Our Guide from Farm to Market to Table - Lori Cochran-Dougall - Yard To Table

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Trevor (00:14):
Well, hello, Ellen.

Ellen (00:16):
Well, hello, Trevor.

Trevor (00:18):
Here we are yet again.

Ellen (00:20):
It's so weird to see you.

Trevor (00:21):
It is very bizarre to see you that I just saw you like
11 seconds ago

Ellen (00:25):
in our home studio. It's so strange to see you,

Trevor (00:28):
That is true, but now I'm now I'm seeing you in a
different way, because I'mseeing you as the co host of the
fantastic and wonderful yard totable.

Ellen (00:37):
Was it the earphones that gave it away

Trevor (00:39):
and the fact that you're speaking into a microphone.

Ellen (00:40):
Oh, yeah. Well,

Trevor (00:42):
that was a dead giveaway.

Ellen (00:45):
Well, I am very excited.
It's a beautiful day here inWeston Connecticut.

Trevor (00:49):
Yes, it is lovely. And we have a fantastic guest today,
one of my, one of my mostfavorite people. You know,
here's the thing I do have tosay, because I don't want to,
we've had amazing guests so far,and we will have more amazing
guests. It's like, you know, youcan't say you have a favorite
child. We can say that becausewe want to have the UNO girl.

(01:11):
There's no There's no other yeahones coming.

Ellen (01:13):
It's when she chooses the parent in our house,

Trevor (01:16):
we don't have any other kids coming, right?

Ellen (01:18):
No, no no, that ship has sailed. Good word, yeah,

Trevor (01:21):
thank you. But all of our guests have just been so
great

Ellen (01:28):
well, they're really the people who just help foster our
initial welcoming here and ourlove of the area in which we
have settled as a family. And Ithink they're also the people
that provide that continuousinspiration and positive energy
that we love so much.

Trevor (01:46):
And I think it's one of the cool things, is that the
people, if you've been followingalong with us on the podcast, of
course you have, and of courseeverybody has. Thank you,
listeners. But I think that itreally is the microcosm of what
we do experience. Yes, there isso much positivity. There is so

(02:06):
many people that are sowelcoming and so interested in
what we're doing at Stone Brook,having that yard to table
lifestyle, having everybody cometogether, it's, it's really
here, yeah, you know. And it'snice to be able to just
highlight that a little bit.

Ellen (02:22):
Yeah, and with our friends and for today's episode,
we're talking about Farm toMarket.

Trevor (02:28):
Ah, yard to farm to market to table to farm.

Ellen (02:32):
That whole thing. It's a giant, it's a circle. Yes, it's
a system.

Trevor (02:36):
I'm not going to do it.
No, please don't. We're notlicensed for that song.

Ellen (02:39):
No, I don't want to pay rights. You know, we talk a lot
about how farmers markets weresuch a huge part of of our life.
You know, these farmer market welived in Los Angeles. We would
go every Sunday, and it had allof the families that we would
know and see, and we thought,and it was pretty epic. It was
pretty epic for us. And then Ithink it's so interesting

(02:59):
because it was so important tous for our daughter to grow up
really understanding what afarmer's market was, and to
experience that meeting thepeople who were selling the
food, and yeah, and, you know,and then we came here, and
immediately...

Trevor (03:15):
it was really one of our first stops. You said, oh, let's
there's a farmer's market here.
I said, oh, let's go,

Ellen (03:20):
Yeah, and we did, and we found the Westport Farmers
Market, which was amazing,

Trevor (03:26):
ultra fantastic. Little accent there for you.

Ellen (03:29):
And so Westport is right next to us. Yes, we're in
Weston,

Trevor (03:33):
not really a sister city, but it is the very closest
cousin that lives down thestreet.

Ellen (03:39):
We share beaches, and we share their beaches

Trevor (03:42):
, we share their beach, we totally share their beach,

Ellen (03:44):
which is part of the reason we chose Weston so
Westport has beautiful beacheson the sound. Campo Beach is our
little beach that we go to thatwe love so much. It has a
vibrant downtown, and it hasthis farmers market that has
been recognized as the best inour state of Connecticut, which
is pretty incredible. We didn'teven know we all love all things

(04:05):
local. And there's a very local,famous blogger. His name's Dan
woog, and his blog is 06680,that is the Westport zip code
for those of you that are not inthe know. And he had a great
quote about our guest today,which I wanted to share. She is
well known and beloved asexecutive director of the
Westport farmers market, and shemade it not into just a place to

(04:28):
purchase great fresh produce andorganic goods, but a true
community gathering spot. Verytrue, amazing with entertainment
and education too. EveryThursday, the market pulses with
life and good vibes, and it'sall thanks to our guests today,
because all of that is true andmore, from her business savvy to
her warmth and ability to fostercommunity, to her tireless

(04:51):
support of all things local andthe people who grow our food, we
couldn't be more excited on thepodcast today to have a pioneer
we feel as a pioneer in themodern farmers market. Movement,
Executive Director of theWestport farmers market, Laurie
Cochran Douglas,

Lori (05:11):
We have to start off by saying it's so hard not to just
smile when, when I'm with thetwo of you, it's very, really so
fun, and I do want to be yourfavorite?

Trevor (05:22):
Well, we're accepting donations. We're accepting
donations later on in thepodcast, and we can talk about
that later.

Lori (05:29):
Great.

Ellen (05:31):
Well, we smile and we see you too, and it's and again,
it's just that welcome. Youknow, we were new we were new
residents of West and newgrowers to the farmers market.
We felt welcome the minute wewalked in, even before we knew
you we it just was such awonderful space. And we're
talking about, like, how we met.
I think where did, where did wefirst meet? I was it at the
fundraiser?

Trevor (05:53):
I think so, yeah,

Lori (05:53):
I think it was the fundraiser. Yeah, I first
remember you there, and thenafterwards I saw you at the
market quite frequently.

Trevor (05:59):
Yeah, I think all things track back to Liz Rubin, friend
of the podcast, all things startwith Liz,

Lori (06:06):
community organizer, curator, correct, yeah.
Corraller,

Ellen (06:11):
yeah. Persuasive, every all of that great stuff. Yeah,
that's right. And we came, wecame to the first fundraiser,
and everyone since been it wasjust so incredible to see, you
know, all the people there thatwere supporting what is also a
nonprofit, yes, farmers market,we are, which is very unusual,
right?

Lori (06:29):
It is. It's not as unusual now as it was when we were
starting. So once, when I firsttook over the market 15 years
ago, we were not a 501, c3, weactually were had a fiscal
agent, which was gvi GreenVillage initiative, and they
very kindly took us under theirwing. We were going to put an
office at Wakeman town farm. Iremember going to look there to

(06:51):
thought we may bud into that,because gvi was running Wakeman
at the time, and we ended upunder some really great guidance
of people that were involved inthe town, we were able to get
our 501 c3, and we were actuallyone of the first 150 farmers
markets in the country to becomeour own 501, c3, incredible,
independent of a fiscal agent.
So it took a I mean, hats off tothe people who got it done, and

(07:15):
we're really grateful, becausewhat it did is it gave us the
ability to strengthen oureducational outreach, and then
also, of course, to raise money.
But it really made it so thatthe programming that I had
wanted to implement, we wereable to do so.

Trevor (07:32):
how did you, I mean, you're not from Connecticut
originally, correct?

Lori (07:36):
No, Virginia,

Trevor (07:37):
Virginia, right. So how awesome. That's where I, you
know, I it seemed a little, youknow,

Ellen (07:45):
I apologize in advance if Trevor starts doing your
accent,

Trevor (07:48):
Virginia Beach. Get a little about Virginia Beach.

Ellen (07:51):
But was that right?
Lori,

Lori (07:53):
like, no southwest Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia.

Trevor (07:58):
I can't, I don't have a Virginia accent in my
armamentarium. Oh, really, Idon't Virginia Beach.

