CARSTAIRS - Blue skies and warm weather must mean that summer is here and that's farmers market season. Several communities in Mountain View County hold markets weekly during the summer months.
In Carstairs, the farmers market season kicked off at the beginning of June and will go until September on Tuesdays at the curling club. There are also a number of special markets around in the fall and winter.
Kim Fischer is the market manager and also operates a booth selling freshly baked goods.
"I'm a journeyman baker," said Fischer. "So for two days I bake my little heart out and bring it here. Everything in my preserves is from my garden as well. I make it all happen. I have basically things here on the counter I don't have to keep refrigerated. If I want to bring out a freezer I can, it's just easier not to haul it in."
Fischer, who has been running the Carstairs farmers markets for nine years, said this year's markets have gone well so far.
"We had a Mother's Day market on the Saturday and then had our first farmers market the first Tuesday of June," she said. "We'll be running until the end of August with our customer appreciation day. We'll be outside as much as we can. If the weather is inclement we have the option of going inside (the curling rink)."
One of the more popular booths is the Souto Farms booth, which was selling fresh produce.
"We've got Souto Farms," she said. "I've been working on those guys for a number of months and they finally said yes. These guys have been amazing. They're from Oliver, B.C. They have a family farm there and a farm just north of Airdrie."
Fischer said they try to get products that are as local as possible with nothing from outside of Canada allowed. Also popular at the market is the Carpathian Sourdough bread table.
"He does this amazing sourdough that people can't get enough of," she said. "He sells out so quick. They just can't keep up with the production. He clears out within an hour usually. They make it fresh. They're up at 2 a.m. making bread the night before."
Another new booth at the Carstairs market is causing a lot of buzz. Aysia Heatherington of Tamarack Jacks Farm near Caroline was on site selling fresh honey and mead.
"We are a bee farm," said Heatherington. "All of our bees are kept within Clearwater County. "We have multiple hives right on the farm and several just outside. We have several different sizes of honey and mead, which is alcohol made from fermented honey."
Heatherington said she's really liked what she has seen in her few times at the Carstairs market.
"It's a real nice little community here," she said. "It's really nice and awesome to be a part of it. We all talk and have fun."
