Tent Talk

This week we celebrate 5 WHOLE YEARS OF TENT TALK! 🎉🎉🎉 It has been an absolute delight creating this podcast week after week, and it wouldn't be possible without you, our listeners! Come party with Catt and Brijet as they reminisce over:

• Our amazing guests and followers
• Swoon-worthy accents
• Helping markets and vendors world-wide
• What we've gained through all these meaningful connections
• The future of Tent Talk 👀

Today's episode of Tent Talk, the Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by InTents, the only national farmers market conference, coming back to San Diego, California March 4th-6th, 2024. Find your people, learn new things, discover valuable resources, and tune in to the power of the hive mind. Register now for super early bird pricing at: InTentsConference.com.

This week on Tent Talk, Cara Mae Wooledge of the Napa Farmers Market invites us into the world of successful fundraising for farmers markets. From sturdy tents to the compostable trash liners, it costs money to make a market go. It can feel uncomfortable asking your community to contribute financially to your market beyond simply shopping there. It helps to remember that it's not just a money ask, it's an invitation to be part of what we do, and an opportunity to grow community connection around local food. Follow along as Catt, Brijet, and Cara Mae discuss:

• Successful methods of outreach for fundraising
• Overhead costs of various fundraising methods
• What incentives most inspired the community to donate
• The hearts and minds dividend when people contribute

Today's episode of Tent Talk, the Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by Yiftee, creating and managing custom gift cards for your whole market or your entire community. Yiftee's Community Cards link your market's farmers and vendors to a single Gift Card to make it easier than ever to ensure people spend their money at local markets and shops.

Has anyone else been feeling exhausted lately? The weather has been all over the place from triple digits to alleged "hurricanes", and that makes scheduling farmers markets hard. It's been a long, busy season, and the holidays are right around the corner. We know being a grower, vendor, or market manager is not a job for the faint of heart. The danger of burnout is REAL, Y'ALL! Don't forget to make time for yourself and take a deep breath once in a while. We've gathered some tried and true tips from industry pros on how to conserve energy and set boundaries. Tag along as Catt and Brijet discuss:

• The frustration of navigating the changing climate
• Practical steps you can take to protect your time
• App & system recommendations that can make your job easier
• Scheduling self care into your busy routine

Today's episode of Tent Talk, The Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by Social Pilot, helping small farmers, food makers, and market managers keep up with social media posting. Regular posts that feed the algorithm help you reach shoppers more effectively, and scheduling in advance means better control of your schedule.

Are farmers markets a space for long term business success, or a springboard for your product to make it into wholesale? Short answer: yes. Long answer: It all depends on your product, your goals, and of course, your market. However, don't make the mistake of thinking wholesale is the only path to success. Tune in as Catt and Brijet dive into:

• The benefits of staying in Markets long term

• Common misconceptions about what it takes to sell at a Farmers Market

• Farmers Market to Wholesale success stories

• Common pain points in the transition process

• The hybrid option: por que no los dos?

• Things to consider when deciding what model is best for your business

Today's episode of Tent Talk, The Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by Square, helping small farmers, food makers, crafters, and market managers increase their incomes by making it easy to process credit and debit card sales on the street and in the tents.

This week on Tent Talk, Farmers Market Pros and InTents Conference founder Catt Fields White takes us inside the evolution of InTents: The National (actually, multi-national) Farmers Market Conference. From the start, the purpose of the InTents Conference has been to educate, connect, share, and build community in this wonderfully weird world of farms, food and event management! Because we all know, farmers markets are so InTents.

Listen for the inside track on:

• How the conference started and where it is now
• Who comes and who should come to InTents
• How to join the livestream online
• What's new for the 2024 conference
• How Farmers Market Pros is building a bigger tent

Join us at InTents, the Farmers Market Conference in March 2024. If you have knowledge to share with farmers market managers, participants and policymakers, submit your proposal now at www.conferencerfp.com A limited number of Super Early Bird tickets will be available on August 28th.

This week's episode is made possible by support from MarketWurks, the online platform for market management.