Ellen (08:04):
Oh, no, please don't encourage that.

Trevor (08:06):
It's a show of accents.
We go down a path, but give usthe brief history of how you got
there. Because it's, it's nothey, I want to start a farmer's
market today, or, Hey, I want tojoin and become the executive
director. It's not likesomething as crazy as, hey,
let's move to Connecticut withall of our family members and
have a historical homestead likeStonebrook. I mean, those are
crazy people, and you're notthat

Lori (08:28):
we weren't too far off. We weren't too far off.

Ellen (08:31):
This is why we like each other.

Lori (08:35):
My we actually moved here from Jackson, hole Wyoming,
where we had spent 20 years, andwe came here to finish raising
our kids. Our eldest son hassome special needs, and it was
just a better place for us tobe. And so we arrived here. I
came a little later. My husbandand kids were here, and I came,
not gonna lie, kicking andscreaming. Oh, Ellen too. Yeah,

(08:56):
exactly. He was like, you've gotto get here. And at the time, I
was a marketing director for aninternational conservation
development firm, and came here,didn't know what I was going to
do. Thought of I was starting tointerview. I worked for a
company in Stanford for aconsulting gig, and I went from

(09:18):
at the lunch like skiing ourlocal town mountain or going for
a hike to being on the tram.
It's not a tram. Being on thetrain, no one talking, no one
going out for lunch, no oneleaving the building and then
getting back on the train andcoming back. And I it really.
There's nothing wrong with it,and I honor everybody who does
it. I just was falling. Itwasn't your deal. I didn't even

(09:40):
understand it. I didn't now Icould do it. Then I had just
thought, are these robots like Ifeel like I'm in the matrix?
Yeah. And so to the wisdom of myhusband, who just seems to be
such an amazing support, he saidI had chaired the board of the
farmers market in Jackson. I hada job, a career. Job, but I was
on the board for a long time,heavily involved, and I had

(10:02):
turned the model there around.
So it went from a pay to playboard seat to the market was
self sustaining. It wasgenerating income to support
additional programming. There'sa thread here. Yeah. Love it.
And and so he said, You know, Iwant you to take a break maybe

(10:22):
just see if there's a farmer'smarket where you could
volunteer. And so I actuallyGoogled farmers markets, as we
do. The Westport Farmers Marketshowed up. And I went down there
and walked up to the lady,pointed somebody, and said, Are
you running this? And she theysaid, she said, No, the lady
over there. And I went up tothis woman who's since become a
friend, who lives in LA now,Sherry Brooks Benton, and said,

(10:45):
Could I help today? And shesaid, Sure, why don't you
volunteer? And at the time it,you know, no dig on her, but it
just there were vendors. Werespread out. There. Weren't all
there. One of them left midwaythrough, two of them were
fighting. The dining tablesdidn't have table calls on them.
I just thought, What is goingon? But I was so happy.

Trevor (11:05):
It was a super different vibe from what you had done in
your last farmers market.

Lori (11:09):
It was a super yes and and later to come, you know, it
ended up being that, well, I gotto finish that, this one story,
and I'll come back to thesquirrel part that's important
of that. But I went up to so atthe end of the day, they go over
and they're just throwing thechairs and the tables into the
storage unit, which we call theoffice.

Ellen (11:27):
That's not good for you.

Lori (11:29):
And I said, Do you mind if I stay and organize the unit?

Ellen (11:33):
I love so much.

Lori (11:35):
I couldn't leave it. I was like, I can't do it. And she
goes, Well, better yet. You comeback next week and I'll pay you
$10 an hour. So I got in thecar.

Trevor (11:43):
Now you're in the money

Lori (11:44):
completely

Ellen (11:45):
That was about your salary at the international
country.

Lori (11:49):
So I jump in, I get in the car, and I called Nate, and I
honestly, like, sorry to becheesy, but I every time I tell
this, I feel it. And I remembercalling Nate and saying, I'm so
excited. I just got a job. Well,he thought I'd taken a job in
the city, working for Ogilvy orsomebody, and another one that I
was interviewing with, and I waslike, no, no, I'm gonna make $60

(12:10):
a week on Thursdays. All right?
You know, we have threechildren, right?

Trevor (12:16):
Cool, cool, honey. Cool.

Lori (12:19):
Well, this is right after I'd said I think I was going to
be a school bus driver, so I washaving a little bit of an
identity. It would be a verystrict bus

Ellen (12:33):
I would take you as a bus driver, but I'm glad you
went in a different way. So tellus more.

Lori (12:37):
So I start coming back.
Sherry was going to leave therole. I become close with the
two women at the time, theSelect woman, Shelly Kassen,
Gordon Jasloff, with the Selectmen. And then there was a woman
who was the fairy godmother ofthe market, Rebecca Howe. And
they really were. They just keptcoming to me and saying, why
don't you take it over? We thinkthis is what you should do. And
my ego was in play. I thought, Idon't want to work for a

(12:59):
farmer's market. I maybe I'llserve on the board, or I'll
volunteer whatever, but I have acareer to go have, and my
friends were going to be CMOsand and I yeah, she just said,
they said, Well, can we call youin the in the beginning of the
year? And I said, Yeah, call mein the beginning of the year.
I'll make a decision. But Isaid, I don't do it for free. I
will give you a model. I willmap it everything out. I believe

(13:22):
in getting paid. I don't totallybelieve in volunteerism. I mean,
I see it here and there beingvaluable, but like, entire
organizations cannot run off ofit, right? It's just not an it's
not stable. And so they calledJanuary 1. We were in London.
They called january 1 at 10amthere and said, Please take it.
And I just took it. And so we Iwe had no money at all. We ran

(13:43):
the market. We started it on mycredit card and Rebecca's credit
card, and

Trevor (13:50):
we can relate to some of that.

Lori (13:53):
And then we implemented the friend of the market
program. And I said, just trustme, I will have all this money
back in the bank. We will figurethis out. And within a year, I
had started the winter market,and we had started the Gillespie
program.

Ellen (14:06):
Well, and listen, there's so much exciting stuff
to talk about, and just what youjust said. So, so friend of the
market, what is, for ourlisteners, what is friend of the
market? What is that program?

Lori (14:15):
That's a great question.
So friend of the market is ourtop fundraiser, and it, what it
does is it offsets the vendorsfees, and you can give us a
donation of $40 if you're kind,you can give us more. And we in
exchange, you get a bag, and soyou bring this bag to the market
every week, and then all thevendors give you a weekly

(14:35):
discount to say thank you. Andwe have not raised the vendors
fees for eight years, Wow, andso and the purpose of that, if I
just add, is that we bring someof the largest numbers of
shoppers to any farmers marketin the state, especially with
the most economic developmentand viability out of the
majority of shoppers. Yet we areensuring that these small mom

(14:57):
and pop businesses. And smallfarmers take the most money home
they can. So if they, even ifthey sell $9,000 and in that
market, the most they will payis $65

Ellen (15:08):
That's incredible.
That's crazy. That's incredible.

Trevor (15:12):
There's so many things.
It's so much to talk about,because that's you talk about
them, the vendors, the farmers,the growers, the people that are
there, that we go up to and weinteract with. Why not charge
them more? I mean, I'm sure alot of markets do. They did tell
us a little bit about what isthe experience of a farmer that
comes to Westport farmers marketversus going to another farmer's
market in the state or, I mean,even out of state. I mean,

(15:35):
because I can imagine that,

Ellen (15:38):
or who's applying to become a vendor, because you
have some of the strictestguidelines, right?

Trevor (15:42):
Tell us about that becoming a part of the market.

Lori (15:46):
So do you understand? Tell you, tell you the experience
from a vendor's perspective,

Trevor (15:51):
yeah, like, what's it like as a farmer? I'm a farmer,
and I want to bring it in. I'vegot the maple syrup in the in,
up in the up in the hill, and Iwant to come in, and I want to
sell those trees, maple syrup,and maybe get a bunch of
chickens. We can see a couple ofthem now, you know what I mean,

Ellen (16:08):
just throwing them in there, yep, throwing them

Lori (16:10):
in there, we can talk maple I had 95 buckets, and my
husband was like, oh, it's gonnabe so easy. It only runs for
three weeks. It's all a lie.

