Tent Talk, the farmers market podcast
Whether you’re a farmers market manager, a farmer or food maker selling at farmers markets, a policy maker or market supplier, Tent Talk is the podcast for you!
How to listen to Tent Talk
Stream our most recent episodes below or find Tent Talk wherever you regularly get your podcasts. With a new episode every Monday, Tent Talk brings you new farmers market knowledge on a weekly basis. There is so much that goes into farmers markets, and so many interesting people involved, we will never run out of material!
Search by keyword, topic or guest to find the episode you’re looking for!
Episode 329: Good Form | How To: Manage Market Applications
There's no one right way to manage vendor applications for your farmers market. Some managers prefer simple inquiry emails before a detailed form. Some market management platforms integrate applications with online maps and vendor profiles. We all need to know business names and exactly what will be sold. An origin story makes an application more interesting, permit and insurance information generally gets it processed more quickly.
Episode 328: By The Numbers | How To: Share Your Market Data
How many eggs did Apricot Lane Farms collect in 2024? Eighty three thousand five hundred ninety seven. How do we know that? Because they posted a clever graphic that said so. What does that make us think about their farm? They must be hardworking farmers and have some happy chickens. Use numbers to share your farm, business or farmers market accomplishments and impress your shoppers.
Episode 327: Log Polling | How To: Track Your Market Day
Farmers Market Day logbooks can store valuable information, customer requests and market history. Whether you use them to track attendance or sales, complaints or comedy, they can be helpful and interesting if you both maintain and read them. Listen in for tips to decide what to include and how to format your market log, based on the Farmers Market Pros' experience and other market managers' and market business owners' input.
Episode 326: Start the New Year with Good InTENTions
And just like that another year of farmers markets is coming to a close. We’re ringing in this new year quietly. 2024 has been full of meaningful connections, community-building and so many conferences. In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing our inTENTions for 2025, tips and how-tos, and new ways to connect. We're cooking up some exciting new things, so stay tuned. Don't forget to register for InTents, the National Farmers Market Conference; we can't wait to see you there. Thanks for listening all year long, and we're wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Episode 325: Happy Holidays
Whether you’re observing a holiday this week or not, remember that you are a gift to your communities every week of the year. We hope you find time to rest and enjoy the fruits of your labors. Wishing a happy holiday to all who celebrate and peace to one and all.
Episode 322: The Fourth P: Be a Farmers Market Pro
We've been talking about the 4 Ps for market success since we started our Vendor-101 class almost 15 years ago. Product, packaging or presentation, personality and today's focus: Professionalism. Farmers markets are a shopping environment where one vendor's actions and attitudes can affect a lot of people's businesses.
Episode 321: James Grevious: Rebel Courses
This week we caught up with James Grevious of Rebel Marketplace in Aurora, Colorado. Since he last joined us on Tent Talk, he’s been addressing challenges around establishing a consistent location and a sustainable business model. Staying rebellious, he continues to create neighborhood food security with a hyper local farmers market.
Episode 320: Youth in the Booth
Inviting young people to vend at your farmers market can foster a new generation of market entrepreneurs and delight your community.
Episode 319: Staff Evaluations
Whether you're a farmer, maker or market manager, if you have a team, providing them with feedback will make their work life and yours better. It doesn't have to be awkward or uncomfortable to discuss workplace performance.
Episode 318: Kasi Haire: Making Fundraising Delicious
What could be a more fitting fundraiser for a market organization than a dinner featuring local chefs and farm fresh ingredients? Organizing a farm to table dinner or a cultural food festival is a little different than coordinating a farmers market. Kasi Haire of Nolensville Farmers Market in Tennessee assures us that much of the skill set is the same.
Episode 317: Fee Here Now: Collecting Market Rent
Bookkeeping is yet another of the many hats that farmers market managers wear. There are so many formulas for setting space rent at markets and, especially post-Covid, a whole variety of ways to manage calculating and actually collecting those fees.
Episode 316: Jessica Mullen: Learn, Teach, and Grow
How do you learn and grow in your farmers market career? Jessica shares what she finds valuable about InTents and other conferences and networking with other market professionals. She's all about learning, and also about offering educational opportunities at her market.
Episode 315: Conference Look Ahead
What's new and exciting, and what's comforting and familiar about InTents, the multinational Farmers Market Conference? Join us for a quick look ahead to what's in store in March 2025.
Episode 314: Peter Henry: Easing Farmers' Labor Pains
While working for a cheese maker at New York City farmers markets, Peter Henry started thinking about ways producers could expand their reach and increase efficiencies. Now, Ten by Ten Logistics serves more than a dozen farmers at markets throughout New York. Listen in to hear what kinds of coordination help farmers sell at more markets and still have time to farm.
Episode 306: Free Speech at Farmers Markets with Wendy Chen and Lihlani Nelson
With election season upon us, managing free speech issues at farmers markets is top of mind. This week we're chatting with Wendy Chen, of the Center for Agricultural and Food Systems at Vermont Law School for a quick update on court decisions that might affect how you manage free speech at your market. And we're spotlighting an episode originally broadcast in 2021, with Lihlani Nelson, also of Vermont Law School, home of the Farmers market Legal Toolkit.
Episode 305: Farmers Market Week Update
We know you're busy this week. Us too! Catt's on the road speaking at conferences and visiting Midwest markets. Brijet's rocking National Farmers Market Week in San Diego. You're doing the same, right? So take just a minute and tune in while we chat with Erica Meadows of the Mt Washington Farmers Market in Kentucky, and our friend Sagdrina.
Episode 304: Ask the Pros!
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.
Episode 302: InTents Conference Request For Proposals Announcement
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.
Episode 301: Wendy Chen: Volunteering to Keep it Legal
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 stopped in to discuss the answers to these questions and more.
Episode 299: Market Interns: Eat, Work, Learn!
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.