Episodes

  • Ep 304: Ask the Pros!

    Ep 304: Ask the Pros!
    Jul 29 2024
    We have a mixed bag of topics in this month's Ask the Pros episode. With hot weather advisories, fires and floods becoming more common, we've been getting a lot of questions about when closing a market is justified. Weather or not, farmers need to move their produce so it's not a decision managers take lightly. We're chatting about that and a variety of other questions from our listeners and our online community today Listen in while we chat about these quandaries and more: • Balancing safety, comfort and farmers' and vendors' need to make a living • What to do when you're selling out mid-market • Managing vendor to vendor conflicts that go public • Listening closely to find the source of customer complaints Remember, Super Early Bird registration for InTents, the National Farmers Market Conference 2025 starts THIS Thursday. Watch this space and our email newsletter for all the details and save.
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    44 mins
  • Ep 303: Report From Rome: World Farmers Market Coalition

    Ep 303: Report From Rome: World Farmers Market Coalition
    Jul 22 2024

    Join us for a report from Catt's trip to the World Farmers Market Coalition's second General Assembly, in Rome, Italy this month. Delegates from some 70 countries and organizations gathered, representing hundreds of farmers markets and policy making bodies. They heard about the international coalition's current projects and contributed to its visions for the future. Maybe most importantly, they shared perspectives, broke bread, and formed and renewed bonds, market operators from a multitude of places sharing the community that is common to farmers market culture.

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    43 mins
  • Ep 302: InTents Conference Request For Proposals Announcement

    Ep 302: InTents Conference Request For Proposals Announcement
    Jul 15 2024

    We're about to share so much news about 2025's InTents: the National Farmers Market Conference. Today, we're starting with the announcement that the Request for Proposals opens in just a few days. We're adding a special farmer and vendor track in 2025, so possibilities abound.

    Are you ready to share your expertise about a topic with market managers or participants from throughout the US, Canada and beyond? Submit that proposal!

    Do you have a need that you're hoping a speaker or panel will address? Pop us an email or a DM and we'll add it to our targets.

    Listen in for some tips on how to create a successful proposal, then stick around as we look back on attendees at the 2022 Conference sharing what makes them keep doing this important work.
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    52 mins
  • Ep 301: Wendy Chen: Volunteering to Keep it Legal

    Ep 301: Wendy Chen: Volunteering to Keep it Legal
    Jul 8 2024
    Volunteers are the lifeblood of many farmers markets and we know that even market managers are sometimes labeled as volunteers. That labor of love is admirable. Is it legal? That depends, and it's complicated. Wendy Chen joined us at InTents, the National Farmers Market Conference earlier this year. Her work at the Center for Agricultural and Food Systems at Vermont Law School includes the newest section of the Farmers Market Legal Toolkit, specifically focused on the role of volunteers at farmers markets. Listen in as we discuss the answers to these questions and more:
    • What kind of organizations can host volunteers?
    • Do the market bucks you give volunteers put you at risk?
    • Who is responsible if a volunteer is injured at the market?
    • Can a full time manager be a volunteer?
    • What penalties come with misclassifying team members?
    Find the new volunteer resource and more at farmersmarketlegaltoolkit.org
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    42 mins
  • Ep 300: Celebrating 300 Episodes of Tent Talk

    Ep 300: Celebrating 300 Episodes of Tent Talk
    Jul 1 2024
    It's hard to believe that we've produced 300 episodes of Tent Talk, the farmers market podcast, since we started almost five years ago. You'd think we might run out of things to talk about, but nope! There are so many ideas to explore, questions to ponder, and issues to delve into. We love creating opportunities for market businesses and operations to change and grow. We appreciate the endless number of interesting people doing amazing things that generously share their stories with us and our followers. We appreciate you for listening and subscribing. Join us today as we look back and look forward and have a few laughs. Stay tuned, we're just getting started.
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    37 mins
  • Ep 299: Market Interns: Eat, Work, Learn!

    Ep 299: Market Interns: Eat, Work, Learn!
    Jun 24 2024
    Call it internship, apprenticeship or learning by doing, it's all about training the next generation of farmers, foodmakers and market managers on the job. On this week's episode we talk about how interns can help your market and ways to make those programs beneficial for both sides. A true internship provides education and that takes effort. Determine the best time to establish an internship that works, by considering issues including:
    • Identifying the differences between interns and volunteers
    • Deciding whether an internship is paid or unpaid
    • Making sure you get the work your interns produce into that binder
    • Creating success stories like the one from Williamsburg Farmers Market
    Thanks to Downtown SLO Farmers Market for the 📸

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    32 mins
  • Ep 298: Nino Budabin McQuown: National Farmers Market Week Prep

    Ep 298: Nino Budabin McQuown: National Farmers Market Week Prep
    Jun 17 2024
    It's the 25th anniversary of National Farmers Market Week. Get ready to get ready with the Farmers Market Coalition Toolkit, it's available now. Get ahead of the game with early press releases and outreach to your local policy makers. Order your temporary I Love Farmers Market tattoos. Plan a celebration and don't forget to slip in a little education. This is our week to shine. Join us as we chat with Nino Budabin McQuown of FMC about all the best ways to use the week to raise your farmers markets' profile, including:
    • Customize your celebration for your community
    • Request a proclamation or visit from local officials now
    • Suggest farmers and market vendors use NFMW to promote their businesses
    • Whether you plan ahead or scramble, make it fun

    FMC Toolkit: https://farmersmarketcoalition.org/national-farmers-market-week/
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    28 mins
  • Ep 297: Sagdrina Brown Jalal: Juneteenth is Just a Beginning

    Ep 297: Sagdrina Brown Jalal: Juneteenth is Just a Beginning
    Jun 10 2024
    Juneteenth is coming up, are you ready? With the mid-week holiday coming up, we're seeing observances and events scheduled this coming weekend also the following Saturday and Sunday, June 22nd and 23rd, in addition to June 19th itself. Sagdrina Brown Jalal joined us last year to discuss how to honor that day at our markets. This year we'll be amplifying the collective Juneteenth awareness campaign that Sagdrina is leading for the Farmers Market Coalition. Listen in to our brief conversation about this year's plans, and to this spotlight episode originally broadcast in June of 2023, about:
    • Simple ways to make your farmers market more inclusive
    • Supporting local organizations already doing the work
    • How markets are putting the Anti-Racist Toolkit to work
    • Keeping the momentum going as Black Business Month and National Farmers Market Week intersect
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    41 mins