Tag Archives: artisans

Farmers Market hosting local Farmers, Bakers and Artisans

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Fresh picked lettuces and radishes from Colvin Family Farm

Farmers are early birds. Up early in the morning, planting early crops, working early on the farm. So it makes perfect sense that the summer season of the Franklin Farmers Market starts early too. That’s what happened this past Saturday with a market packed with farmers, bakers and artisans. There were a lot of familiar faces, but many new ones too. It was a “berry” good day, with lots of strawberries to take home and enjoy. Music was back at the market too and choice of good fresh food was practically overwhelming.  From Greek pastries to asparagus, goat cheese to tender steaks, the FFM had everything you needed for the perfect meal.

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Fresh baked from Olive Tree Bakery

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Market Lettuces stay fresh in your refrig much longer

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Somebody loves her some Strawberries

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Fresh organic asparagus from Delvin Farms

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Farm fresh eggs from River Cottage Farm

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Nutritious Kale from Bloomsbury Farm

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Just picked Strawberries from FFM farmers

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Chef Cyndi Shalhoub demonstrating her culinary skills with fresh market produce

Speaking of the perfect meal, Saturday was the chance to try out new ways with old favorite. It was our first Chef Saturday at the market and Chef Cyndi Shalhoub was on hand, showing how to prepare three different recipes with some of your favorite veggies and handing out delicious samples to try.

Chef Saturday at the FFM will take place the first Saturday of every month at the market and it’s a great way to learn new recipes for summertime veggies and fruits.

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Beaverdam Creek Farm offers CSA’s along with many other FFM farms

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Herb starter plants from Kirkview Farm

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Kale and Strawberry salad by Chef Cyndi

It surely would not be summer if you didn’t fire up the grill. So that’s what we’re going to do this upcoming Saturday. May 10th is Grill Day at the FFM and it’s the perfect chance for you to sample great cuts of meat from farmers at the market. The ultimate grill master, Chef Jeff Lunsford of the Hearth and Grill Shop will have several grills fired up, including the dream grill of every backyard chef – the Big Green Egg. Sample beef, pork, lamb, chicken and sausage, deliciously grilled by Chef Jeff. It’s the perfect way to start summer at the FFM – yes, it’s good to be the early bird!

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A happy Delvin Farm CSA pick up of organically grown veggies

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Artisan soaps and creams from Beaverdam Creek Farm

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Starter plants available from many local farms

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Beautiful long lasting fresh picked spring flowers are now available from Sue’s Flowers each market Saturday!

Franklin Farmers Market Seeking More Room for Fast Growing Market, Poll Included

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Local Families enjoy shopping for local farm fresh produce each Saturday of the year

Since the Franklin Farmers Market opened in 2002, we’ve always called the Factory our home. But a lot of things have changed in the past 12 years. Instead of 8 farmers, we have over 70 farms at the market throughout the year plus local artisans, prepared food vendors and food trucks which makes the market a pretty popular place to go on Saturday mornings. It’s great that so many of you support local foods and local farms and we enjoy seeing everybody each week.

Rocky Glade Farm

Rocky Glade Farm sold out of their produce by 11am many days

Zadok the Natural Farmer

Zadok the Natural Farmer is a popular stop for farm fresh veggies

Bloomsbury Farm

Bloomsbury Farm is one of many farmers known for their Heirloom Tomatoes

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A long line of customers waiting for Ellie’s Old Fashioned Doughnuts

We love our home at the Factory. We’ve been there over a decade and it’s been a great place for us to be in. The Factory has been diligently listening to our growth needs along with what improvements can be made to make it the best location for you and our farmers. The market board is in active discussions with Factory officials about extending our lease and what can be done to make things easier for access to the market.

Franklin Farmers Market traffic

During peak Spring and Summer months there is a long line of cars lined up for entrance into the market

Lucy's Kitchen

The aisles under the shed crowd quickly starting in early spring

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Even our vendor tents next to the shed get really busy

We also have been looking at other possible locations for the market, including the Bicentennial Park location, which is two blocks off the downtown square of Franklin. Some of you may remember it as the old boot factory location on North Margin Street. There’s a lot of activity going on in the area, including the 3rd Avenue extension project, which gives the park easy access from Hillsboro Road as well as downtown routes. We appreciate all the efforts from the City of Franklin in offering us new possible market locations.

But would that be a good home for the market? Is there a better location or is our current home at the Factory the best place for the market?

We’ve listed a few questions below and would love to hear your thoughts.  Thank you for supporting our Tennessee farmers and Artisans who work hard to bring the best quality produce, meats, baked goods and Artisan Crafts each Saturday to market.

The Polls are now closed, thank you everyone for voting and leaving your valuable comments. 

 

How satisfied are you with parking for the Franklin Farmers Market (FFM) during our peak Spring, Summer and early Fall times?

  • Always plenty of parking (9%, 16 Votes)
  • I can find parking if I come early or late (52%, 97 Votes)
  • It's too congested to get into the parking lot quickly (30%, 55 Votes)
  • I've stop coming because of the lack of parking (10%, 18 Votes)

Total Voters: 186

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How is your shopping experience during our peak Spring, Summer and early Fall times?

  • There's plenty of room to shop among the vendors (2%, 3 Votes)
  • It's crowded but I don't mind the crowds (37%, 70 Votes)
  • I come early to beat the crowds (45%, 84 Votes)
  • I've stop coming because it's too crowded under the shed (16%, 30 Votes)

Total Voters: 187

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How long have you been a FFM customer?

