The weekday markets are over and the there are just a few remaining Saturdays to go. We hope it’s been a good year for you and that the winter season brings you rest and respite.

The Fall Farm Tour

was a huge success, thanks to all the farmers who opened their farms for public viewing. We would also like to thank all the farms that donated to the silent auction, Catching Cactus, Fickle Hill Rose, Flora Organica, GlenMar Heather, Reed’s Bees, Ridgetop Flowers, Singing Trees, Strawberry Creek Orchids, Vista’s Flowers and Willow Creek Farms. This is becoming quite the event with lots of interest being generated about local agriculture. This year the Times Standard even had a special pull out section in the Thursday paper that was entirely dedicated to Humboldt County Agriculture and the farm tour.

The big news is that T is out on maternity leave.

Thanks to all of you who signed the card and donated toward the gift certificate. Allyson has been in training to take over many of T’s responsibilities as market manager and Erin has been hired and trained to assist Allyson. The transition is going extremely smoothly thanks to Allyson’s dedication and good planning on T’s part.

Financially we are doing ok.

Stall fees from most of the markets should just about equal what they were last year with the exception of Wildberries, which will be down from last year. T has talked with Phil to get his input. There is a chance Wildberries will start having the BBQ again in the mean while we have been talking about getting other food vendors there.

The Eureka Co-op Market

is off to a slow and jittery start with many issues that need to be worked out. The huge parking lot with an unlimited number of vendor booths that the coop told us about is just not the reality. The reality is that there are probably 12 spots available. The banner advertising the market is going up this week and the BBQ guy will start in a couple of weeks. Beginning the 1st Saturday in December the market will move to Saturday morning starting at 11am and going until 3pm. The times are subject to change as we get your feed back. Please contact Dave MacCuish if you have any questions.

Membership Meeting Items of Interest – Wed., Nov. 8, 6pm, Bayside Grange

In an effort to increase revenue the board is proposing a new fee structure for the out of county vendors. The proposal is that a minimum be set at $20 and that rather than a maximum we charge a flat 6% of total sales. This is on the agenda for the membership meeting so if you have an opinion you feel strongly about come to the meeting.

In response to a recent incident involving a complaint made against a grower the board proposes to implement a set procedure for dealing with future complaints. The proposal is this: If someone comes to the market manager with a complaint against a farmer they will be asked to put the complaint in writing, this can be done anonymously. The manager will then turn the complaint over to the appropriate agency. In addition the complainant will be advised that they can make their complaint directly to the agency responsible for oversight. Got something to say about this? Come to the membership meeting.

The board is also proposing that each farm must attend at least one general membership meeting per year. Each farm will be asked to sign in and a hand count of farms attending will be taken to get a baseline number for voting purposes. You may want to attend the fall membership meeting if you have an opinion regarding this matter.

There are several board positions up for election this fall. Want to run? The election will be held at the beginning of the meeting rather than the end in hopes that every farm attending will participate in the vote. See you there.

Next Board Meeting will be Wednesday, December 6, 10am at Dave Feral’s House.