Trevor (16:19):
Yeah. That is a lie.
Yeah, I will tell Okay, so let'sgo back to pretend farmer. And
I'm bringing in. I want to, Iwant to, totally want to be at
the farmers market, because Ilove the action and the fact
that all these people come andwhat's that like?

Ellen (16:35):
I want to sell my product, yeah. What's that like
as a grower?

Lori (16:37):
Well, from a vendor perspective, it's, it's hard to
get in. I mean, I'm prettygrueling about who you are,
where you're coming from, what,what your boots gonna look like,
your product, I visit all farms,all businesses, prepared food
vendors have to submit theirinvoices to us every other month
so that I know they're buyingfrom farms, and they have to be
from approved farms by me, likeI don't I don't like junk farms.

(17:00):
But if you're a farmer trying toget in back to your specific
question, it's probably hard,because you've got to be able to
keep up with our numbers. Youhave to have growing practices
that I agree with and canverify, and you've got to have
the persona and ability to comeand want to educate the buyer

(17:20):
and want to talk to thecustomer. And one of the things
that I really am adamantlyagainst, and the people at our
market can tell you, is thatthis misnomer of being a farmer
outside of the area and cominginto Fairfield County and
raising prices because they feelthey can't, you know, there's
this belief, oh, they're allthese people kind of thing,
right? Completely. That does nothappen in our market. It is we

(17:44):
will, you will very quickly beremoved if that is caught
happening and they know. So oneof the reasons that they pay so
low in fees, yeah, we couldcharge them up the ninth but
that money that they're makingis going directly back into
communities, is going directlyback into Connecticut. I We can
raise the money within ourcommunity to cover all of the

(18:06):
external programming. And they,they what they do by being
sustainable and viable andsuccessful businesses is
priceless.

Ellen (18:17):
I love that. I love that. And I know you're so
passionate about the farmer

Lori (18:21):
I am and sympathetic. I think in some ways I am, yes, I
mean, I honor them, and I thinkthey're brilliant, and I the
thing that I'm sympathetic aboutis that I think they should be
our celebrities. I think theyshould be the ones that we are.
Everything starts with them, andif we don't, there's not a thing

(18:43):
you do in your day that can't bedone because of a farmer. You
have to eat, yeah, andeverything we put in our mouth
is grown by a farmer. Yeah.

Ellen (18:54):
Was it last year or two years ago, there was that
wonderful one of the manyprograms that the farmers market
does is usually some sort ofphotography competition, or on
multi levels for kids and foradults, but there was a an
intentional photography Artseries that you did about who
grows your food, right? Andthat's where photographers
really went into went to thefarms and took pictures of

(19:16):
people in their in their yards,in their farms, doing their
everyday work. And what is itlike to be a small farmer, small
grower in Connecticut?

Lori (19:26):
Gosh, I'm not one. So

Ellen (19:28):
what do you see when you visit?

Lori (19:29):
I what I see when I visit is, oh my gosh. I'm be honest. I
always leave a farm envious. Iam so envious of their actual,
true connection to the land,yeah, and they, they have this
piece about them that I want.
I'm jealous of that in theirknowledge, their knowledge of

(19:50):
science. I mean, you get thisfrom your yards. Me too. Like it
is very difficult, yes, to makeit all work, and they're making
it work. Restaurant acres,

Trevor (20:01):
and they're doing it at a scale that we don't even get
close to completely.

Lori (20:06):
And you look at Fort Hill Farm, Hungry Reaper, I mean, you
go to their farms and they'vegot eight people working the
land, or four people working theland, and what they can do is
prolific, and everything'sbeautiful and tastes great. I
don't know about you, some of mystuff may look good, but then it
tastes terrible, and then somelooks terrible and tastes

(20:27):
amazing. And that's very true.
Yeah, they just have thisrecipe, but what I see is there
is a growing support, and someof the things I've found that I
really appreciate is there's anorganization called the new
farmers Alliance. It was theyoung farmers Alliance, but
they've renamed it to newfarmers Alliance. That group
really has some good legs underit that I think is being very
supportive within the community.

(20:50):
I have spearheaded and startedthe Farmers Market Association
in the state, and I'm hoping tostrengthen farmers markets and
bring in some strong guidelinesand get more support on a state
and national level for ouragriculture here in Connecticut,
and I've been very graced withthe support of our government
here.

Trevor (21:09):
That's so important.

Ellen (21:09):
That's critical. You obviously have this very broad
background in both nonprofit andbusiness, and I heard you talk a
little bit about preparing thevendors the farmers. Do you
think your business backgroundhelps with that? Like for them,
how to because you've alsobecome sort of a incubator for
some small businesses as well,right, that have grown out of
the market.

Lori (21:29):
We do every couple years have an incubator program. I
mean, I try to always havecontinuing education available
for our farmers, or not justfarmers vendors, so all vendors
have opportunities for freeongoing education. And we do
have an incubator program. I'mtough on what it looks like from
the external behind their socialmedia. What they post about

(21:51):
social media. I mean, you know,it's just, I want them to be the
best versions of themselves, butthey're also representing our
brand, where they're there. Andone of the things I feel I've
done a good job at is creating acommunity, family vibe within
the market. So our vendorsreally rely on one another. They
also are smart. The old guard.
Tell the new guard what I likeand what I don't like. So how to

(22:14):
how to make it work? Which isgreat. That's great. And you
know, we're really tight,especially this group right now.
I'm so honored to be workingwith such talented people and
and I wish I was good at thenonprofit sector. I have a
feeling that most EDS and truenonprofit professionals think I
have no idea what I'm doing, andI don't. I really do run this as

(22:38):
a business, and I'm grateful tohave a treasure and business be
financial people that help guideme in what it needs to be in
regards to the IRS structure.
But look, if I was going to behonest, I think this whole
methodology we have in thiscountry of doing good doesn't
make money is nonsense.

Ellen (22:57):
Oh, I love that. That's so true.

Trevor (22:59):
100% and I think, you know one of the things you said
a minute ago, and I think thisis where having a true business
understanding, and not that youcame from something that had,
like, a lot of supply chain andthings like that, but really
struck me, the people that aremaking prepared foods at the
market, you're going that extralevel to make sure that they're
buying local I had no idea thatyou did that, that's amazing,

(23:22):
because that really brings thelocal market, truly local, you
know? I mean, in other marketsaround the country, probably,
you know, there's somebodythat's coming in and selling
something, and you don't knowwhere it comes from. And I think
that is it. It is so importantthat that happens, and I don't
think it happens in a lot ofother places, is my guess that

(23:45):
maybe not be the case.

Lori (23:47):
You're pretty right? And could I tell you why? Yes,
please. That's why we're here.
Because when you walk throughthe door that market, I honestly
want you to know you can trusteverything in it. Yeah, it's
under my name. I am the head ofit, and it's under a brand that
I'm backing. And I want you toknow that I'm I care about your
family, I care about yourcommunity, and I really am going

(24:07):
to make sure it's healthy foodfor you.

Trevor (24:12):
And I mean, that goes right to your right to the
slogan,

Ellen (24:15):
who grows your food?
Grows your food. Yeah.

Lori (24:18):
Do you know?

Trevor (24:20):
I do? I do now.

Unknown (24:23):
Well, you know, even your foods have to use. Local
was so we were doing our littleresearch before the interview.

