{"id":62632,"date":"2012-07-13T09:52:42","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T13:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=62632"},"modified":"2013-02-14T14:52:47","modified_gmt":"2013-02-14T19:52:47","slug":"first-farmers-market-off-to-a-great-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/07\/first-farmers-market-off-to-a-great-start\/","title":{"rendered":"First Farmer’s Market Off to a Great Start"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ethan<\/a>
Ethan Haggerty, dining services area assistant manager, was kept busy adding up purchases as visitors to the farm stand selected produce. (Jeff Gonci\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn\u2019s inaugural Farm Fresh Farmer\u2019s Market opened to long lines and happy consumers July 12. Nestled between the new classroom building and the back patio of the Student Union, the Market will be open for business from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday from now until the start of the fall semester, when it will move to Fridays until the end of the growing season.<\/p>\n

Director of Dining Services Dennis Pierce said the idea for a farmer\u2019s market is a natural progression in the University\u2019s efforts to provide healthful, locally grown foods in dining halls and caf\u00e9s on campus.<\/p>\n

\"UConn<\/a>
UConn Gold honey from the University’s own hives was a popular item that quickly sold out. (Jeff Gonci\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen we were going through the bidding process for our produce vendor, one of the items we considered was adding another point of sale through a farmer\u2019s market. From the number of requests for fresh, healthy food choices that Dining Services receives from faculty and staff, as well as the students, I had an idea that this is something that would go over well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The first choice for food sold at the Market is that which is locally produced, such as honey from UConn\u2019s own hives and fresh fruit and vegetables from the student-run Spring Valley Farm. The University\u2019s produce vendor, Fresh Point, will then also bring fruits and vegetables from other Connecticut farmers, and if necessary, will reach out to other states in the northeast to fill UConn\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

\"Apples<\/a>
Apples from an orchard in New York State. Produce sold at the farmer’s market comes from the closest available source within the region. (Jeff Gonci\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All items are marked with their point of origin. At Thursday\u2019s Market, there was honey from UConn, hot sauce from Woodstock, Conn., and summer squash from Northford, Conn. There was also a selection of green beans, peppers, and blueberries from New Jersey, as well as apples from New York State.<\/p>\n

There were a couple of items that had been ordered that were not available locally or within the region, and so consumers had to do without.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had hoped to have strawberries and grapes for our customers,\u201d said Ethan Haggerty, Dining Services\u2019 area assistant manager, \u201cbut Fresh Point couldn\u2019t provide them from local sources this week and we wouldn\u2019t go outside the region to get them. That\u2019s what sometimes happens when you want locally produced food. We\u2019ll do our best to respond to our customer\u2019s wishes, but sometimes we\u2019re just at the mercy of Mother Nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haggerty said there were over 100 sales at the first Market, and there were plenty of curious passersby who said they would be back next week. Sales are cash only, and although plastic bags are available, consumers are encouraged to bring recyclable bags to carry their purchases home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lines<\/a>
Lines formed early for the start of UConn’s first farmer’s market. (Jeff Gonci\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The farmer’s market is a convenient shopping place for faculty, staff, and students looking for fresh produce. (Jeff Gonci\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn’s first farm fresh farmer’s market drew appreciative crowds to sample healthful, locally grown produce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":62627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-62632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 05:28:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62632"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62898,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62632\/revisions\/62898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/62627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62632"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=62632"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=62632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}