Tent Talk

Our guest this week is Sarah Marshall, creator, owner, and producer of Marshall's Haute Sauce, author of Preservation Pantry: Modern Canning From Root To Top & Stem To Core, and vendor at the Portland State University Farmers Markets. In our conversation Sarah shares about her background in canning and preservation, how she found her place at the farmers market, and where she gets inspiration for new recipes. This episode will inspire you to get creative in the kitchen!

Our Tent Talk guest this week is Neal Gottlieb, founding twin and CEO of Three Twins Ice Cream. Neal shared with us the story behind his ice cream empire, the value of staying in farmers markets while also operating brick & mortar locations, and how giving back is part of the Three Twins brand. In this episode you'll learn about what it takes to scale a product from farmers market to national grocery chains.

For this week's episode we had the pleasure of speaking with Brent Preston of The New Farm. Brent is a farmer and the author of The New Farm: Our Ten Years on the Front Lines of the Good Food Revolution. He told us about his experience finding his true calling in life and how he was able to build an organic farm that is environmentally and financially sustainable. In this episode we also tackle some big questions about the future of farming and re-thinking our current food systems.

This week's guest is Alli Ball, creator of Retail Ready and Allison Ball Consulting. Alli teaches classes and provides one-on-one consulting for all types of food businesses. On this episode Alli shares her tips for breaking into the retail scene, ways for food makers to find the voice of their brand, and how to have a rockin' display at the farmers market. If you're a farmers market vendor curious about selling your products to stores, this episode is for you!

On this week's episode of Tent Talk, instead of interviewing a farmers market expert, we made good use of our own expertise and answered some tricky farmers market questions we received from vendors. In this episode you'll get advice from the Tent Talk hosts on various issues that vendors face. Listen along for tips on differentiating your product from other vendors', solidifying your prices, finding your bearings in a new market, and what information to include on your labels.

For this week's episode we were joined by Forrest Pritchard of Smith Meadows Farm and author of Gaining Ground, A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food and Saving the Family Farm. Forrest is a sustainable farmer and New York Times bestselling author. Forrest told us the story of saving his family's farm, explained the impact of farmers markets on farm profitability, and shared how he's able to manage his career as a farmer and an author. This episode is inspirational, yet down-to-earth - it may be the push you need to become a farmer, or to finally sit down and pound out that book you've always dreamed of writing!

On this week's episode of Tent Talk, our guest is Kelly Foss, Director of the Downtown Farmers' Market in Des Moines, Iowa. Kelly shared with us her strategy for slowly but surely growing her market from about 40 vendors to nearly 300! We also learned about her new role at the Farmers Market Coalition and what they've got planned for the 2018 National Farmers Market Week. This episode contains some helpful leadership advice from a pro farmers market manager!

For Episode 5 we had the chance to sit down with Nick Burton from Paris, Texas. Nick is owner of Victory Gardens Farm and Victory Lunch Club, and founder of State of the Soil. He's also the creative director for Bootstrap Farmer and co-hosts a podcast called Bootstrap Farmer Radio. In this episode you'll hear Nick's perspective on selling value added products and the benefits of having your own commercial kitchen. We also talk boot-strapping, side-hustling, and mocktail-drinking!

In this week's episode we chat with Chris Quinlan, the market manager of the Whistler Farmers Market in British Columbia. Chris gave us the run down on how he manages a busy farmers market in a location where the growing season for produce is short. He also sheds light on the pain points of market managing that led him to launch the software company MarketWurks. Chris inspired us to think of techie solutions to farmers' market conundrums!

This is the intro episode of your new favorite farmers market podcast! In the first episode of Tent Talk hosts Brijet Myers, Justine Marzoni-Mead, and Catt Fields White explain how they came to be a part of the farmers market world and why they stayed. Learn about what makes farmers markets special.