Each booth down at the Homer Farmers Market is only 10-by-10 feet.  Pouring out of the booth are incredible amounts of produce and crafts, food and flowers.
But even all that doesn’t show the different things that go on the rest of the week in the lives of our Market vendors.  The contribution to our community continues all the other days of the week and months of the year.
A perfect example is Emily Garrity at Twitter Creek Gardens.  Her beautifully crisp, organically grown veggies come mainly from her one acre of fenced garden up on Ohlson Mountain. Up there she gets to experiment with different techniques of season extension ranging from the use of a high tunnel to low tunnels, even a greenhouse built into the ground with a concrete base to store up the solar heat.
But Garrity doesn’t just stay isolated up on the mountain.
Since she started farming here more than 10 years ago, her business has grown beyond just selling at the Market. She works with the Castellanis of Will Grow Farm to supply CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members that get regular veggie deliveries.
It’s also possible that, as you dine in different restaurants around town, you are getting her veggies served up on your plate. It’s because of vendors like Garrity that the Taste of Homer (this Saturday from 4-8 p.m. at Wasabi’s — see related story, page 3 of this section) is not only showing off local cuisine, but having a fundraiser auction for the Farmers Market to show their appreciation for local production.
And to share her love of growing, Garrity has been elemental in getting garden dirt under the fingernails of local students at the Homer Flex High School. Not only does she work with students to plant and tend their garden at school, but also to operate a CSA with their surplus veggies so they can get that experience marketing as well.
So come on down to the Homer Farmers Market on Ocean Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and to see how that love of community can fit in a 10-by-10-foot space.
Kyra Wagner is the director of Sustainable Homer and the Homer Farmers Market’s biggest fan.