Tent Talk

Listen in for a little Telling Our Stories season wrap up. We're chatting about what we learned from these last nine episodes and from the guests that joined us. We're considering how we can contribute to the stories that other people are telling about farmers markets. We're developing messages that we can all come together to share, so that the joy of farmers markets is a story that everyone wants to tell.

We'll be back in a few weeks with a new season of Tent Talk. Until then, find us at FarmersMarketForum.com

REGISTER NOW: Early Bird tickets are available now for our first East Coast conference, the National Farmers Market Forum sessions at the 28th annual Future Harvest Conference in Silver Spring, Maryland. Click the Future Harvest logo on the Resource Page on the Farmers Market Pros website and join us January 20th to 23rd, 2027.

It's no surprise that social media influencers love farmers markets: how could they not? The backgrounds of fruit and vegetables and flowers piled high are beautiful. The food tastes amazing. It's a happy topic, with millions of built in fans. As market operators and small businesses, how do we let influencers know that we appreciate their interest and help them spread the word as accurately as possible? Tune in as we talk about:

• The multiplying value of sharing posts
• Some influencers we love
• Whether going viral is a good thing
• Using commenting for good
• Connecting with local influencers

REGISTER NOW: Early Bird tickets are available now for our first East Coast conference, as we host the Farmers Market Forum sessions at the 28th annual Future Harvest Conference in Silver Spring, Maryland, January 20th to 23rd, 2027. Register at futureharvest.org/2027conference/

We all know the value of capturing our farmers' and vendors' stories to strengthen connections between our markets and our communities. Megan Lovely took things in another direction when she set up a table at the 32nd Street Farmers Market in Baltimore, Maryland for more than a year and asked shoppers to tell their stories. She captured that experience in her book, Story Seeds: Growing Home at the Farmers Market. Join us for this episode as she shares:

• The strong value of farmers' markets' "weak ties"
• Creating and recognizing Third Places
• Realizing stories are made of small moments
• Learning from a shoppers' view of your market
• How to gather your market community's stories

Buy the book Story Seeds: Recipes for Community at recipesforcommunity.com

SAVE THE DATE: January 20th to 23rd, 2027 at our first East Coast conference, as we host the Farmers Market Forum sessions at the 28th annual Future Harvest Conference in Silver Spring, Maryland. Registration opens in late October.

Regenerative farmer Rachel Wilson is a woman of many projects. She consults with food systems groups and is a founding partner of Tomorrow's Homestead in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, incubating and supporting small scale producers. At her Wild Heart Farm she grows a variety of produce and sells it in a variety of ways: at an urban Philadelphia farmers market, and at her innovative After Hours Produce Club in local bars. Her approach to taking fresh food to people where they are is a story we're happy to share. Listen in as we discuss:

• Starting small and growing a farm
• Ditching handshake deals for detailed contracts
• Why farmers markets weren't part of the plan
• How a passionate market team enticed her to stay
• Popping up at local bars to attract new shoppers

SAVE THE DATE: It's conference time, January 20 - 23, 2027. Registration details coming soon.

Around here, we understand all the joys and all the challenges inherent in a Mother Daughter Duo business. At Birdie's Batch, Vinnie Cann buys the local fruit and makes the award-winning jams and her daughter Sara Cann bakes the cookies and crostatas that they sell at markets in New York's Hudson Valley. Sara also manages the marketing and media side, or did until a health crisis meant that she had to hand off some things. When current best practices call for storytelling and sharing founders' personalities, how to draw the line between the personal and the public. Listen in to this episode to hear how they manage it all, including:

• Dividing the duties in family business
• Tips for purchasing from local farmers: just buy it al
• lDeciding much personal information to share
• How a market community responded to a health crisis
• Selling yourself along with your product

This Wednesday, August 26th, more than 100 restaurants around the world will participate in Global Pay What You Can Day. At farmers markets in Southern California, Cheng Fang of Vegan Mirai has sold his vegan sushi since 2022, charging on a pay what you can basis every day. Cheng finds that his model provokes thought, intentionality, sometimes a little hostility, and increases a feeling of community. Listen in on our conversation while we discuss his experience and his plans for what's next, including:

• How market managers react to atypical businesses

• Discovering how customers decide what to pay

• Using transparency to keep followers engaged and supportive

• Training staff to explain your product and payment system

• Testing whether the money will follow if you do what you love

Add an annual fundraiser centered around garlic farmers and garlic-infused foods to an already full schedule of 8 weekly farmers markets, and you can see how operations director Kawai Bitto's job stinks. It's just a play on words, of course, one that North Union Farmers Market uses to promote Cleveland's 16-year old (and counting) Garlic Festival. Join us as Kawai tells us the story of the festival and the many ways that North Union celebrates and supports local farmers. We'll talk about:

• Using an annual event to support year-round market operations
• Maintaining a strict producer-only policy as a mission
• How North Union Farmers Market certifies its producers
• Partnering with local organizations to incubate new farmers
• How garlic ice cream, popsicles and soap attract raving fans

We're talking this season about Telling Our Stories and if there's one place that farmers markets and participants really can control the narrative it's in our email newsletters. These weekly updates remind folks to come to market, update them on special events, new products and what's in season and keep them coming back. Listen in this week as we discuss the ways to make your newsletters most effective and take the dread out of that weekly deadline:

• Prioritizing the 2 C's: Consistency and Content
• Keeping your newsletter fresh and relevant
• Using the most effective timing for calls to action
• Including farmers and vendors in your newsletter stories
• Including the vital info: your farmers market's day, time and location

Between National Farmers Market Week happening now and the hazards of eating lettuce, farmers markets are a hot topic and the media has come calling. It's exciting that they want to share our perspectives on things. Still, is all press good press? How do you know who's looking for an authentic story and who's angling for clickbait?

In today's episode we welcome Justine Marzoni-Mead, one of our original Tent Talk co-hosts, back to the podcast. Justine's career path lead from market hot sauce vendor to Farmers Market Pro to Public Relations Pro. She's the perfect person to help us learn the best ways to be sure that reporters get our stories right, and keep coming back for more. Listen in as we talk about:

• Designating a market spokesperson
• Being prepared with talking points and photos
• How to develop relationships with local media reps
• Making it easy for local associations to promote your market
• What to know when it's time to hire a PR professional

There's a lot of talk about farmers markets right now. We're on the front line of food safety. With big box grocery prices climbing we're now often the better bargain. National Farmers Market Week is upon us. Of course, more attention brings enthusiastic reviews and also clickbait and uninformed experts. So now, more than ever, we need to be speaking up, sharing tales from the tents, and educating our target audience: everyone who eats. In this new season of Tent Talk, Telling Our Stories, farmers, makers, farmers market managers and even some shoppers will recount their market journeys. We'll be suggesting some of the best ways that you can share your stories and respond to inaccurate reports. And we'll look at how we can all work together to be sure the important points get made, again and again. Tune in to this first episode of the new season as we discuss:

• When challenges are also opportunities, or how to discuss poop soup
• Keeping an eye on what's being said
• To respond or not to respond, that is the question
• Tuning in to what the public thinks, and sharing what we know