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 293: Brent Preston: Farming for Good
The work you do farming, or bringing small farmers and shoppers together, is vitally important. Brent Prestion spoke at InTents: The Farmers Market Conference 2019 about his time as an organic farmer, the effects of farming on the environment and how farmers and consumers can change those.
Episode 292: Encore Episode: Promotional Vendors at Your Service
Would you get a chiropractic adjustment or purchase a time share at the grocery store? If you answered no, then why would you expect to find those services at the farmers market? This week on Tent Talk we discuss the pros and cons of hosting service providers and informational/promotional booths at your farmers market.
Episode 291: Encore Episode: Pirate Vendors
Pirate vendors, aargh! No, we’re not talking about buccaneers that sail the seven seas, we’re talking about sellers and solicitors that set up in or around a farmers market as unofficial vendors. Though usually well-intentioned, hawkers, buskers, petitioners, and street vendors can confuse shoppers about where and when the actual farmers market begins, encroach on sales, and could potentially be a liability for farmers market operators.
Episode 290: Encore Episode: Make Your Farmers Market Opening Grand
Opening a new farmers market or starting a new season at an existing one is exciting. A lot goes into getting ready to launch, and building up to a truly grand opening. Building awareness and anticipation for both the community and your family of farmers and vendors means a busy opening day. Planning for the natural cycles of a new market will keep everyone's enthusiasm and commitment strong.
Episode 289: Encore Episode: Communicate with your Market Community
Communicating with your farmers market community can take a lot of forms nowadays. Do you send emailed vendor advisories? Use a private Facebook or Instagram group? Smoke signals or carrier pigeons, maybe? One way or another it's important for farmers, vendors and managers that everyone stays in the loop. In this episode Catt and Brijet and Justine are joined by market directors Gina Johnson from Madison, Illinois, and Rebecah Boynton from Nashville, Tennessee.
Episode 288: Market That Merch
What do farmers market people bring home from vacation? Our first stop is always is the local market, and farmers market merch is our favorite souvenir. Selling shopping bags, t-shirts, water bottles and magnets can add to your income stream and also provide a valuable marketing tool. Depending on local regulations, farmers and vendors can also use swag to remind people of where they found that amazing tomato or bread.
Episode 287: Welcome to the Info Booth
Your Info or Welcome Booth is your market home away from home. It's often the place that shoppers and farmers and vendors find your team, where you sell fun merchandise, and where you process SNAP EBT transactions. All the things that apply to making farmers' and vendors' booths effective apply here too.
Episode 286: Taking Funding for Granted with Melissa Siwiec
What project could you complete if you had funding? The deadline for submitting Farmers Market Promotion Program grants is just 51 days away. This week, we chat with Melissa Siwiec, executive director of Pennsylvania's historic Lancaster Central Market, about the process of applying for and then implementing an FMPP funded project.
Episode 285: Live From InTents 2024
Our Live from the InTents Conference episode has become an annual tradition, and it's one of our favorites every year. Tent Talk producer Leandra Hayes sat down with conference attendees and asked them to share the best part of their market day. They made us laugh, and cry and sometimes say, "What the heck?"
Episode 284: Moving Your Market
Moving a market is not as simple as scooting a tent or two down the street (not that scooting any tents is without drama.) Sometimes you lose part of your site to a construction project, sometimes a conflicting annual event happens and you have to move the entire market for a day. Finding a new site that can accommodate an established event is a puzzle.
Episode 283: Best of Tent Talk: Application Excavation
Are you a farmer or small food business trying to navigate finding spaces to sell at farmers markets? Are you a farmers market manager buried in application emails and trying to find the perfect needles in that haystack? In this episode we're chatting about how we process applications for our markets and approaches used by some of our fellow market managers.
Episode 282: Social Media is a Team Sport
Plenty of us have a love-hate relationship with social media.There's nothing like it right now for keeping shoppers up to date on market offerings days and times, and helping your farm or bakery stand out at a busy market. It's free, sort of. It takes so much time. It's so effective, until they change the rules. It's a trick to find the sweet spot between sharing honest views of your business and your life and maintaining boundaries.
Episode 281: Farmer Julie Stoner Has Eggs in a Few Baskets
Farmers Julie of Stoner Family Farms has diversified her products to achieve better sales at her farmers markets. Her farm is a family operation, and the market business is her baby. Bringing her daughters into the tent helps lighten the load, and teaches them all the things that small business owners learn along the way.
Episode 280: 2024 InTents Conference Preview
The 8th annual InTents Farmers Market Conference is just around the corner, starting 3 weeks from today. Listen in to hear more about this year's schedule and what's coming up here in San Diego and live online.
Episode 279: Maya Madsen: Black History Month and Beyond
From the start Maya Madsen told us she meant to create a vegan cookie empire and she's done what it takes to accomplish that. She not only makes delicious cookies, she collects tons of data. She asks for professional help to analyze trends and inform her next moves. Basically, she treats her happy, gorgeous bakery business like a business.
Episode 278: Hatching New Vendor Businesses
How can talented food makers learn to be successful farmers market vendors? In this week's episode of Tent Talk we're chatting about vendor education. Being passionate about your product is important; being fully prepared will increase sales and reduce stress. That makes small businesses enduring.
Episode 277: Chef Saeed is on Fire
Hot sauce is a fast growing category at our farmers markets nowadays, and Chef Saeed is on fire with his fermented sauces featuring unique flavor combinations. It's not just the taste that makes a food business successful though.
Episode 276: Back To Basics
With lots of new farmers markets ramping up for their first or second season, let's take it back to the basics. Experienced manager? Stay with us, sometimes a little refresher can be a great thing. Farmer or vendor? Let's see if you think this is sound advice.
Episode 275: 2024 InTENTions
It's a new year, a blank slate. January always feels like a good time to think about what's working, what's not, and create your list of things to change and things to do at your market, and personally. We're all about setting InTENTions (see what we did there?). Market managers and market vendors coast to coast, from Florida to British Columbia, join us today to share about what they'd like to concentrate on in 2024.
Episode 274: Ringing The Bell on 2024
Happy New Year! 2023 was a lot, full of changes, excitement, highs and lows. We're welcoming 2024 and looking forward to focused growth, outreach and some exciting collaborations. Unless the universe throws us onto a whole new roller coaster of course, and then we'll do what farmers market pros do: we'll make the very best of whatever we encounter.