Spring is in full swing, and to celebrate the season and support local vendors, the Clatskanie Farmer Collective (CFC) will be holding a Spring Market in collaboration with the Clatskanie Garden Club.
The event will be held May 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be located at 80 NE Art Steele Street, adjacent to the Clatskanie Food Hub. The event will feature early-season produce, plant starts, hot food, warm tea, and live music.
CFC Program and Communications Manager Kelsey Engstrom gave some insight on what attendees can look forward to at the upcoming market. There will be about 16 vendors at the event, including 11 farmers, gardeners, and ranchers.
“We’re expecting to see a lot of little plant starts all around the market, especially with having 11 farmers coming,” Engstrom said.
One exciting opportunity attendees will have is access to a mobile microscopy lab operated by Maria Loper of Forest Aged. The lab is run out of Loper’s VW van, and it gives gardeners an in-depth look at the soil in their gardens.
“I’m telling everyone to bring soil samples so she can put your soil under the microscope and tell you a little bit about how your soil is doing and what to implement into it for better growing,” Engstrom said. “She also offers on-site composting herself, so she has a lot of other services that she does, but this will free testing if people want to do it.”
Some of the produce vendors will be The Wild Locals with Jun and hot food, Salty Sprig, Rainier Gardens Farm LLC, Alder Springs Farmstead, Fergus Farm, Hildaberry Permaculture Farm, Fernado’s Plants, Laughing Rabbit Farm, Spice and Tea Lab, and Fidler’s Fungus Farm. There will also be hair braiding by RainbowMarx Art and arts and crafts from Honey Heart Creations, Abundant Love, Sirtalis Studios, and Serious Moonlight Studios.
Engstrom said that the produce will include “a lot of greens,” rhubarb, purple broccolini, tea, and some others. Engstrom said that many of the vendors focus on plant starts, and that the Spring Market is specifically for those vendors.
“They might not show up to regular season [markets] because they might not have anything to sell because their criteria are plant starts to get everyone’s garden started,” Engstrom said. “Having this is really important so that the community can start their own garden, and have these little mini starts that are already good to go, and they don’t have to start from the seed.”
The market will be a collaborative effort between CFC and the Clatskanie Garden Club because the garden club mainly focuses on plant starts and plant sales. Engstrom said they wanted to work with the club because they have a strong base of gardeners, and involving them would strengthen the event.
Engstrom said that there have been spring markets in the past, as well as pop-up plant sale events, but that the Farmers Collective hopes to make it an annual event each year. As with many of the CFC initiatives, they hope the Spring Market will offer more than just the opportunity to buy plant starts or produce.
“This is an immersive, educational opportunity to get your garden started and to get into agriculture. You can come learn about your soil, and see what kind of microbes are in it. You can also buy plant starts to go start your own garden in your own backyard,” Engstrom said.
Find more information about the Clatskanie Farmers Collective at https://clatskaniefarmercollective.org.
Most Popular
Comments / 0