We got word yesterday that the April 3 market is now a GO. This will be the last winter season market, and will be at the Harris Pavilion and run from 9am – 1pm. Apparently enough vendors expressed interest in having the market that the managers said “Sure, why not.”
Pennington Market Farm will be there! We had actually been growing microgreens over the past couple weeks assuming that the April 3 market would happen. So we should have our usual complement of chicken eggs, duck eggs, microgreens, garden veggie starter plants, and potentially some of our first spring season harvest of salad / lettuce mix bags.
Spring season market begins right after winter season ends. The Thursday market (which we do not plan on attending) will be at the Harris Pavilion and run from 8am – 1pm, first date being April 8. The Saturday market (which we WILL attend) will be at the commuter parking lot across from Baldwin Elementary and also run from 8am – 1pm, first date being April 10.
Now that we’ve had our fill of administrivia… enjoy the rest of your week and hope to see you Saturday!
Just a quick schedule update: There will be no Manassas farmer’s market on April 3. Tomorrow’s 3/27 market is still on as scheduled (9am – 1pm) at the Harris Pavilion. The spring season Saturday market will begin April 10 and be down at the commuter parking lot across from Baldwin Elementary (8am – 1pm).
17-guage chain link fence top rail. For a planned 50-foot hoop house.
We have a few new / different things going on as we start gearing up for spring season…
The herb dabbling that we started this past summer has started to bear fruit via market sales, and so far, the feedback has been positive. We were initially bringing basil in small pots that were maybe 2″ square (technically 1020 tray inserts called 3601s). Those proved to be too small for the size of the plants… the basil would grow fairly tall, and the whole thing would be really unstable and frequently fall over, etc. So we potted up to 3.25″ square trays (called 1801s) and will soon be evolving to 4″ round pots. Anyway, the feedback has been good, and we’ve been selling out of the basil in these larger containers. And we’re also bringing cilantro now and that has been positive. So game on with herb pots as we move into spring.
We’ve also started offering “garden starters” at the market. These are those small 2″ pots that I mentioned above, but they contain single plants intended for transplanting into garden beds (or potting up and growing indoors). These are generally the same plants that we’re growing ourselves right now in the garden. All of the various salad mix veggies, plus others. In the coming weeks, we’ll be adding tomatoes and maybe eggplant to the starter lineup.
We’ve been gathering materials with intent to build a 50-foot hoop house for our tomato, cucumber, and eggplant production over the summer. Given that we’ll need to plant tomatoes late April / early May, I need to get off the couch and build this thing before too long. We obtained 38 10-foot chain link fence top rail pieces (pictured) and will need to bend them via a homemade jig (I think that’s the appropriate term). The hoop house will be on the order of 12 feet wide and will have probably 3 raised beds in it (2 for tomatoes, 1 for cukes and eggplant). There are companies that offer kits for this sort of thing, but I’m hoping that we can DIY this our own way at a cheaper cost. Probability of the hoop house blowing off its moorings and across the yard sometime this year is, by my estimate, on the order of 50%. We’ll see what happens!
Per our understanding, there are three more winter market dates (3/20, 3/27, 4/3), and then we transition to the main season market beginning 4/10. The winter market is still in the Harris Pavilion and runs from 9am – 1pm. The main season market will likely be back at the commuter parking lot across from Baldwin Elementary and run from 8am – 1pm (we’ll let you know if that ends up not being the case).
Feels like we’re starting to sound like a broken record. But alas… Tomorrow’s Manassas farmer’s market has been cancelled due to forecasted sub-freezing temperatures. Sounds like there’s also currently ice on the floor of the pavilion, which may not melt between now and then. Hope everyone has a good weekend, and we’ll hope for better conditions on Feb 27!
The Manassas farmer’s market managers have cancelled tomorrow’s market due to forecasted sub-freezing temperatures. We’ll hope for warmer temps next week! Have a good weekend, all!
Got word this afternoon that tomorrow’s farmer’s market has been cancelled due to the forecasted below freezing temps. We will now look ahead to next week and hope to see you on February 6! For folks who pre-ordered from us for pickup tomorrow, we’ll be reaching out here in a few minutes to each of you via email / text. Thanks!
Wanted to give a quick shout out to a couple great customers of ours, local chefs Ezie Junkala and Alessandra Innamorato! Ezie of Ezie & Emil has been coming by our stand since the beginning. Her personal catering menu changes weekly and features a wide range of flavors. And Chef Alessandra of The Feisty Feeder has an impressive culinary resume (she was Merv Griffin’s personal chef, no less!) and equally impressive globally-influenced catering menu. Please check out both of these fantastic local catering businesses!
Last week’s market was a cold one! (I mean, it is winter these days, so what are you gonna do.) Forecast for the 30th looks cold, dry, and sunny. The outdoor garden growth rate is probably at its lowest this time of year, and we harvested all we could last week, so we decided to give the garden a rest this week. So no salad or lettuce mix on the 30th. But plenty of microgreens and we should have some not-yet-reserved eggs out on the table at least at the start of the morning. And our “adult” basil (grown indoors) will also be attending via its heated bin.
Market is Saturdays from 9am – 1pm at the Harris Pavilion. Hope to see you!
Without the tent, our company sign is a bit awkward to put up. We plan to get a table runner -style sign soon, but for now, just look for the green tablecloths!
Buh bye, 2020! We resume weekly farmer’s market attendance tomorrow, January 9. Again, this winter season farmer’s market location is up at the Harris Pavilion in downtown Manassas. So this will be every Saturday from 9am – 1pm. Weather can be a factor this season, and we’ll send out notices for any adjustments as soon as we get them.
Aside from true summer crops like tomatoes and peanuts, we have pretty much everything else available from our repertoire. We grow our salad / lettuce mixes under two layers of protection in the garden, so we’re still getting some decent output from that crop. Always microgreens aplenty and the birds keep on doing their thing with eggs. The chickens have slowed slightly… maybe going through a molting period. But, as always, if you’d like eggs and we happen to be sold out, you’re welcome to ask and we can put you on the list for next time, etc.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday season. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow and/or in the weeks ahead!
Hopefully all is well under cover after the Wednesday precipitation medley.
The latest news from the market managers is that the winter Manassas farmer’s market will be held in the Harris Pavilion (9201 Center Street, Manassas, VA 20110), and not the usual commuter parking lot across from Baldwin Elementary. So this will be Saturdays from 9am – 1pm, first date being this coming Saturday (12/19). The date schedule that I’ve posted a couple times still holds, as do our associated attendance plans.
We don’t yet know where our location will be within the pavilion, but you should be able to find us if you just look for the green tablecloths. Plenty of lettuce and salad mix this week, and the ducks are producing more eggs these days. Should have all of our usual stuff! Hope to see you there!