Trevor (24:29):
I didnt Do that research, apparently, because I
just found out about 11 secondsago that this was the

Ellen (24:39):
we always go to type, honey, you and I,

Trevor (24:41):
I'm a wing it, yeah, you're wing it,

Ellen (24:44):
we know. But it was interesting. When I was, I was
looking at that, and I, we'vetalked about our market in
Studio City, you know, it went afull city block. And in Los
Angeles, it was huge block. AndI remember the first time we
went to Westport, it was,obviously, it was on the
Imperial lot, which was, it's agreat location. And I. I was
thinking to myself, Oh, thisisn't as big as Studio City, but
when I think about then, as acustomer of the market, when we

(25:08):
were in Los Angeles, I didn'tthink about that stuff. We
thought we're like the breadbasket in California, right? So
everything here has to be local,right? And it wasn't really till
our daughter was born and westarted thinking more
thoughtfully, and that's whatI've come to love about what you
do with the Westport farmersmarket, because it is that self
sustaining system. If everyoneis supporting then everything

(25:30):
grows and people are rewardedfor their actions and their
effort, and they're going tocontinue to do these things that
we so desperately as a societyneed them to do, which is grow
healthy organic food and supportthese small businesses. So it
clicked for me in learning that

Lori (25:44):
In your first podcast, your launch, when you did such a
eloquent job of speaking abouthow Connecticut has a beautiful
growth cycle and has a beautifulseason cycle. And I think at
times, people forget that we arean agricultural community 1,000%

Trevor (26:01):
very much. So yeah, and I think one of the things that I
found so fascinating about howyou structure is you have the
summer market, and then you havethe winter market. And that's
also, again, coming fromCalifornia, with a lot of our
experience there, there is nowinter market. It's just the
market because it's the sametemperature all the time.

Ellen (26:21):
It gets to 70 and people put a sweater on.

Trevor (26:22):
It's bad. It's not winter. That's not winter at
all. I like winter. I like snow,but I think that's such a it's
such a wonderful thing to keepit going, because we only have a
short, shorter, you know,growing vegetable, growing
window. But there's so muchmore. And I think there's
something so fun and cozy aboutI love both of the winter market

(26:46):
that's just, there's, it's, it'sgot this wonderful

Ellen (26:49):
you're going in and out of greenhouses, at Gilbirtie's,

Trevor (26:52):
and it's warm, but it's still outside, and it's cool.

Ellen (26:54):
Can you get a better vibe than that? I mean,

Lori (26:57):
I'm like, the vendors love it. I love it. We all settle in
for the winter, and if it'ssnowing and it's just coming off
the greenhouse, it's magical.

Trevor (27:05):
so for listeners, the winter market is at a wonderful
place in Westport calledGilberies, and

Lori (27:15):
Its been there for 102 years.

Trevor (27:16):
102 years, let's talk about local let's talk about
history and legacy. 102 yearsamazing. How long have you been
there with the winder market?

Lori (27:25):
This year will be our 15th year.

Trevor (27:27):
Wow. That's awesome.

Lori (27:29):
I remember I walked up to Sal gilberty, who, if anybody
knows I have a total crush on,including his wife, knows my
husband does too. So it's just,he's just so knowledgeable and
sweet and amazing. But I walkedup to him at some agricultural
fair or something, and said,Hey, would you take a chance on
me? I'd love to start a wintermarket in a greenhouse at your

(27:50):
and he said, sure. Do it. DonJust tell me when we've grown
from one greenhouse of 15vendors to now that we're able
to have a 30, we'll have 30vendors there this year.
Amazing. We have ongoing getgrowing every week. Greg, by the
way, get growing is our youthprogram of edge focused on
education, and kids can comeevery week to do a project.

Trevor (28:12):
We're gonna get into all of the programs in just a
second. I do have to tell onefun winter market story. Let's
hear it. So last Christmas,Ellen and I were shopping
around, as we do at the Wintermarket, with pre holiday
shopping, pre holiday shopping,a little bit, a little bit of
this, little bit of that fill instockings.

Ellen (28:30):
We had done our pre orders like we're supposed to do
vendors and yeah,

Trevor (28:35):
we also went to Fato A Mano, which is a fantastic Baker
wizard, Baker of The Year. Bakerof The Year. Yeah, Martha
Stewart, all TV shows, all sortsof stuff. A Westport Farmers
Market graduate, part of theincubator, right created, and it
got really busy in this onearea. And I was like, Well, we

(29:00):
had a time slot. We had a timeslot. We all we signed up for
time slots and to get theseamazing panettone which are just
redonkulous. They're amazing.
And I think we were going for alemon pistachio.

Lori (29:14):
Oh, I'm getting hungry.

Trevor (29:16):
get one if you're in the area. And there was Lori. She
was like, you two, meaning us.
Now we know Lori quite well atthis point in time. She's, we've
done events at the housetogether. We've done stuff.
She's like, when's your timeslot? We're like, we're we're
1010, see the paper says 10. No,come back in 20 minutes. The

(29:40):
lines too long. Come back in 2020 minutes. It was, it was, but
that was the kind of trafficcopping that was necessary. We
said, Yes, we saluted, and wewalked into the back and we
shopped more.

Ellen (29:51):
But I, what I love about that story is it's twofold,
right? She's lookingholistically at all of her
vendors. Number one, she'slooking at fire codes.

Lori (29:59):
Exactly

Ellen (30:01):
as people who do events and production. We totally
appreciate that, by the way, andshe knows, by the way, she could
tell us that, and we'll walkaway.
We're here to support copy thatwe got it. But the other part
was that you, I knew also thatyou were like, I want to think
about all the other tables thatare in this area that are also
selling what they've brought forthe day. So it just, I think
it's such an encapsulation ofwho you are, from a, you know, a

(30:22):
strong leader, to somebody who'scaring about everybody who's in
the market, that you that yousupport and also that you care
about safety.

Lori (30:32):
Great, you're getting me chose up there. But yes, you're
right. I do, and sometimes Ican't be nice,

Ellen (30:38):
you can't, and that's okay. That's what I learned, a
fun story.

Trevor (30:42):
It's one of my favorite.

Ellen (30:43):
the farmers market, so 15 years in the winter market,
which is incredible. And ofcourse, we've just talked about
how much we love it. But what isthe story originally, of the
farmers market? When did itstart? And kind of has a famous
beginning, right? Does? Yes.

Lori (30:54):
So it originally started with Paul Newman, who everyone
knows Westport legend, for thosewho don't know, legend, very
kind, family, greatorganization, Newman's Own, and
a gentleman named Michellenichon, who is another national
icon in my mind of how much he'sdone for food insecurity, that
he owned a restaurant. Theyjointly owned a restaurant

(31:15):
together called the dressingroom, and they had decided they
wanted to have access to freshlocal food. They had also gone
to Shelley Kassen and Gordonjoslaf, who were the Selectmen
and woman at the time, and theywere also interested in doing a
farmer's market. So the synergywas just perfect at that moment,
from as the stories go, I wasn'there, so, you know, I'm always a

(31:36):
little bit on the hearsay ofthese but the legend has it, the
legend has it that Paul walkedinto town hall and said, Let's
make this happen. And Shelleyand Gordon just being very town
focused, and community buildingsaid, All right, let's do this.
We're gonna come together andfigure this out. So they started
it at the dressing room. Theyhad a very successful open

(31:59):
opening. I think 500 peoplecame. I believe they were there
for a few years, and then thetraffic got to be a little much.
I don't know if you've ever beenback there, but it's just a
tight in and out and trying toget through from a safety so
they moved it over to ImperialAvenue, and at that point,
sadly, Paul was getting sick, orwas sick, and Michelle Nisha had

(32:21):
started Wholesome Wave and dryand and also was doing the
dressing room. So they had said,Okay, we've done the farmers
market. The town can take it.
And Shelly and Gordon andRebecca, how they really just
kind of grabbed it. And theyfound Sherry Brooks, Brent
Benton, who's insanely talented,and she they kind of ran with
it. And they did that, I think,for two years, and then they
were gonna close it. You wannaknow the truth. So the year I

(32:43):
came along, they had decidedthat they were gonna close it.
There was a lot of in fightingtruth be told, the money that
was in the account was taken byanother vendor or something. I
mean, it was kind of crazystuff, yeah, and they knew they
needed to wipe the slate clean.
So there had been, yeah, theyhad talked about closing it and
so then, but then I got here,

Ellen (33:04):
It was like, the perfect timing. It all kind of came
together. And that's like,fortuitous. What are the numbers
like in terms of attendance?
What do you what do you likesummer's the big numbers. We
have a lot of people who comefor vacation, right?

