FARM TO TABLE
Residents look to local farms for their Thanksgiving food
Dozens of people milled about Gilbertie’s Herbs and Garden Center in Westport on Tuesday for the special holiday version of the Westport Farmers Market.
Smells of herbs, spices, foods and fresh bread permeated the air of the greenhouses cleared out for the various booths and stands of local food production businesses and farms, including some from Easton. Many of the people there said they were looking to buy some local products for part of their Thanksgiving meals.
Al Popp, the owner of Sport Hill Farm in Easton, said business has been going all right this year heading into the holidays. He
said he has seen growth in the number of people who want to buy locally grown food over the past few years.
“Especially in Westport, they seem to be interested in trying to buy local as best they can,” he said. “Most people find that supporting local farms is what’s going to keep this country going. Without the farms, you’re not going to eat. The more we can support the local guys, the better off we are.”
Elissa Moses, a Westport resident, said she loves that the market gives people the opportunity to buy freshly made food or organic produce. A baguette under her arm, she said she planned to use it as part of an appetizer spread for Thanksgiving.
“I’m going to toast it and make some different kinds of hors d’oeuvres,” she said.
Ken Aarons, a Norwalk resident, said he always comes to the farmer’s market, and it’s always fun. He said he had bought broccoli and bread for Thanksgiving, which he noted was going to be lowkey in his household this year.
“I prefer to eat locally as much as possible,” he said, noting for him local means the same climate zone. “This modern world forces you to eat stuff from Peru all the time, from Chile, and that’s OK, but it’s kind of out of balance. It’s not supposed to be that way.”
Marcie Goldman, a Westport resident, said she wanted to bring something local and fresh to her Thanksgiving table, noting she was looking for green beans but was unable to find them. Still, she said, she thinks buying local foods is important.
“It’s the freshest and healthiest,” she said. “It supports workers and farmers and it’s a lot of fun. It’s less crowded than the stores too.”
Aside from sides, other area farms not at the market are providing the main dish for people’s thanksgivings. One such business is Shaggy Coos Farm from Easton, which has turkeys this year that were raised on a pasture and range from six to 30 pounds.
Lori Cochran-Dougall, the executive director of the Westport Farmer’s Market, said interest in buying local foods ebbs and flows. She said the holidays are usually a time of flow, but also noted that there has been an influx of new residents
“It trickles down a lot more than being sucked into some multi-national, off-shore (business). It’s really important for our economy to keep those dollars locally. It’s $4 billion — that’s what Connecticut agriculture generates to the state’s economy. That’s an important component of the investment in your community.” Bryan Hurlburt, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture
to the area that are used to shopping at farmers markets.
Cochran-Dougall said one new thing she is seeing is creative prepared foods served locally, such as Plantidote, which makes a veggie patty from local grains and vegetables. She said food production in the state is getting elevated by these new businesss, but farmers are also adapting to the push for more locally grown foods.
“We’re now in our 13th year of the winter farmer’s market,” she said. “When I started this, we were one of the only winter markets in the state, and farmers weren’t growing for the winter. Now, we have an average of 25 vendors every single week and a rotating (selection) of other vendors and food trucks. All of our prepared food has a minimum of one locally grown ingredient in it.”
Cochran-Dougall said the special holiday market always has a festive flair, with people coming home to be with family. It has a sweet essence this year, she said.
“People are ready to celebrate,” she said. “I think the last few years have taught us that we need to count our blessings.What better way to do it than starting at a local farmer’s market.”
A self-described huge advocate of supporting local, Cochran-Dougall said shoppers’ dollars really go back into the community, compared to buying from a national chain grocery story.
“These people are paying staff a living wage. They are treating the land fairly,” she said. “They care about your body. They care about your family. Everything from a moral value to a financial value is met by supporting local.”
Carrie Gilbertie, the owner of Gilbertie’s, which has its store in Westport and greenhouses in Easton, said she has definitely seen an increase in people buying local foods.
“I think our customers, our clientele, they definitely are into shopping locally,” she said. “We carry local products — New England products. There’s always a big bump before the holidays. I’ve never seen a Tuesday before Thanksgiving market this busy.
Bryan Hurlburt, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, said that while his department does not have data to go off of, they have seen more winter farmers markets popping up recently.
“It used to be Halloween-ish was the end for a number of farms and farm stands,” he said. “Now, they are growing more squashes and more root vegetables. That is one indicator to gage.”
People are looking to buy local, Hurlburt said,
adding the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in a lot of folks desire to support members of their community.
“People want to buy more goods more locally, and spend their dollars where they’re valued a little bit more,” he said. “Yes — more people are buying more (local) food for their holiday meals.”
Hurlburt said the department has an advertisement running on TV right now that aims to remind residents that it is not just about fresh produce and traditional summer vegetables.
“You can buy cheeses. You can buy beer. You can buy wine. You can buy yarn and fabrics,” he said. “There are other things that you can add to your holiday celebrations that are Connecticut grown and support Connecticut farms. It may not be the Brussels sprouts, but it may be the cocktails. That’s still a great way to support our farms.”
Hurlburt said his department re-deployed the Connecticut Grown campaign about a year and a half ago, adding their metrics show those ads have made more than 100 million impressions. He said supporting local farms is no different than
supporting any other local business, and the impact a dollar spent at one is five times greater than one spent at a national chain, as it re-circulates in the community.
“It trickles down a lot more than being sucked into some multi-national, off-shore (business),” he said. “It’s really important for our economy to keep those dollars locally. It’s $4 billion — that’s what Connecticut agriculture generates to the state’s economy. That’s an important component of the investment in your community.”
There are other benefits to supporting local farms, Hurlburt said, including mitigate the effects of climate change. He said working land means more carbon sink and more nitrate filtration, adding open fields also provides habitat for wildlife. Connecticut farms also contribute to the character and heritage of the state.
“If you don’t seek out those opportunities, those businesses go away and we will lose those opportunities,” he said.