudges, and also lets you sample their fudges at the market before you commit to a purchase. Some of their flavors include butterscotch bacon fudge, rose fudge, fresh pumpkin pie fudge, cookies n’ cream fudge and peanut butter swirl fudge. How delicious does all of that sound? Again, get a napkin.
Along with sweet treats, local farms like orchards and vineyards also sell their produce on Saturdays, but are on a more seasonal schedule. The LFM even has a barbecue to-go place come and sell some of their yummy food for those of us who can’t resist some yummy BBQ chicken to go with our jaw-dropping desserts.
For some more details about more vendors like STiCKS and The Yeast We Can Do and a schedule of crop specials, check out the LFM website at http://www.lawrencefarmersmarket.com