While many things are seemingly on hold, our indoor farmers market continues as we hit the final days of winter and the start of spring days. Today, March 20th, our indoor market is happening from 9am until 12pm at the Masonic Temple on the north side of the square. A bit of a side note, but not every indoor farmers market is housed in a building that has a long history. The masons are the oldest civic organization in Monroe. It was organized in 1850. That is eight years before Monroe was incorporated as a village. The building, located at 1613 ½ 10th Street has housed businesses on its first floor since its early days. Today that includes Orange Kitten Yarns and the Artful Dressmaker. Special thank you to the lodge for making the space available to rent so that we can have the indoor market in a space that is downtown and, especially relevant this year, large enough to allow for social distancing.
Our indoor market is the third Saturday of every month November through April with an additional market the first Saturday in December. While it is often times overshadowed by the outdoor market, which will be returning May 1st this year, the indoor market has an array of options that, so far this year, has included lettuce, Swiss Chard, hot peppers, jams and salsas, seasonings, soaps and body scrubs, rugs, and mittens. All of these items are made and grown locally. We are a producer only farmers market year round. What may be interesting about that is that its mid-March and produce is available. And it’s locally grown. While many of our vendors use greenhouses to grow year round, one vendor uses hydroponics to grow produce.
Hydroponics is a unique type of horticulture, where plants (typically crops) are grown without using soil. Instead, plants are grown by having their roots exposed to a nutritious liquid that is a solvent rich with minerals and nutrients. The roots are sometimes supported by a different medium like gravel. This unique typically requires more supervision and better use of water since any mistakes or glitches affect plants faster since there is no soil to act as a buffer. While they will not be available today, strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, beans, radishes, and cucumbers, are all great plants to grow with hydroponics. Luke Speer, owner of Here and There Farms, will be bringing some of his equipment and providing a demonstration of how he successfully grows many of these things. In fact, he supplies Linos in Rockford with lettuce each week and other items as they’re available.
I hope you can join me today and in the future in learning more about hydroponics and all of the efforts vendors undertake to sell their goods in Monroe year round. When you shop the market for great specialty items, you’re buying from people who enjoy creating and building relationships with those in the community, and, with the indoor market, are doing it in a historic building that has been a communal spot for so many.
— Jordan Nordby is the executive director for Main Street Monroe. He can be reached at MonroeMainStreet@tds.net. complete details on Main Street Monroe and its efforts can be found at mainstreetmonroe.org.
