Northampton Winter Fare
Saturday, January 14th, 2011

Bring your shopping bags and stock up on fresh salad greens, root vegetables, local grains and bread, eggs, meat, cheese, yogurt, maple syrup, honey, jam, pickles, and more, all grown by local farmers. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)

Claire Morenon, CISA Program Coordinator writes:

CISA’s Winter Fare, a vibrant, diverse farmers’ market and community event, is coming to Smith Vocational High School in Northampton on January 14th, 2012 from 10am-2pm. Winter Fare is a celebration of the amazing local food that is available year-round in the Pioneer Valley, bringing together vendors from winter farmers’ markets around the Valley to kick off the new year.

Twenty-two vendors, including many from the weekly winter farmers’ markets in Amherst and Northampton, the bimonthly winter market in Springfield, and the once-monthly market in Greenfield, will be present with their goods to inspire shoppers to make farmers’ markets a regular part of their winter routine.

CISA strongly believes that healthful, local food should be available to everyone in the community, so Northampton Winter Fare will accept SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps), and CISA will be matching the first $10 of all SNAP purchases. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)

In addition to perusing the array of local foods, shoppers can attend one of the several educational workshops scheduled during the market. Topics include home food preservation, cheese and yogurt-making, and herbal medicine. All the workshop leaders are local people who practice these skills at home, and the workshops are free and do not require pre-registration.

At 11am, the Soup Café will open for business so shoppers can take a break and enjoy a hot cup of soup made from local ingredients by Local Hero restaurants. Bring your own mug to help us reduce waste.

The Barter Market, a fun, lively food-swapping event, begins at 1pm. Bring your own home-preserved foods and trade with your neighbors to diversify your pantry and get to know other people that can, dry, and freeze the local harvest.

More details about Winter Fare, including complete lists of vendors and workshops, are available at www.buylocalfood.org. Volunteers are still needed to make this event possible! Please contact CISA at 413-665-7100 or claire@buylocalfood.org to sign up or for more information. 

The weekly winter farmers’ markets in Northampton and Amherst will be closed on January 14th. Northampton Winter Fare is sponsored by River Valley Market and UMassFive College Federal Credit Union.

CISA is a nationally recognized organization of farmers, community members and advocates working together to strengthen local agriculture by building connections between farmers and the community. Founded in 1993, CISA runs a number of innovative programs, including Senior FarmShare and the Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown public awareness campaign. Learn more about CISA at http://www.buylocalfood.org or call 413-665-7100.