What is a Farmer’s Market?

At one of the last Market on the Farm at Harmony Acres that I attended, a woman walked up to my tent and asked, “Who makes all this stuff?” While she gazed around at the rows of tents. I responded that the products in each tent are usually made by the person or people standing at them. “For example, I grow all these flowers and make the bouquets, Rob’s wife, Cora makes all the fudge and he sells it”, gesturing to my left where The Fudge Affair had their tent set up next to mine, “and Michael makes and bakes all the sourdough products he sells”, gesturing to my right where Sloth’s Dapper Doughs & Freshest Fungi had their tent set up.

“Oh.” She replied, with a look on her face that I took as a mix of confusion and disappointment. “So the Orr’s don’t make all this stuff?”, she asked in genuine looking at more than a dozen vendor tents and food trucks all selling a various array of products. “The Orr’s produce the dairy products that can be found in the Jug Hut, and then each Wednesday they invite other local makers to sell their products here at this Farmers Market..”, I explained to her. A “hmm” through pursed lips was only reply I received as she walked away. (The Orr’s own Harmony Acres if you aren’t familiar with Jeff and Jennifer, Jeff is the farmer who manages the land and the cows, and Jennifer is responsible for the Harmony Acres direct to consumer part of the sales along with the operation of the Jug Hut.)

So I thought I would take a moment to explain to everyone what a Farmers Market is, how they work, and the benefits of shopping at them.

A Farmers Market is a place where multiple Farms as well as other local food, beverage, beekeepers, flower farmers, etc. come together, usually once a week to sell their goods at the same location. Each creator (which I’ll refer to as a vendor) generally has their own tent, trailer, or food truck. You visit different tents and make your purchases at each one, rather than one main check out like you would at a grocery store. These can take place in city streets, town centers, parking lots, or in the case of Harmony Acres, they host one right on their farm.

While having to check out multiple times might seem like a hassle, today many of these businesses do use tap to pay technology, so it really is as easy as just tapping your phone, although some businesses at Farmers Markets may be cash only, so it is wise to be be prepared with multiple payment types.

The benefits of Farmers Markets are numerous. This is one of the few places that your can often meet the people who are growing or making your food or the other numerous items (like fresh flowers). The items you will be purchasing will often times be days to weeks fresher than what you would find at a grocery store because the small businesses there are often harvesting or making the items just the day before or day of the Market!

Other benefit of shopping locally like this is that more of the money you spend goes directly back to the farmer. After Market fees and credit card fees are paid, the Farmer often keeps more of the money than if they sell directly to a wholesaler who will often take 30 percent or more of the sale. The Vendors that are there also frequently buy from one another and that means more money staying in your local economy to strengthen it.

I highly recommend you prioritize shopping local farmers markets during their season, here in PA you can typically find them running from May or June until September or October.

Here are a list of some of the local (to Becka’s Blooms) Farmers Markets:

(If there are any I’m missing, please add them to the comments! and if you aren’t from this area, you can still feel free to add the local markets to your area in the comments as the information in this blog can be searchable on the internet.

Market on the Farm- Belle Vernon, PA Wednesday 3-6pm May- October

Monongahela Farmers Market- Monongahela, PA Fridays 3-6pm

Canonsburg Farmers Market- Canonsburg, PA Tuesdays 3-6pm

Murraysville Farmers Market- Murraysville, PA Thursdays 3-7pm June-September

Rivers Bend Farmers Market-California, PA First Friday of the Month, June-September.