The Ooltewah Farmers Market offers a sampling of local foods and goods produced right here in the Hamilton County area. Every Thursday at 3 p.m. vendors arrive on the back lot of the Ooltewah Nursery & Landscape to set up their canopy covered tables laden with products produced by their local farms and businesses.
“It’s the best way to experience the real local culture,” said Angel Miller, the market manager and founder of the Ooltewah Farmers Market. “We have all kinds of food artisans and items that might be a little hard to find elsewhere. We’re also the only market in this area that will go out and visit each and every farm as part of the application process to ensure that what you see on their table is indeed something they grew or raised.”
Linda Orth is one of those many food artisans who participates in the farmers market. Since 2018, Orth has been baking and selling her homemade sourdough creations solely at the Ooltewah Farmers Market as “The Bread Lady.”
“I was really bad at retirement,” said Orth. “And my son recommended selling my bread at the local market. It’s been really fun, especially seeing the same vendors and customers each week.”
Initially, Orth’s goal was to sell 40 loaves a week, but just last week she more than tripled that count by selling 177 loaves. Some of those newer creations include “little loaves,” which Orth describes as breakfast to-go meals and sourdough cinnamon pull apart bubbles, which, she says, are selling like mad.
Orth also said that starting next week she will be adding fall flavors like pumpkin and sweet potato bread to her table.
One of the reasons Orth likes the Ooltewah Farmers Market is because of Miller, its dedicated market manager.
“Angel is about the best market manager ever,” said Orth, “She really cares about all the vendors, and the market itself has been going on for years. She does the advertising, email list, flyers and we can count on her if there are any problems at all.”
Miller can be found sitting at her own canopy-covered table chatting with shoppers and passing out flyers listing key dates to remember of the 2022 year.
The table also displays a large poster for the upcoming Interactive Solar System Display event on Oct. 20. According to Miller, the vendor of Dixie Soaps has built a large-scale model of the entire planetary system that will be set up within the backlot and free for the community to walk through as an educational event. Another event of note is the turning of the season itself.
“One of the great things about this time of the year is you can sometimes get a little bit of the best of both [seasons] which is nice,” said Miller, “Right now we’re in a shoulder period. There are still summer items like cucumbers and tomatoes, but those are on their way out and everything is transitioning over to fall items. We’ll see lots more root crops like potatoes, onions and carrots coming in, and things like collard and turnip greens, lettuces and microgreens. We’ll continue to be here all winter long and have green stuff all year round.”
Miller also offers a booklet of recipe ideas at her booth for shoppers interested in cooking with the variety of local produce sold at the market.
The market can be found at 5829 Main Street in Ooltewah on Thursdays year-round. Current summer hours are 3 to 6 p.m. with winter hours of 3 to 5 p.m. starting November 10. More information about the market can be found on their website http://www.ooltewahnursery.com/farmers-market/ or on their Facebook page @OoltewahFarmersMarket.