Lori (33:16):
We're rolling these days, yeah. I mean, I am, yeah.

Ellen (33:19):
That lot is cracking.

Lori (33:22):
It is on. I highly recommend coming from 12 to two.
The 10 to 12 is that's a lot,yeah, and it's beautiful and
amazing and the people, but thatis the aggressive shopper, that
person knows what they want.
They know the vegetable, andthey've all gotten to be
friends, so they all hold eachother's lines and they know, and
it's really fun and amazing. Butthe 12 to two is a little bit

(33:45):
calmer, and I feel like morenewcomers are coming during the
that window. Our numbers rightnow, in the summer, we're
probably about 3000 a week. Wow.
Rainy days, 12, 1500 the wintermarket, I haven't been able to
get us over. 1750 I'm right atthat window, but we have three
parking attendants, and we havea parking issue. We just don't

(34:07):
have enough parking there. But Ithink Gilbert is looking at
putting some more parking in sowe might be able to bump up.
That's cool. I mean, it is, it'sit's amazing. And I know support
is unbelievable.

Trevor (34:17):
Just being there, you feel the energy of everybody is
happy, you know. And I thinkthat's another thing that we've
always found about people thatlike to grow, like to know,
their growers like to make, youknow, make things and do it is
that there is this just generalair of real positivity at the
market, which I think is thething we all need a lot of

Ellen (34:41):
we're inspired. There's, it's creativity too. I mean,
it's, you know, we constantlysay where we come from in terms
of entertainment and buildingstories. You know, we see so
much art and creativity andgrowing and making and and
cooking and,

Trevor (34:55):
oh, what can I use for this? If I get this, I can bring
this other thing. And what if Iget this? You. Think they have
that. And then, oh, I could addthat to this other Yeah, you
know, whatever it is,

Lori (35:04):
I wake up. I'm no joke. I wake up so many days and think,
Is my energy for this gonnastop? And when does it stop?
Because you're supposed to haveyour exit strategy, right,
right? I've had 15. I mean, I'vehad them all. And every
something else just sparks it.
And I see it, and I see that wecan contribute, and what we
actually are doing for one froman economic perspective, one

(35:24):
from a socio economicperspective, and then from a
community perspective. And it's,it's inspiring, and I do want to
talk about plastic at somepoint. That is one thing.

Ellen (35:38):
Let's talk about plastic and lets talk about programming.
But let's, let's go plastic.

Lori (35:42):
Well, plastic, that's a good that'll be a good one,
because that's inside themarket. But I really do one of
the things, since there aregoing to be listeners to this
all over the world, I reallylike to bring it home that
farmers market. I'm going topreach right now. Farmers
Markets have a responsibility tothe people that are shopping
there. They have aresponsibility to make sure that

(36:02):
the food is grown in the placethat's supposed to be grown. The
prepared foods are made fromhealthy ingredients that are
going to support your health,for your community, as well as
your body, and then also theproduct that it's served in. Is
incredibly important. Our planetis overrun with plastic, and if
anybody's about to turn thisoff? Turn it back on, because

(36:22):
I'm not. I'm not going to makeyou feel terrible about
yourself, but I am going to tellyou, when you walk through the
door of a farmer's market, wehave the responsibility to serve
you, and we have aresponsibility to serve the
environment. You should not seeplastic. You should not see
Styrofoam. If you do, we are notdoing a good job for you. Now,
at our market, we are 98%plastic free. I have not found

(36:45):
another and the only plasticthat is in our market is
consumer protection mandated.
And I have taken, I mean, I'vehad farmers and people come
kicking and screaming, butbecause we have a strong market,
they're able to do it. And iffrom hell or high water, I'm
going to work my butt off to getthis implemented at more farmers
markets.

Ellen (37:05):
I think you just said a key thing there. They're
implementing the non plasticstrategy. It's not hurting
margins and profits. So as longas we can continue to make a
connection between doing what'sright for the environment, doing
the things that we know aresustainable for the planet also
don't equal a loss forparticularly for small
businesses. Let's get real,right? I mean, that is that's

(37:26):
important, but the viability andthe success of the market allows
people to be allows you to beable to implement that right
completely.

Lori (37:36):
And I and that is not missed on me, that our success
of our market is one way thatallows them to have that. But I
could run price points for youat any given day, and the
subsidized plastic numbersyou're going you're still going
to be paying as much, right?
You're you bulk buy, you get ina group, you bulk buy paper, and
you know exactly...

Ellen (38:01):
And its US made. I love that. Well, let's talk a little
bit. We mentioned, we talkedabout food insecurity, and I
know that's a big theme inprogramming for the market, but
let's talk a little bit aboutthe outreach, because you are a
nonprofit and you're alsohelping other nonprofits in the
community, particularly aroundfood insecurity.

Lori (38:16):
It is we always start with the farmer for all of our
programming. So the naming ofour programming, you guys are
welcome to give us feedback,because I think we need it. But
so all of our programmingexternal from the market, does
start with the farmer. So it isthe titles of our program are
farmers to school to community,farmers to kids to community,

(38:37):
and farmers to veterans tocommunity. And those are the
three that we'll talk aboutright now. There are some other
ones that have more to do witharts and education, but those
three work with threeorganizations that are pretty
prolific in our community. Oneis the Gillespie and homes with
hope, which is located inWestport, and that is a homeless
shelter. The Gillespie is ahomeless shelter, and homes with

(39:00):
hope is a rehabilitation I don'tknow what the exact term for
that is, but they do a lot ofgood. How's that? And then homes
for the brave is focused onveterans. And we actually work
with the only female veteranhome in our state, and there are
14 beds in that home, and thatprogram I could talk forever
about, I think that's prettyamazing. And then we also work

(39:21):
with the she Cardinal Sheehanprogram, or center, excuse me,
Cardinal Sheehan center inBridgeport, Connecticut, which
is one of the largest inner cityafter school programs.

Trevor (39:32):
So how does that interact with the farmers
market? Is it just?

Lori (39:36):
it's a great question.

Trevor (39:37):
The farmers are donating food to the to those, to those
places, or, how does it tell usa little bit more about how does
the how does the help happen?

Lori (39:48):
Great question. We actually always start by buying
food. We do not ask for farmersto donate. That's awesome. Yeah.
We truly believe that you paythe farmers for their right, for
their. Wears. I won't be I won'tlie. I do think organizations
know not to come ask me anymore.
But for years, we would haveorganization after organization
ask me for massive donationsfrom farmers. I do think the

(40:11):
word is out not to do that, but,but we always start we pay the
farmer a fair wage for theproduct, and then it ends up in
the hands of either studentscooking meals and serving it to
their local homeless shelter orto a chef that is teaching
female veterans how to cookbecause they have been away from

(40:32):
kitchens for so long and sittingdown to have a meal with them,
showing them the value of a truemeal together. And then at the
table, at the table, exactly.
And then, or to the kids, wherewe're taking fresh food and
putting it in their hands andhaving them have access to a
whole chicken or rutabaga. I wasthinking, like, what's that

(40:56):
vegetable? What Is that weirdlooking vegetable,

Trevor (41:00):
Ah, that old classic chicken and rutabagas.

