The Moscow Farmers Market is headed for hibernation

Smiles, blossoming flowers and fresh produce are all things that can be found Saturday mornings in Moscow.

From the months of May through October, the Moscow Famers Market fills Main Street every Saturday morning, but what happens when the farmers market comes to a close?

For Leah Sempel, owner of Pokey Creek Farm, the end of the farmers market means a chance to rest and catch up.

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Sempel has been selling her Certified Organic produce at the farmers market for over 20 years. And while normally Sempel said she would sell the rest of what was left of her produce to the Moscow Food Co-op or sell to customers who ask to bulk order, this year they won’t have enough product left for that.

So the small amount of produce they have left will be taken over to Maialina Pizzeria Napoletana, Sempel said.

“You have to work hard for what you do,” Sempel said. “And when somebody gets it (produce) from you and they recognize how hard you work, it’s so rewarding it makes the work worth it.”

Sempel doesn’t mind the hard work, because of the many connections she gets to make with the farmers market patrons. Sempel said she has watched women go from pregnant mom’s to having full conversations with their children — she just loves that connection.

Elizabeth Taylor, an organic farmer, said she agrees the reward is worth the hard work.

Taylor has been selling at the famers market for close to 30 years and while she has quite a bit of cleanup to do now the famers market season is over, she echos Sempel’s sentiments of using her time off to catch up and restore.

“I haul manure all winter long and go and visit my mom — who’s 87 this week — and relax a little bit too because I work 18 hours a day during the season,” Taylor said.

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During the on-season, Taylor said she works seven days a week pretty much all day, hoping to get about six hours of sleep a night.

Taylor said she hopes to never retire as she stills loves farming to this day.

“I feel like it’s an art form so I get to be an artist — which is fun and not always easy to make a living at — but I have perishable artwork so people come back every week which is nice and they get to eat it,” Taylor said.

Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @alex_brizee