This is national Farmers Market Week, declared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  That’s a big deal because the USDA has not always been friendly to the kind of farmer, such as us, who sells at farmers markets.  But even the feds cannot ignore the more than 8,000 farmers markets in the country, perhaps 100 of them in Maine.

Take the opportunity to shop at market this week.  And every week.  You won’t find better food, and the prices are, as Mark Bittman reported in The New York Times on Wednesday, Aug. 6, can be surprisingly competitive.  Despite the wet weather all year, veggie farmers are coming into their peak season, and we’re selling fresh Turkey the first three weekends in August.  This week, we have new batches, both fresh and frozen, of all 10 sausages plus smoked kielbasa and Andouille.

Visit us at the Skowhegan Farmers Market, where our son Robbie will staff the stand this week.  The market is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Court Street, right next to the Somerset Grist Mill.  Or visit us at Bath, where Bryanna Ringrose will be back after taking a week off for the Peace Fair. Bryanna is the face of our farm at Bath, where the market runs from 8:30 a.m. to noon.  The market is in Waterfront Park on the bank of the Kennebec River.  Or come see us between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the Crystal Spring Farmers Market on the Pleasant Hill Road in Brunswick.  Breana Doherty and Bob Neal will staff that stand.  A magazine in southern New England last year called Crystal Spring the best farmers market in New England.  Who’s to argue?

Wherever you choose, celebrate national Farmers Market Week by coming to see us this week and every week at the farmers market.  Skowhegan and Bath run through October, Crystal Spring runs through Nov. 1.