  • Since the beginning in 2002 (21%, 44 Votes)
  • 5 years or more (31%, 64 Votes)
  • 3 years or more (24%, 50 Votes)
  • 1 year or more (20%, 40 Votes)
  • I'm a newbie, less than a year (3%, 7 Votes)
  • Never have visited the FFM (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 205

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Christmas Shoppers buy up Winter Greens, Baked Goods and Artisan Crafts

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Beautiful fresh produce from Paradise Produce

With the extremely windy weather, it’s a thousand wonders that spinach and other winter greens were not flying across the shed at the Franklin Farmers Market this past Saturday. It was a challenge for the farmers and artisans to get their booths set up and ready to go without blowing across the parking lot, but it was worth it as many people came out to do the last minute shopping for Christmas.

Lots of bundles of carrots and radishes, along with spinach, green onions and garlic were picked up to prepare special holiday dishes.

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Sweet Tennessee Carrots from Paradise Produce

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Fresh picked Green Onions from Gardner Grove

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Organic Garlic, Radishes and Spinach from Delvin Farms

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New Stone Ground Cornmeal and Grits from Beaverdam Creek Farm

And Beaverdam Creek Farm’s new stone-ground cornmeal and grits were very popular items too. Then there were all of the absolutely delicious baked goods. Flying S Farm special decorated holiday cookies were a big hit. So was the incredible Polish bread and Stollen from Jones Mill Farm and the special sweet pastries from Lucy’s Kitchen.

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Fresh baked muffins from Lucy’s Kitchen…Hi Lucy!

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Flying S Farms’ home baked Christmas Cookies

Lots of stocking stuffers were snatched up too, like the Totty’s Bend Farm Goat Soap and Creekbend Herbs lavender sachets. The beautiful jewelry from Rockin’ Robin was also picked up by many.

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Totty’s Bend Goat Milk Soap

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Hand made artisan jewelry from Baya Designs

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Beautiful beaded necklaces from Rockin’ Robin

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Soy candles in recycled hand cut wine bottles

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Miniatures by Philip

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Custom made signs from Tom the Barn Wood Sign Guy

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Elevated Gardens for small and large places

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Handcrafted artisan jewelry from Antlers

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Wooden kitchen cutting boards from Cody’s Woodworks

Several people stopped by the info booth to ask what name has been given to the little calf at Triple L Ranch. He’s still without a name, but you can change that. Take a look at the top seven names chosen for the little fellow and vote for your favorite. We’ll announce the winning name for the calf on January 19th, so vote for his new name now by clicking here.

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Local customer picking up their final CSA for 2013

And for those of you asking if we are taking off the weekend after Christmas and before New Year’s Eve, the answer is no. The Franklin Farmers Market will be open this upcoming Saturday and every Saturday throughout the winter (and summer!) for you. The only change will be the winter market hours in 2014. Saturday December 28th, the market will be open 8am – noon. In January, the winter market hours will change to 9am –noon.

Despite the windy weather, this past Saturday was a good day at the market. But perhaps the best thing of all was the many holiday hugs and Christmas greetings, making it a very special day. From our family to yours, we wish a very Merry Christmas!

 

Family Farm Fun visits the FFM Invasion of the Scarecrows!

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Posing with the King Farm’s giant cat

From a giant cat holding a crow, to the minions from Despicable Me, it all made for a weird, but wonderful day at the market last Saturday. The Invasion of the Scarecrows took place and even though it was a cloudy, chilly day, everyone had a great time.

Kids picked up over 300 free pumpkins in the special pumpkin patch and then painted wild colors on their pumpkins and faces too.

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Got to decorate those pumpkins!

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There were free pumkins for kids

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It’s perfectly painted!

And our friends from Williamson Medical Center set up a great free photo booth so everyone could take home photos from the Scarecrow Invasion.

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Market manager Deb Grant and the WMC team

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Just got the free family photo from Williamson Medical Center!

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Judges Brandy Blanton, Stephanie Clark and Nancy Williams awarded Noble Springs Dairy 1st place.

The scarecrow contest between the farmers and artisans was really something to see. Judges Nancy Williams, director of the Downtown Franklin Association, Brandy Blanton, publisher of Southern Exposure Magazine and Stephanie Clark of Williamson Medical Center had a tough time picking the winner of the contest, but in the end Noble Springs Dairy Farm won the grand prize with two goat scarecrows defending their garden against the crows. Beaverdam Creek Farm’s Despicable Me display with Gru and the Minions as scarecrows won 2nd place. And Bloomsbury/Spring Meadow Farms won 3rd with their Duck Dynasty scarecrow, complete with live ducks!

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Beaverdam Creek won the 2nd place prize

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Bloombury Farm’s Duck Dynasty took 3rd place

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The Barkers Market scarecrow

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Triple Springs Farm’s ghost

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Purple Tree Farm’s Witchy Woman

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The best dressed group of scarecrow winners

There were live scarecrows roaming the market too. These three from Zadock the Natural Farmer, took home the first place prize for the best dressed scarecrows.

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It was a fun day at the market!

All in all, it was a wacky fun day for everyone at the Franklin Farmers Market!  Click here to view all the photos taken on Saturday, you just might see yourself!

New Franklin Farmers Market Website Launched!

We needed more elbow room. So we’ve moved out of our old website and into a new one. What do you think about it? We’ve still got a few things to take care, like all the stories on the farmers and artisans. And we plan to add a lot more photos too. But it’s a nice, clean website that’s easy to navigate and it has room to grow. Let us know what you think about the new Franklin Farmers Market website. Shoot us an email and tell us what stories and info you’d like to see on the market website!