Howdy Farm will have its inaugural farmers market Thursday, which will host a variety of vendors selling items such as fresh-picked farm vegetables, homemade goods, locally brewed beer and fresh eggs.
“There is a lot of variety – someone with eggs, including quail eggs, a lady who makes homemade jam, a lady who makes homemade soap and bread, there are two people who make jewelry, a lady who grows plants, some olive oil and of course all of the vegetables,” said Taylor Paine, Howdy Farm farmers market coordinator.
Howdy Farm, an on-campus, student-run farm, typically sells its produce at the market held at the Health Services Center in Bryan on Saturday mornings, Paine said.
Chris Weingart, co-owner of Blackwater Draw Brewing Company, where the market will be stationed, said he thinks the parking lot is a great place to put on a farmers market because Blackwater is centrally located on Northgate and because there is walking traffic near the brewpub.
“We thought it would be a good opportunity to put a farmers market in the centralized location,” Weingart said. “There is a strong student community here without vehicles, a lot of whom are going to be able to stroll down here and get their produce.”
Corey Wahl, Howdy Farm’s head field manager, said he thinks this is a great opportunity for students who don’t have the means to go out to the Bryan farmers market.
“I think the great thing about it is students don’t want to get up on Saturday morning and go to the one in Bryan,” Wahl said. “I think this is going to make it more accessible to the student population and it will have a more bar vibe where students can go and get things that are normally available on Saturday morning and it will help to raise awareness for our farm.”
Jose Espinoza, senior biological and agricultural engineering major, lives on campus and said he likes how close the farmers market will be to campus.
“I think the market will be convenient for getting groceries, especially since a lot of people that live on campus don’t have opportunity to go to the stores easily because they don’t have cars,” Espinoza said. “Also since Howdy Farm is hosting the market you are supporting student run organizations by shopping there which is great.”
Andrew Liao, materials science and engineering graduate student, said he liked the idea of Howdy Farm working with a brewery and said he will be going if the market becomes a weekly event.
“It’s great that the Howdy Farm student organization is taking a step outside their comfort zone and working with a brewery,” Liao said. “I hope they keep at it week after week because I will definitely be visiting.”
Weingart said the brewpub is going to brew one-off experimental beers that will be tested out at the farmers markets to gauge people’s opinions. Weingart also said the head chef at Blackwater would be using produce from the market to cook a farm-to-table meal that will be available after the farmers market has concluded.
“The one-off is the beer that we want to have served for the market,” Weingart said. “We also spoke to Taylor about – after the market’s done – having Will, our chef, design a farm-to-table meal. Let him get in there and pick what he needs and create a couple dozen specials designed around the concept of farm-to-table that will pair with [the] beer that we are serving that day.”
Paine said the idea for the farmers market came out of conversations with Weingart about how to help raise funds and to find more volunteers for Howdy Farm.
“That’s actually where the idea came from, we were talking about fundraising and raising awareness and supporters,” Paine said. “[Weingart] was saying, ‘Why don’t you just have a farmers market in my parking lot?’ and now I have 15 vendors wanting to participate.”
The market will be from 1-5 p.m. Thursday.