Farmers markets aren’t just for springs and summers anymore. This month, year-round farmers market options are coming to the D.C neighborhoods of Mount Pleasant and Park View to give produce pickers a chance to get fresh, locally sourced veggies even in the frigid winter months.

In a blog post published earlier this week, organizers of the Mount Pleasant farmers market say their new, smaller winter market—which opened last weekend—comes following demand from shoppers and vendors. The organizers for the market did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“People still need to eat in January and February, and are getting a little tired of walking into Safeway, not knowing what they are buying,” says Chuck Brodsky, who conceived and created the indoor Park View Farmers’ Market with his wife Michelle Harburg. “People these days are striving to get closer to the food they eat.”

According to Washingtonian, there were more than 50 distinct farmers markets in the D.C. region in 2019. Most of them operate from spring to fall, taking advantage of the nice weather and the traditionally more bountiful growing seasons. But, in recent years, more and more of these markets have decided to operate in the winter months as well. From Silver Spring to Fairfax, year-round farmers markets can now be found across our region.

It was in 2003 that the popular Dupont Circle farmers market decided to go year-round. Nony Dutton, deputy director of FRESHFARM, the non-profit that puts on the Dupont market and about 30 other markets and farm stands around the region in partnership with Community Foodworks, says he’s seen an uptick in interest and customers every winter since. He believes it has to do with people taking more interest in where their food comes from, better promotion, and farmers increasing the variety and quality of the products they are growing in the winter.

Typically, the Dupont Circle market gets about 55 vendors on a winter Sunday, as opposed to 65 during its busiest month of the year, September. Dutton says there are, of course, challenges running an outdoor farmers market in the winter: unpredictable weather, crop failures, and frosts that can ruin produce. Nonetheless, no matter the wintery conditions, the winter farmers market almost always goes on.

“Our policy is that even if we have one farmer showing up, we will make sure the market is open for them one way or another,” says Dutton. “Rain, snow, blizzard, shine … we will be here selling vegetables.”

Yes, the cold season does limit what can be grown and then sold at farmers markets in January and February. But there’s plenty of produce that regionally does really well in the winter months. Pam Stegall runs the small, family-owned Calvert Farm in Cecil County, Maryland right near the borders of Delaware and Pennsylvania. Beginning on January 19th, she’ll be making a weekly two hour drive to sell her winter veggies at the Park View Farmers Market. She says our region’s relatively mild winters does allow for good production of a hearty selection of vegetables.

“In the winter, we get a really strong crop of leafy greens, like cabbage, kale, chard, collard, herbs,” Stegall says. “Of course, there are root crops, too, like beets, carrots, parsnips.”

Even though she’s been doing this for nearly three decades, she’s still impressed by her farm’s productivity in the cold months. “It’s really an amazing variety of vegetables,” says Stegall. “We are surprised sometimes at the amount of stuff we can actually push out in the winter.” She’s excited to sell at Park View Farmers Market because it means that customers will get vegetables that she picked only a few days ago. Stegall recommends the winter spinach. “It’s nicer and sweeter. It just has a good taste to it.”

Of course, for shoppers, going to an outdoor farmers market in the winter can be less than comfortable. That’s why Brodosky and Harburg decided to hold theirs indoors at Hook Hall, shielded from the elements. There’s also a full-service bar with alcohol, plus a few other important accommodations.

“There’s clean toilets. You just don’t get that at other farmers markets,” says Brodsky. They also say the market will have D.C.’s largest meat counter and inland seafood counter. Additionally, they are looking into the possibility down the road of opening a night market (a farmers market after dark) in D.C., something they say that city is lacking, and additional markets.

The married couple saw a need on both sides, farmers and customers, for providing locally-sourced produce year-round. “We wanted to support our local food shed,” says Brodsky, whose farmers market is only working with vendors within 100 miles of D.C. “We’re not farmers, so … we realized the next best thing was to procure flexible, year round space to get [growers] closer to the consumer. The reaction we’ve seen is that more and more people want that.”

Mount Pleasant Farmers Market operates at Mount Pleasant Plaza, 3210 Mount Pleasant St. NW, open Sundays 10 a.m.-1 p.m. through March 28, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. April 4-Dec. 26.
Park View Farmers Market operates at Hook Hall, 3400 Georgia Ave. NW. Open Sundays 9 a.m.-2 p.m. year-round.