Ellen (41:07):
But it's so important because, again, it's about, it's
what, it's this theme that youcontinue to pull through across
the whole really ecosystem ofthe farmers market, which is, if
the farmers, they are gettingpaid for what they're doing, and
then that means they grow more.
It means they can do more. Andit it helps all of these.
There's so many ripples, yes,ripples, yes, that it continues

(41:32):
to sustain our community in sucha in such a large way. Sorry,

Lori (41:38):
I would say to your point about the winter market. Trevor,
you said it perfectly. It'slike, how did it grow from
there? It's exactly that thiscontinued success of us
supporting these real farmerswho really grow our food.
They've been at they've beenable to hire, I'm not hire, I'm
sorry, build out greenhouses tobe able to grow more food for
the winter, because the demandis there. That's right.

Trevor (42:00):
I mean, I just think it's so fascinating that and
wonderful that you put yourselfin the position of being a
farmer. You have thisopportunity to be in a in a
market where you can sell a lotof produce, because you're not
at scale, where you're going tobe able to sell to a big grocery
store chain or something likethat, and there's an opportunity
to give some of your food toplace that needs it, you know, a

(42:23):
program that needs it, you'reprobably going to feel, Oh, I
guess I should just give themsome of this food, because
you're in a position where youdon't have all of the power,
right? You're there as a guest.
So you're like, Okay, I'll just,yeah, you can have all of this.
It's fine, but it's probably notreally fine. It's probably
really hard to do that. The factthat you're buying that,

Ellen (42:42):
well, that Lori sets the process, she sets this up to the
individual, yeah,

Trevor (42:46):
is just such an awesome I'm sure, breath of fresh air
for them, because they can feelgood about what they're doing.
It can be a real extension intothe community, and they can
still hit the numbers that theyhave to hit in order to make
sure that we can all continue toenjoy the things that they make.
It's just so cool.

Lori (43:06):
Do you know that in our country right now, we have the
largest amount of farmers onfood subsidies? Yeah, it's since
World War Two. Pretty horrific,incredible, horrific, and
horrific. And I do look I foodinsecurity is incredibly
important to me, and it's, Ithink we have to combat it. I do
think that until we startputting the farmer first, we

(43:27):
have a very we have a huge hillto climb, and I'm not sure that
we can climb it if we're notunderstanding that the farmer
has to be valued for whatthey're doing.

Trevor (43:37):
It's interesting. We, you know, we obviously here,
we're very much about yard totable, about Super local and
ultra local. And it reallychanges if you do something in
your yard, if you're buildingsomething out. It really changes
your perspective on how hard itis to do anything. And we were
talking about a little bitbefore, but it really at least

(43:59):
for me and I know for Ellen, ithas really changed. We always
liked farmers, appreciatedfarmers, understood the value
chefs, yeah, but it reallychanges your appreciation for
how hard it is, because when thecucumber beetle comes into the
thing, and then it's all andyou're like, Oh, I got rid of
that one by injecting the thing

Ellen (44:19):
Vine borers!

Trevor (44:20):
And then the Fleas, and I'm like, Why does my cute Why
does my zucchini look likegarbage? Oh, fleas. I didn't
expect that to come. You know,it's, it's an endless onslaught
that prevents you from gettinganything done. You know how hard
it is, and you know how hardthey work, and how hard and how
important it is, and I guess, toa certain extent. And ask you

(44:41):
about this. Do you see themarket as sort of like an
extension of that sort of yardto table? Education, education,

Lori (44:49):
100% I mean, I you the majority of shoppers that are
there, especially that 10 to 12window, are growing some fresh
hour. Yeah. Or have grownsomething, or have a strong
knowledge about the plant, rightand or how things are harvested,
and they can that. And I'm notgoing to say the 12 to two dozen

(45:10):
either, but there is throughoutthe market, there is this
beautiful, educated conversationhappening. There's also a thirst
for knowledge. Of the peoplethat are there want to know what
their ingredients are going totaste like. They want to know
the impact of it so and to thatpoint, I don't know about you,
but I'm right now in my head,I'm envisioning the romaine that

(45:32):
I purchased from Fort Hill lastweek and the romaine that's in
my garden. Yeah, they are. Idon't even know if they're from
the same.

Ellen (45:44):
Both organic, but not the same,

Lori (45:46):
same. It's so. So I So, yes,

Ellen (45:50):
don't have the heart of a farmer. I do my best. But I
mean, like you were saying, theconditions, they go out, in the
heat, in the rain, in the slug,we need more education around
what that experience is andreally why it's so valuable to
us. And I think that's what youknow, such as

Trevor (46:03):
Its not riding in a cool combine tractor, which would be
amazing.

Lori (46:08):
You know, what I find is I maybe I'm wrong, and I would
love your take on this, but Ifind that people have this
misnomer that they they don'tknow how smart farmers are.

Trevor (46:20):
Yes, I could see that.
Oh, 100% Yeah, no, for sure,

Lori (46:23):
They are... They're some of the smartest business I mean,
the math that they have to run,it's a lot the guessing game
they're doing with the weatherprediction science. I mean, they
are and so I understand whythey're insular. They it's hard
to break through. I'm honoredthat they have given me a voice
and they allow me to have avoice. I've worked very hard for

(46:45):
it. I don't take it for grantedat all, but I get why they're
insular a little.

Ellen (46:51):
Yeah, when you're thinking about from the customer
perspective, if you would wantto educate a shopper who's going
into a farmer's market, say it'sJanuary and there are ripe
tomatoes for sale, what are thethings that a shopper should be
looking for? I know there's someterms you've taught me when

(47:12):
we're thinking about it's notthe Westport farmers market
we're talking to, but if someoneis a just going to a farmer's
market for the first time, andthey're going and what are the
things that they should look foror ask that's,

Lori (47:21):
oh my gosh, another good question. You guys should have a
podcast.

Trevor (47:25):
We will talk about that.
We will talk about that.

Lori (47:29):
So first of all, when you go into a market, relax, give
yourself a little breath of justbeing in line. And the number
one thing I would say is, if youfeel uncomfortable. That's
amazing. Like, that's a goodthing. That's okay.

Ellen (47:44):
I love that. Sit in your discomfort, in your discomfort,

Lori (47:47):
and people are going to talk to you. You're going to be
spoken to at a market. It is notgoing to be the cold, isolated
grocery store. It is going to bea warmer experience. So that
would be the first like, beready to talk and be ready to
engage. The other thing I wouldsay, and I what you're talking
about, is called jobbing, jobs.
So what? Yeah, so what Ellenvery wisely brought up is, if
you, let's use May

Trevor (48:10):
She is very wise.

Lori (48:11):
She is very wise.

Ellen (48:12):
Thank you.

Unknown (48:13):
She so are you, by the way, and she so, let's say May,
because this actually justhappened in Connecticut. In May,
a bunch of markets open up, andthere's watermelon, there are 10
different types of or fivedifferent, sorry, I'm
exaggerating, but there werefive different types of tomato,
there were full zucchinis. Therewas broccoli at three different

(48:33):
markets that opened in May, notin my yard, not in your yard,
and for what oil is going for,not in a greenhouse? Yeah. So
now with us important, right?
And if you don't know theseasonality, I mean, look, we
all basically know theseasonality. We have an idea of
what's growing and what's not.
And if you don't, then you canlook it up online. But if you're

(48:55):
seeing watermelon in May,they're buying it, and that's
called jobbing. And what thatis, is when a farmer is buying
product, more than likely on awholesale so you have no idea
how this product has beentreated or where it has come
from and selling it as theirown. Now, the sad part about
this is, right now, everybody'sprobably thinking, Well, damn
that farmer. Well, the realityis, is that we, the shopper has

(49:17):
put the pressure on the farmerto have them believe that their
product that they're growing inMay isn't valuable enough. Yeah,
and we have to change that. Wehave to say your greens are
gorgeous. Your dandelions aregorgeous. We want you. We do not
want Mexican products flown inthat we're then going to sell at
a farmer's market here thatwe're already paying subsidies

(49:39):
to in our taxes. So don't do itlike we just need to be support,
more supportive. And also,Department of Agriculture in the
state of Connecticut's comingdown pretty hard on Jobing as
they should. Yeah, it reallyhurts other it really hurts
other farmers. I am notexaggerating that at all. It is
a complete detriment to whatwhen another farmer jobs, what
it does to real farmers.

