Page 11 - FEB2024

February 2024
Page 11
Community
Danbury resident Evelyn Pagella was busy spinning wool while skeins of her yarn and other finished products were offered for sale during the January Winter Market at Blazing Star Grange #71 in Danbury. Other demonstrations, food items, and local vendors can be found at the market on the first Saturday of each month until May, from nine until noon.
NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM
Discover Danbury Winter Market:
By Donna rhoDes
For almost two decades, Blaz- ing Star Grange #71 in Danbury has hosted a Winter Market that has drawn those who love fresh foods, locally sourced meats, and goods both produced and crafted by nearby residents. As one of the first in the region to host a Win- ter Market, the Grange has been so successful in their effort that in the winter of 2017, the organiza- tion was presented with a procla- mation from the New Hampshire State Senate, congratulating their long-standing success and wish- ing them well in the future.
Market Manager Donna Sprague and Grange Man- ager Trisha Taylor oversee the monthly market. Their purpose is to provide local producers the opportunity to be “value-added,” where they not only raise chick- ens, cattle, sheep, and goats or tend to their bee hives but take it one step further by bringing the products they also obtain through their labors to the mar-
Local Delights in the Winter Season
ket each month.
The Danbury Winter Market
was formed when Sprague said she saw the many repeat custom- ers who went to the neighboring Wilmot Farmers Market each summer. As the harvest season came to an end each fall, she also heard those who were dismayed not to be able to get local goods until the following year. Hearing that, she realized Danbury’s farm base had grown, and there were many local residents with goods they could sell in winter months. When she presented the idea of a winter market to her fellow grange members one September, they agreed and quickly began to formulate a Winter Market in Danbury.
While there was some concern about the cost to heat their build- ing that first winter, a customer of both Wilmot’s summer market and the newly proposed winter market in Danbury heard about their concerns and stepped up to donate funds for the fuel bill.
“People really liked the idea of a winter market and this per- son came out to generously help support it,” said Sprague.
Now held on the first Saturday of each month from November until May, there is much to see, buy, and even learn at Danbury’s Blazing Star Grange.
Meat products, pies, and a host of other baked goods, homemade chocolates, apples, and vegetables such as radishes, carrots, potatoes, and more are just a sample of weekly foods for sale. There are also locally canned preserves, honey, and honey products filling tables, too.
Local crafters also fill the hall, both upstairs and down, with handmade socks, afghans, bags, winter wear, and candles made from their farms. On the lumber side of products obtained from farmlands, wooden utensils are on sale from RJM Woodworks, and Roland Davide of Branch- ing Out in nearby Bristol has a host of wooden crafts for sale, including wood mug racks made from tree branches with a variety of wildlife and other whimsical decorations.
Sprague said many of the ven- dors have been with the market since it began, but they continue to see more and more joining them as the years go by.
“It’s really a great community thing to attend each month,” she said.
Adding to that community feeling are a couple of other factors. Breakfast and lunch are served downstairs for people to eat in or take home. There are also people specializing in crafts who give demonstrations at each market day. For the January mar- ket, Donna Duquette of Ledge Hill Farm in Alexandria showed people how to do simple crochet stitches while also demonstrating how easy her knitting machine is to create hats and other comfy winter items. Across the room, Evelyn Pagella was busy spinning wool from the sheep she had since given to her friend Dottie of Fuzz and Buzz Farm in Danbury. Pagella said when she found she couldn’t care for her sheep any longer, she rehomed them to Dot-
PHOTO BY DONNA RHODES
Besides local meats, vegetables, baked goods, and canned items, beautiful wood art, and mug racks from “Branching Out by Davide” by Roland Davide of Bristol are among the many other local vendors and crafters that can be found at the Danbury Winter Market.
PHOTO BY DONNA RHODES
tie’s farm but gratefully still has use of their fiber to create yarn, much of which she had for sale at the market last weekend as she was busy spinning up more.
“That’s a good example of how our farmers can take a raw product (such as sheep’s wool) to create something of more value. It helps farms like that stay sus- tainable,” Sprague explained.
She also mentioned that Blaz- ing Star Grange has noticed more people in this day and age are taking an interest in home- steading, returning to practices that helped people get through hard times. Therefore, they began to hold “homestead-style” classes to introduce people to ways in which they could sustain them- selves during a tough economy.
So far, they have held classes on canning techniques for the preservation of fruits, vegetables and meat for the winter months. Both the simpler stovetop can- ning and the more effective pres- sure-cooking canning methods were demonstrated in one class.
The grange also holds “Make a Meal” classes where people can bring bits of pork, vegetables, or whatever they might have on hand at home and then brain- storm ways to combine it all to create a soup or another meal from those ingredients.
“It’s a time where we gather together for a couple of hours to share skills and ideas, then end up with not only lunch for our- selves but food to take home af- terward,” Sprague said.
“The options are endless! We just need volunteers who are willing to demonstrate their skills and knowledge.”
Another Make a Meal ses- sion is scheduled for the end of January, and she encourages in- terested parties to follow them on the Blazing Star Grange Facebook page for detailed in- formation or email them at Blaz- ingstar71@gmail.com to join the mailing list for upcoming pro- grams and events.
The Danbury Winter Market also participates in the EBT/ SNAP programs for food pur- chases, is part of the Merrimack County Conservation Commis- sion’s $20/month Market Money for Veterans program, and ac- cepts credit and debit cards at their front desk for vendors who do not have their own access to those services.
The market is located on North Rd. in Danbury, just behind the Danbury Country Store, and is open from 9 a.m. until noon on the first Saturday of each month from November until May.