The final winter market brought many vendors and visitors to the high school’s Agriscience Center on February 9, and as usual the affair was more of a bazaar than a farm market. Only two farms were selling vegetables: Suffield’s Simpaug and Enfield’s Easy Pickin’s. Cupola Hollow Farm was there, but their booth, with a wide variety of delicious preserves, candy, syrup, etc., didn’t include the fresh greenhouse vegetables, apples, eggs, and well-stored root vegetables offered by Simpaug and Easy Pickin’s.
The bazaar aspect of the market is the gathering of part-time vendors offering diverse items like knit and woven work, jewelry, clothing accessories, coffee mugs, wrap-chaps, woodcraft, naturally-flavored twigs for rabbits to chew on, and other interesting doo-dads. Julie Simmons also brought a rabbit to do some chewing and entertain the children. Some kids visited the adjacent Agriscience room to see the chickens, too. Agriscience students offered coffee and donuts.
An important feature of the winter market/bazaar is the pleasant sociability of meeting and greeting old friends in person, not through social media. That’s a benefit not to be casually dismissed these days.