Trevor (49:59):
But I. Think it's, I think one of the things, just to
get mildly esoteric for just amoment,

Ellen (50:05):
do, do? Do?

Trevor (50:05):
Wow, that's a lot.

Ellen (50:08):
That was the esoteric.
Oh, that's esoteric music.

Trevor (50:11):
Find some better esoteric music. Fine.

Ellen (50:16):
It was a good start as a show tune. That's in my heart.

Trevor (50:21):
But we all live in such a fast paced all of it's
available instantly universe.
All of us do, whether we like itor not. That is the reality
situation. You can buy somethingonline and you can get it the
next day. You can go to agrocery store and you can find
dragon fruit easily every day ofthe week. No equivocation. 24

(50:41):
hours a day. 365, and when wemoved from California here, I
think just having thatseasonality was the beginning of
an awakening of knowing thatthis isn't in season, or we
shouldn't be using this, or weshould get a canned version of
that, because it, you know?
Yeah, it's, it's very hard, youknow, I get it from a from a

(51:06):
farmer standpoint, like, well,they really want tomatoes, and I
have to sell something, so letme see if I can eat for it.
Yeah, small amount of margin.
It's really, again, back to thefarmers. It's really hard on
them. It is, but it's somethingthat we as consumers, I think,
can do our best to try to keepthat yard to table mentality,
it's not growing in your yard,

Ellen (51:27):
and also eliminate food waste. When you think about when
you're bringing all the stuff inthat is not seasonal, you know,
and then what, what you're we'redoing, which is outside of
really consuming the things thatare being grown in the capacity
we should be consuming them atthat time of year. It just
creates this huge, you know,amount of food waste. And
thinking about this, as we weretalking, you know, when we moved

(51:48):
here, we had a pre plantedasparagus patch in the garden.
And I had never in and neitherhad you, Trevor, never, ever
seen asparagus grow from theground. And I was like, what?

Trevor (52:03):
it was Adam's needle. I thought was an entirely
different Plant

Ellen (52:06):
we were like, I mean, very no pun intended green

Trevor (52:10):
It had already gone to like, frons.

Unknown (52:15):
this weird? But in the middle of it, there was, like,
asparagus that just you cut. Iwas like, what?

Trevor (52:20):
Oh look, there's asparagus, and what's this other
plant? Yeah, also asparagus.

Ellen (52:25):
But I will tell you now, after harvesting our own
asparagus, planting more, Idon't buy asparagus. We have
not. I mean, you know the tasteof that asparagus from our
garden in early spring for aslong as we can sustain. It is so
different and good. And now I'mlike, well, magical. And this
is, I'm like, asparagus season,so I'm gonna, this is what I'm

(52:48):
supposed to eat asparagus. Now,of course, if there's, like you
said, greenhouses and supportingall, that's great, but I think
about that very seasonally. Andto that point, you know, for a
shopper again, are there keythings they should be looking
for at certain times? Or youtalked about greens in winter,
right? Or coming into spring, isthere kind of like some because
not everybody knows what to buyin spring, summer, fall, from

(53:08):
the market.

Lori (53:09):
So fall, you're going to be looking for more the root
vegetables are coming in, thesweet potatoes. You obviously
have spring potatoes, but you'regoing to have the bigger tomato
potatoes, excuse me, and thesquash. You have all the winter
squashes coming in, the applesand pears have just come in as
your beautiful tree is probablyfruiting at the moment. And I

(53:29):
think those are some of thebigger ones you're going to see.
You will see the cauliflower andthe broccoli. So a little more
of those. You almost think ofit. So spring is kind of bright
and fluffy. So you're gonna seetenderlings and bright, fluffy
veg, light, leafy things. Thesummer is gonna get the summer's
bright, right? Lotta color.
You're gonna see your eggplantsand your tomatoes and your corn,

(53:50):
and so there's a lot more colorpopping in the summer. And then
you get into the fall, which isstarting to get cooler, and you
want you know you're starting tosnuggle in a little bit. So
think of those more Ambercolors, like the delicata
squash, the butternut squash,the honey nut squash, the and
then you go into winter, andyou're really going to be
looking more at root vegetables,and greenhouses are going to

(54:12):
grow greens for the most part.
And then spring to you get thefirst spring carrots, which I
think are some of the bestthings on the planet,

Ellen (54:20):
and delicata, our first year

Lori (54:22):
first year delicata.

Ellen (54:25):
This year is our first year. Yeah, give you one. It's
so good. Salad yesterday, we

Trevor (54:31):
did some apples. With the exception of the chicken.
Everything was from here.

Ellen (54:37):
We're not getting chickens.

Trevor (54:41):
It's a theme

Lori (54:43):
super, super fancy ones

Trevor (54:45):
me too, by the way, we'll talk after the podcast.
But what I think is so funny isthink about winter or late fall.
Think about food in that time.
Chances are you're thinkingabout like a hearty. Soup? Yeah,
yeah. Thinking about like, a,like a, like, a light salad with
flowers on it, right? So go towhat your imagination says.

(55:07):
Think about the things you knowyou want to have, like, a warm,
hearty, big bowl of soup withthings you know that's what you
want. You don't want somethingthat's out of season. Your body
doesn't really actually wantthat.

Lori (55:20):
Your body's not really craving it, no. And you're
right. I do believe if we livedmore within the more
seasonality, there would be lessfood waste. And that's a really
smart concept on it, too. Yeah.

Ellen (55:32):
Well, we've been very we've gotten very vigilant in
our own home around food waste.
I think we become very consciousof it. I know our community, we
have a wonderful food scrapprogram that was started here in
Weston in this past year, thensome very early compliance with
a lot of families. But I thinkit's a concept that we think we
all need to start embracing. Wethink about recycling. We have
to start thinking about foodwaste and what that means.

Lori (55:55):
I think Weston is doing a really good job. You can take it
to your you can take it to yourdump. I mean, how easy is that
that's super easy.

Ellen (56:01):
Yeah? Smart, yeah. You want to ask your magic question,
or do

Trevor (56:06):
I have a magic question?
So there's a magic wand that younow possess, and you can wave
that magic wand and make all ofyour Westport Farmers Market
dreams come true worldwide forthe Westport farmers market.

Ellen (56:24):
It's your magic. Go ahead.

Trevor (56:25):
Can I ask my magic question? I was building up to
something here. Actually, Iwasn't. That was the question.
If you had everything

Lori (56:32):
Feel like you need a little song behind I should
again.

Trevor (56:37):
Did you just do Smoke on the Water?

Ellen (56:39):
Im not paying for the licensing on that.

Trevor (56:43):
You just said, do do do,

Ellen (56:45):
I think you've heard it wrong.

Trevor (56:46):
Did I Okay?

Lori (56:47):
I think that I did not hear that.

Ellen (56:48):
Thank you. Laurie, okay,

Trevor (56:49):
I see how this podcast is going. What's the future of
the market? What do you see?
What are the things that, if youcan tell us that you want to
see, that you're working on thisis such an amazing thing in our
community. Where is it going?

Lori (57:05):
Well, if I have my druthers, I do foresee the
market having a very stronginfluence and role in some other
area, markets, okay? And I thinkthat we are, there is an
opportunity for markets that areon opposite days, that are in
other communities, to come underthe umbrella of our market and

(57:27):
our model. We have an endlesspipeline of shoppers. We have
multiple different vendors whocould be, who could be a part of
these markets. And actually,this area really deserves the
highest level of marketsavailable, and what that could
do from an economic developmentperspective in our state, for
agri tourism, agriculturegrants, and, yeah, that's one of

(57:52):
the things I see. Love thathappening. The second is the
Farmers Market Association Itapped on earlier really does
need to continue and strengthen,and I hope within the next five
years, it has a very stronglobbying arm. And what we're
hearing in Hartford is thatagriculture is not on the
forefront. There is a lot of bigag talk on the floor, but we're

(58:14):
not hearing much about small tomid sized farmers. Interesting.
If I can change that, I'm goingto work really hard to change it
totally. And our farmers in thestate need some additional
financial support, and from agovernment perspective, and
well, it's just financialsupport. Really must be real. I
was gonna add something, but Iwas like, that's an add on.

