Thanksgiving Holiday Indoor Market Featuring MANY of our Favorite Vendors!

[Article written by Melrose Farmers Market Manager Cindy Chabot, with a few edits and adaptations for the Wakefield crowd.  :) ]

 Just when you thought the season was over! Thanks to the folk who run the Melrose Farmers Market, we will be able to visit many of our favorite Wakefield Farmers Market vendors at the upcoming Thanksgiving Harvest Festival. This indoor farmers market will take place on Sunday, November 24 from 12-4pm at Memorial Hall, 590 Main Street in Melrose.  This special holiday market will be host to over 20 vendors featuring locally grown or produced foods as well as gift items. You can get all your holiday fixings and work on your holiday gift shopping, too.

Here is what is in store: First, a turkey. Shady Pine will take orders for your fresh, free-range turkey on that Sunday or you can order in advance by emailing shadypinefarm@verizon.net or calling (774) 200-0084. The turkeys will be delivered by owner/farmer Julie to a location in Melrose on the morning of Wednesday November 27. Julie is also bringing organic cranberries from Clover Hill Farm of Hardwick, where they grow their cranberries in dry bogs.

Next, fresh fruits and vegetables to fill your table.  Dick’s Market Garden will have his plethora of fresh produce, including a dozen varieties of apples (including honey crisp, Macoun, Matsu, Empire, Cameo, Brock, Jona Gold, Staymen Wine Sap, Melrouge, Golden Delicious), potatoes (including Yukon Gold, White, and Red Bliss), onions, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, greens, turnip, squashes (Acorn, Butternut, Buttercup, Delicata, Sugar Pumpkin, Spaghetti, Hubbard), carrots, beets, celery root, Brussel sprouts, and greenhouse tomatoes.

Winter Moon Farm, a regular at the Somerville Winter Farmers Market, is coming with their winter root vegetable crop. For those into the technicalities, Their barn is fitted with 158 solar panels that generates 45 megawatts of power which mostly goes back into the grid and is kept cool by a highly complex cold air exchange that uses a minimum carbon footprint. They even use a bicycle driven trailer for their local deliveries, but Michael Doctor, who runs the farm noted that Melrose is a bit too far from Hadley to go by bicycle. The barn stores his 10-acre farm's harvest of organic carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, radishes, and sweet potatoes that they grow each summer.

New to the local farmers market circuit, Long Wind Farm from Vermont will be bringing their delicious greenhouse-grown organic tomatoes, quite a specialty item for November.

As you plan your Thanksgiving feast, don’t forget to have some quick and easy menu items to tide you over the few days before the holiday. We are happy to report that The Fish Lady will be at the market with her wonderfully fresh seasfood. What can be easier than grilling or baking a quick fresh fish dish?  Or, how about some fresh pasta from Fior d’Italia? Vic Tirrito makes his pasta fresh daily using as many local ingredients as possible. Pasta makes a great side dish at Thanksgiving too!

Okay, back to your Thanksgiving preparations.  There will be all sorts of condiments available, including preserves from Coutts Specialty Foods, salsas from Pam’s Black Bean Salsa, and hot pepper jelly from Stir it up Cuisine.  Doves and Figs will offer fall, winter, and cranberry jams as well as gift packages.

West River Creamery from Londonderry, Vermont will also be at the market with their award winning cheeses, including some of their special high end products. The farm has about 40 milking cows on over 200 acres of land and West River Creamery owners Jane and Charlie Parent make their aged cow’s milk cheese from raw milk.  They also use their neighbor’s goat’s milk to make fresh goat cheese.  They raise their cows on grass and don’t give their cows rBGH hormones to get them to artificially produce more milk.

And now for the baked goods. Cannistraci Fine Foods will bring their breads, popovers and pies. Rett’s Home Baked Goodies will be bringing their cookies, cupcakes, sweet loaf breads, muffins, apple crisp & gift baskets. Loretta of Rett’s will be using the fresh sweet apples from Dick’s Market Garden! And Swiss Bakers, back for this special event, will bring apple tarts, which have 50% less calories than pies, rolls, cookies, pretzels and Berliners.  You can order ahead as well!

You wouldn’t even consider buying someone else’s pies, you say?  Well, have you tried Melrose’s own Just Add [fruit] pie crusts?  Jacq prepares pie crusts that you can fill with whatever you like.  Her double pie crusts are made from all-local and all-natural ingredients – simply flour, butter, and honey.  The flour comes from Four Star Farm out of Northfield, Mass. which uses a specially grown grain for pastries and does not use GMO seeds.  Her pie crusts are flaky and delicious!

To round out your holiday feast, how about some locally made confections?  Spindler Confections in Somerville makes sweets of all kinds including caramels, brittles, fudge and chocolates. To end, a cup of a specially mixed organic tea blend from Soluna Garden Farms is a perfect way to top off a satisfying meal. Soluna Garden Farms also offers fresh herb and salt blends.

And don’t forget about your furry best friends.  Emmett’s Edibles will be at the market with her best dog treats.

You’re visiting someone else’s house for Thanksgiving, you say?  We have some perfect gifts you can bring with you.  How about some table placemats from Sarah’s Originals or crafts from Mary Ellen Crafts? And, one of Wakefield’s newest vendors, Little Lemon Boutique, will be there with adorable hair accessories and hats for children.  Also, Rick of Beverly Farms Soapwerks will have glycerin soaps, shampoos, and hand creams for sale.

And that’s not all!  During the day, there will be a variety of talks and food demonstrations.  At 12:30, Whole Foods Market in Melrose will prepare a cranberry themed dish.  At 1:30, Jesse Davis from Davis Chiropractic will talk about “Stress Less Holidays”.  And at 2:30, Dr. Witkowski from WIWAT will demonstrate special “Holiday Wraps”.

To keep up to date on Melrose’s first special Thanksgiving Market, go to our website at melrosefarmersmarket.org, on Facebook at Sally Frank’s Farmers’ Market,and on Twitter at #MelroseSFFM.  See you at the market!