We're talking with James Grevious of Rebel Marketplace in Aurora, Colorado. He's creating neighborhood food security with the hyper local farmers market he has developed and managed, featuring urban gardeners and farmers. Listen in For James' views and tips on: • Intentionally developing and incubating urban farmers • Increasing community capacity from the inside vs outside intervention • Market growth pacing based on operator capacity • Funding education for farmers and vendors • Balancing financial security and community needs James started Rebels in the Garden, then the Rebel Marketplace farmers market, and now Urban Symbiosis, a non-profit focused on education and fundraising. Join us at InTents, the Farmers Market Conference in March 2024. If you have knowledge to share with farmers market managers, participants and policymakers, submit your proposal now at www.conferencerfp.com A limited number of Super Early Bird tickets will be available on August 28th. Today's episode of Tent Talk, the Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by The Kitchen Door, connecting food entrepreneurs throughout the US with well-organized and equipped shared-use kitchens.

Today we're chatting about what to wear and what not to wear at your farmers market. Find that perfect blend of comfort and creativity in staff uniforms to make your team stand out and be recognizable. Encourage your farmers and vendors to do the same for their teams.

Listen in as we discuss everything from punny t-shirts and safety vests to comfortable shoes and how we wish everyone from farmers and vendors to shoppers wore name tags. You look amazing!

Today's episode is supported by Blue Owl Promos, helping market managers and vendors create additional income streams by supplying branded tote bags, hats, water bottles, and staff uniform shirts to meet any budget.

InTents 2024 is March 4-6 in San Diego and proposals are open! Submit your ideas here.

B. Griffin, Farmers Market Support Program Manager for Community Farm Alliance, a non profit serving farmers markets throughout Kentucky. In this episode:

• B. gives us a rundown of the new Electronic Farmers Market Nutrition Program that was recently rolled out in Kentucky and the problem-solving efforts CFA has put into action.
• We also get an update on the impact last summer's floods in Kentucky had on their local food system and what the rest of the country can learn from their disaster response and relief efforts.

This week's episode is made possible by support from Farmers Market Coalition.

We'll be digging deep in some coming episodes on climate change and its impacts, and how we can plan ahead to manage our responses to natural disasters.

Are you a farmer or small food business trying to navigate finding spaces to sell at farmers markets? Are you a farmers market manager buried in application emails and trying to find the perfect needles in that haystack? In this episode we're chatting about how we process applications for our markets and approaches used by some of our fellow market managers. Yes, you can have an amazing product and still not be a perfect fit for a specific market. Learn how to narrow down your targets if you're a producer. Listen in to find ways to help a diamond in the rough shine if you're a market manager. Find tips on: • Telling managers everything they need to know about your business • Balancing your market's offerings • Application red flags • Helping new vendors launch successfully If you have knowledge to share with farmers market managers, participants, and policy makers, submit your proposal now at www.conferencerfp.com Today's episode of Tent Talk, the Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by Vendor-101, helping vendors launch and succeed, and streamlining the application process for managers. Find the help you need at www.Vendor-101.com

How do you learn and grow in your farmers market career? We met Jessica Mullen of South Carolina's Travelers Rest Farmers Market when she traveled to San Diego for InTents, the national Farmers Market conference. In this episode of Tent Talk, Jessica shares what she finds valuable about InTents and other conferences and networking with other market professionals. She's all about learning, and also about offering educational opportunities at her market. Listen in for Jessica's tips on: • Interactive programming for kids • Simple cooking classes at the market • Using data to educate your community • Funding education for farmers and vendors Check out the clever ways the Travelers Rest Farmers Market shares their impact. Jessica will be on stage at InTents, the Farmers Market Conference 2024. If you have knowledge to share with farmers market managers, participants and policy makers, submit your proposal now at www.conferencerfp.com Today's episode of Tent Talk, the Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by American Farmland Trust, protecting farm and ranch land to help foster a new generation of farmers. Voting in AFT's annual Farmers Market Celebration is underway now at https://markets.farmland.org