(58:34):
That's not real. They reallyneed they need money.

Trevor (58:36):
They need our love, which they have. They have but

Lori (58:39):
and then finally, for the Westport farmers market
specifically, I do really wantto continue to curate this
younger generation that's comingin. And there's two components
of that. There's a staffingcomponent of it. We are really
lucky to have some youngprofessionals who want to be a
part of this, and I'm workinghard to build out a business
model that can pay them to be apart of it so that this is a

(59:01):
structured profession that theycould go into. And that is one
of my biggest goals.

Trevor (59:07):
That's amazing.

Ellen (59:08):
I love that, because then then that is the succession
plan, that is the success. Howdoes it can? How does it
sustain, if you don't havepeople that are coming in being
trained, earning a living,wanting to take this on just
like you're taking care of thefarmers. That only makes sense.
I love that.

Lori (59:23):
Yeah, that's it. And then maybe get a bathroom in the
parking lot, just little things,

Ellen (59:29):
absolutely,

Lori (59:31):
3000 people, no bathroom.

Trevor (59:32):
Nature Calls

Lori (59:34):
Hint Hint Westport.

Ellen (59:35):
We do love the 12 to two slot, usually, because we can
never get in because we'reusually working. And then we're
like, let's go over and get somelunch. So I will say that, you
know, a bathroom there would benice as well. You know, because
you're rushing out the door,it's a wonderful lunch spot.
It's fantastic. So what else cancan people do to support the
market besides shop?

Lori (59:53):
Well, shopping coming is number one. Follow us on social
media. My powers that be wouldbe so excited. I just said that,
and then our

Ellen (01:00:02):
Your social media feeds on fire.

Lori (01:00:04):
Thank you. Thank you.

Ellen (01:00:05):
Good stuff. Yeah,

Lori (01:00:05):
we really appreciate it, and you all have given me such
great feedback as well, so I doappreciate that. And the other
thing is, all of our programmingdoes exist off of donations, so
we really do need money, and weare learning our voice around
that. We are figuring out how tocommunicate much clearer and and
how to have our direct ask. Soif you are interested in

(01:00:26):
agriculture, you are interestedin community, we are a great
organization to get involvedwith,

Ellen (01:00:31):
and it's a 501, c3 listen up. Listen up.

Trevor (01:00:37):
Well, we always ask, what's what's growing up in your
yard there?

Lori (01:00:42):
Ooh, that's good question.
Well, as I was demising with youand your beautiful garden that I
just pulled all of my cucumberstoday, I gave up. I said, I'm
done.

Ellen (01:00:52):
You lasted longer than we did, sister. Oh, yeah,

Trevor (01:00:53):
we yanked a while back.

Lori (01:00:56):
It's amazing.

Trevor (01:00:57):
Yeah, we had 100 plus cucumbers this season. It was
crazy.

Lori (01:01:00):
But now cucumbers did well, but in the last few weeks,
just jumped off the cliff. Yeah,but I will say I had a friend
that gave me these beautifulorange Cosmos last year, the
seeds. And actually, I'm gonnabring y'all some. I know you
have Christine, but yeah, still,these are beautiful, and I just
always want to share.

Ellen (01:01:16):
But, you know, I'm a flower girl, yes,

Lori (01:01:18):
I know red, red your color, yeah. But these are,
these are orange. I'm a flowernerd.

Trevor (01:01:23):
I didn't say it was a bad thing labeling.

Lori (01:01:27):
I mean that. So right now, I have two favorite things in my
yard just jogged my memory. Ihave a dinner plate, white
Dahlia. And I just, I feel likeI want to date her. I'm in love
with her.

Ellen (01:01:40):
You saw the one I put on the table, right? I know, so
pretty. The cafe au lait. I feellike,

Unknown (01:01:43):
Yeah, beautiful. I just keep looking at it and touching
it, and I just think,

Ellen (01:01:47):
I get drawn in. I get drawn in

Unknown (01:01:49):
I'm so in love. And then the orange Cosmos, they're
really tall, and they'rebeautiful, and they're just that
last pop saying, Hey, thanks forthe season. This has been
amazing. I love that. Love it.

Ellen (01:02:01):
I have to send you this poem that your great
grandmother, right? Is yourgreat great grandmother,

Trevor (01:02:07):
great grandmother.

Lori (01:02:08):
I love his family stories.

Ellen (01:02:10):
So much good stuff there. I know. Well, the fun
part is Jesse crafts. Jessespray crafts, we had the same
birthday. How weird is that? Oh,I know it's pretty fun. And she
was a poet, and she wrote a lotof poems about growing up in
rural Ohio, and they had afamily farm, and the your
grandfather put her poemstogether in a book, and it's

(01:02:32):
very seasonal, so you readthrough it, and it's about
harvest and summer. We used apoem about peonies as one of our
readings at our wedding. It wascalled Peony match, and which
was beautiful, but she's abeautiful poem about Cosmo, so
I'm going to send it to you. Iwould love to see her. And I'm a
new Cosmo fan this year, becauseI thought it was like, these
things are very Ferny, and Idon't know, and then all of a
sudden, they just went to boom,and I'm like, Okay, now I'm in

(01:02:53):
love.

Lori (01:02:54):
I don't know how tall they got. I know tall, right? So I
know, I know they're strong,they look whimsical, but they
just

Ellen (01:03:01):
Yeah, I would love those seeds. We're huge fan. I'm gonna
send you the poem. It's justYeah,

Trevor (01:03:06):
yeah. We did a little, a little Cosmo video against the
against the poem on@stonebrookhouse on Instagram,

Ellen (01:03:14):
Ellen reading, Jessie spray crafts, if you're looking
for a gentle moment,

Lori (01:03:25):
I never want to leave here.

Trevor (01:03:31):
Well, we have taken up so much of your incredibly
valuable time.

Ellen (01:03:36):
We're so grateful and proud to have you on this
podcast. Thank you so much forbeing with us.

Lori (01:03:41):
Thank you for having me.

Trevor (01:03:42):
Oh, you're the best, and we will see,

Lori (01:03:44):
am I your favorite?

Ellen (01:03:46):
I can't leave everyone

Trevor (01:03:47):
I cant legally say that Laurie,

Ellen (01:03:53):
she's another one of my sheroes.

Trevor (01:03:57):
She's so she really wants to be the favorite. She
really does, and that's okay,because, but you can't pick a
favorite. She was our favoritetoday. She is my most favorite
market ruler and leader, forsure. 1,000% 10,000%

Ellen (01:04:17):
Absolutely. And for our listeners, so you know how to
get to and go to the Westportfarmers market will drop links
in the show notes and alsoreferences to any of the good
information the fabulous Lorishared with us today

Trevor (01:04:30):
All those awesome services that she does in the
programs. And it just, it's along list. It's going to be a
long list. Hope you likereading, as opposed to just
listening to yard to table.

Ellen (01:04:41):
And anyone who's local, the farmer's market is every
Thursday, every Thursday in thesummer, on the Imperial lot in
Westport, and in the winter atBill verdes greenhouses. So
cool. They're both amazing. Bothamazing, getting very excited.
Thanks for being with us andhaving a seat at our table.

Trevor (01:04:59):
Yard. To table is a production of macrocosm
entertainment. Don't forget torate us and subscribe anywhere
you listen to podcasts and fortips and more information,
follow us on Instagram@stonebrookhouse.

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Our Guide from Farm to Market to Table - Lori Cochran-Dougall

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Our Guide from Farm to Market to Table - Lori Cochran-Dougall