Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market Has a New Website!

The Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market has developed a new website, allowing visitors to learn more about the market, local producers, special events and much more.

Check out the NEW Bounty of the Barrens
Farmers Market website and learn more about
what's happening each week at the farmers market

Market shoppers can now go online and read a biography about the vendors they see at the market. They can also see photos of the vendors and their farms, learn more about what they produce and visit vendors' individual websites and social media pages.

The new website also offers market hours, details about special events, a schedule of produce is in season and an updated calendar of market dates, including live entertainment, visiting vendors and other market details.

Click here to visit the new Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market website and learn more about everything your farmers market offers you, your family and your community.

Guest Vendors in 2015

A really cool new feature for Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market in 2015 is our new guest vendor program. We are inviting vendors who are willing to test the Glasgow market for their goods before they are able to make a commitment to joining us regularly. This adds some new variety to the market and helps us convince new vendors to give BOTBFM a try.

This week we are very excited to welcome Stuartos Olive Oil to the market You read that right! This Saturday at BOTBFM you will be able to purchase finely crafted olive oil. 

Stuarto's Olive Oil Company specializes in imported extra virgin olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and specialty oils from award-winning artisan and small-run producers around the world.

Come to Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market this Saturday, and every Saturday morning from 8:00 until noon for the very best in local foods and crafts. 

Visit the Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market website for more information. 

Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market 2015

Now that Spring is in the air, it's a great time to talk about the 2015 Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market season. 

We are excited about the upcoming market year which officially begins Saturday, April 25 on the Glasgow Square (we still have one more winter market on April 11 at the Cooperative Extension office on West Main Street). We are also very happy to announce some new features for this year's market, including a new "guest vendor" program that will allow new or occasional vendors to bring some special "zing" to the variety of items available each week.

To that end, we are announcing the guest vendor for April 25 will be Caught Wild Salmon! 

These folks are from Lexington, but have a family connection to a wild salmon fishery on the west coast. As you can see from the graphic below, their variety of salmon bears little resemblance to what we are used to seeing in grocery stores. This is what real salmon look like and taste like! Get in your pre-order if you want to make sure you get this year's market season started off right with real food!

See you on the Square on Saturday mornings in 2015! We can't wait! 

Visit the Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market website for more information. 

Come to the Winter BOTBFM!

Visit the Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market website for more information. 

BOTBFM 2014 is the Best Year Ever!

Wow. That is a perfect explanation of how today's edition of Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market went. In fact, that is a great explanation of how the market has gone this whole year! 

The weather has been kind. The barrens region's soil has responded to the love given it by our farmers by producing an amazingly luscious wealth of tasty food. And the people of our region are responding by making sure that the farmers are paid for their work by coming to the market and purchasing real food.

For all of the many Sustainable Glasgow folks involved in administering the market and promoting the idea of growing our local economy by reinforcing our local food economy, it is hard for us to wipe the grin off of our faces. In 2014, the dream that we had in 2009 seems to finally be coming true. The people of Glasgow, and the barrens region, are getting it when it comes to the health and happiness benefits that come from buying real food from their neighbors.

At the market we see vendors cutting melons, that were still on the vine earlier in the morning, and conducting fun loving taste tests with the market patrons. We see the same thing happening with sweet corn, and peaches, and herbs, and cheeses, and sausages. We see hugs and smiles, and we hear real conversations that extend far beyond the customary, "how are you doing?" We see children of vendors playing with each other and growing up before our eyes, even as they learn to interact with adults, watch the stand while a parent is helping a patron load fresh food into their cars, and become the kind of young people that will know things that their contemporaries at home playing video games, will never know.
Thanks to each and every one of you that is a part of this movement. We are in love with our community, our land, and the happy life that can be found in the micro-nutrients trapped in the soil of the barrens, and we love you. 

Visit the Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market website for more information. 

BOTBFM 2014 Is Coming!

This coming Saturday, April 12, the market will be at the Cooperative Extension office for the last time this winter. Some early crops are coming in and we hope you will come out to the Extension Office between 8:00 and noon to start enjoying local food for 2014.

Two weeks later, on April 26, Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market will return to the Square for the balance of the season. We are going to have some very cool enhancements to the 2014 market. We are reworking our layout to allow the vendors to be closer together so it is easier for our patrons to visit all of the vendor tents. We are also happy to announce that Tubbs Farmstead will be cooking fresh breakfast and serving coffee on Saturday mornings at the market this year!

These improvements, and more, will make the center of Glasgow's Square the place to be on Saturday mornings, beginning April 26. We look forward to seeing you! 

Visit the Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market website for more information. 

Sustainable Glasgow’s Plans for Downtown Indoor Market

It has been two months since we first announced our plans to acquire an unoccupied building on the Glasgow Square and renovate it as a place to house the Bounty of the Barrens Farmers’ Market year round. Since many local folks have been so happy with this plan, it is time for us to give everyone an update.

Unfortunately, Sustainable Glasgow’s initial grant application to the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund was rejected. We knew we had a great idea and that we had assembled a quality application.  But the KADF rejected our idea on the basis that Sustainable Glasgow does not have the estimated $150,000 in matching funds which would be required to receive the matching grant.  All of us associated with Sustainable Glasgow knew this was an issue, but we felt that it should not stand in the way of KADF’s consideration of our project. We felt that if the state agency awarded us the grant based upon our success in raising the matching funds, the community would have readily contributed the necessary funds in order to breathe this new life into our square. Apparently, we were wrong about that, but we certainly are not about to give up!

We are more convinced each day that our vision for converting an old building into a place where our local food economy can be nourished, while our local farmers and chefs can nourish us, is the answer to many of our woes. We feel that the establishment of a venue for local food that can be open many hours each week, a place where folks can walk or cycle to a destination, where we can communicate with each other and enjoy the bounty of our land, is worth our extraordinary efforts to secure.

Our next steps include requesting local government to allocate funds toward this project in their upcoming budget cycle, meeting with advisors on the creation of a sustainable business plan for the acquisition and permanent operation of the facility, and refining our renovation plans to get a much better handle on the real costs of providing this facility for the people of Glasgow. We are not giving up; in fact, we are just getting started. Stay tuned and keep letting us know your feelings on this initiative.