Officially, Kootenai County Farmers Market is from 9 am to 1:30 pm, but for vendors like Killarney Farm's Ellen Scriven, those few hours belie years of experience, months of work and nearly half a week of preparation and breakdown for each Saturday market.
Scriven, who helped co-found the market and currently serves on its board, describes her schedule. Thursday: harvest less-perishable crops like tomatoes, peppers, carrots and potatoes. Friday: harvest, pack and cool greens before it gets too hot, then return to the fields to pick beans, peas, cucumbers, squash and onions, followed by herbs, flowers and more greens. As the light wanes, indoor work begins: washing eggs, making flower bouquets, final packing.
On market day, Scriven and partner Paul Smith arise at 4:30 am, tend to the animals, water plants, and trek an hour and 15 minutes from their Rose Lake, Idaho, farm to the market where they'll scramble to get everything set up in time for the 9 am opening bell.
Exhausting! But worth it, she says.
"The heartfelt gratitude and appreciation expressed by our customers keep me coming back year after year," Scriven says.
The benefits of farmers markets might seem like a foregone conclusion now, but 40 years ago it was a tough row to hoe for startups like the Kootenai County Farmers Market. Since 1986, the market that now occupies the sun-dappled corner of Highway 95 and Prairie Avenue in Hayden has grown from around two dozen vendors to more than 110.
"In addition to just about any fruit, vegetable, nut, herb or flower that can be found growing in the Inland Northwest," says Scriven, "we have growers of mushrooms, dairy products, assorted meats and microgreens" and more.
And although the market bears the county's name, she says, decreased farmland in North Idaho has paved the way for vendors in all directions, like Tonnemaker Hill Farm from Royal City, Washington, or the McKerracher Family Farm from Bonner County.
The market is more than plants, produce and protein, however. It's also arts and crafts, personal care items, pet products — all local, all bona fide — as well as food-oriented programs for kids, rotating live entertainment and the ability to pay with SNAP benefits.
Just as important, says Scriven, is the market's role as a "destination for families and a gathering place for friends." She sees people bonding over food and all the market offers.
"It seems that when it comes to the pursuit of a basic of human need, differences in ideology and political persuasion can be set aside."
