DALLAS — Local goods and produce can be difficult to find in the winter as certain crops are no longer available and it gets too cold for outdoor farmers markets.
That means it can be nearly impossible or very expensive to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and other locally produced treats like raw honey, pure maple syrup, baked goods, jellies, meats, and soaps.
Luckily, all those items and more were available under one roof at the Meadows Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Dallas on Dec. 2 for the first indoor farmers market of the season.
Tina Carlin, of the Carlin Farm 4 Seasons Farm Market in Meshoppen, presided over a spread of late-harvest winter vegetables like cabbage, beets, squash, and even popcorn-on-the-cob.
“It’s all grown organically. Most of them are winter vegetables, except for the greens, which are raised in a greenhouse year-round,” Carlin explained.
“It’s better than buying vegetables in the grocery store because they have a better taste. The ones in the grocery store have been shipped about 1,500 miles to get to you, while this is all grown locally. There is a big taste difference.”
Mad Mallard Farm in Muncy Valley sells GMO-free, pasture-raised meats and natural body products made from goat’s milk.
“We do less business in the winter,” Krystal Guglielmi noted. “We go to festivals, we have a food truck and trailer … we go in the summer time to the Dallas Elementary School farmers market and sell our meats and sandwiches. An event like this helps sales in the winter.”
Other local vendors had plenty to offer, including Backwood Brittle, which makes all-natural, preservative-free nut brittle, Mrs. Fritz’s bakery, Pure Honey Products from Maple Hill Farms Apiaries and Rowland’s Pennsylvania Produce, a hydroponic greens farm that produces lettuce year-round without soil.
The market takes place in the Meadows community room on East Center Hill Road near Misericordia University. It’s held every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is open to the public.
