By Rebecca HuvalThe Daily Northwestern
After almost six months of Saturday-morning camaraderie, the winds of a chilly November storm forced vendors at the season’s final Evanston Farmer’s Market to hold their tents to the ground.
“You have a great winter,” a regular customer said to Teresa Santiago, owner of Teresa’s Fruit and Herbs. “May your fields be quiet.”
After the market ends, vendors retreat to their farms. Depending on what they sell, some start other seasonal jobs, some find fall farmers’ markets and others rely on the money they have made this season.
“It’s a matter of selling what you have, and you basically work toward the next year,” said Jeff Morlock, owner of J.W. Morlock and Girls fruit farm in Watervliet, Mich. “When the snow starts falling, it’s over with. You’ve got trees to trim, and it’s an awful lot of maintenance.”
Santiago also helps raise children. When the harvest ends, she tutors and teaches biology. But because her herbs are perennial and stay alive in winter, she tends to her farm between teachings.
“I’m still pruning, mowing, mulching and cover-cropping,” she said. “If I had to pick between the two, I would choose farming. I like working with my hands and meeting good people who like my food.”
Biology classes benefit from a farmer’s perspective, Santiago said. She brings her herbs to class and asks students to identify the plants. During photosynthesis and respiration lessons, she includes her knowledge of practical applications.
Roy Elko, owner of a greenhouse and dairy goat company in Cambria, Wis., said his business never stops because he milks goats all year. Yet Elko, who has sold his wares at the market since 1975, said he misses the Evanston Farmer’s Market.
“You never like it to end,” he said. “I don’t mind losing the drive, but I miss all the people. I always look forward to coming back.”
Elko, among other Evanston vendors, will be at a one-time Fall Farmer’s Market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 616 Lake St.
Faith Yarnoff, a 12-year-old vendor for River Valley Ranch who works alongside the ranch’s owners, also will be at the Fall Farmer’s Market selling mushrooms and sauces. Unlike Elko, Yarnoff said she’s ready for the market season to end.
“I hate the cold and standing out in it for six hours straight,” she said. “I’m a summer girl. In some ways, I feel relieved not to be getting up on Saturdays at four in the morning. But I miss the customers.”
Patrons at the Farmer’s Market said they miss the fresh produce and the opportunity to socialize when the season ends.
“Half of it for me is social,” said Emily Guthrie, 61, of Evanston. “I live in southeast Evanston, and I get to see people from southwest Evanston I wouldn’t see otherwise.”
Evanston resident Kate Sprague, 24, just started shopping at the Farmer’s Market after she graduated from Northwestern in June. She said she plans to become a regular customer at the market.
“Buying apples turned into buying bread turned into buying cheese turned into buying vegetables,” Sprague said.
“We have gone with friends for the past four weeks, and it’s nice because you’re outside and accomplishing something on a Saturday. It’s a reason to get up on Saturdays. I’m pretty sure we’ll be here on opening day.”
Reach Rebecca Huval at [email protected].
