Mary Giles-Pontini, right, buys some spinach and herbs from Isaac Livengood on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at the Eden Valley Farm booth during the first day of the Western Loveland Farmers Market this season in the Jack’s parking lot. (Jenny Sparks/Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Farmers market season has begun in Northern Colorado, and Loveland is no exception.
Both producers and those who enjoy fresh produce and other locally made products had the opportunity to trade on Tuesday as the first farmers market of the year kicked off at the JAX parking lot in West Loveland.
“It’s a big deal,” said Isaac Livengood, who spent more than two decades in sales before looking for a career path that involved a more sustainable business model, a search that led him to Eden Valley Farms, which he was selling produce on behalf of on Tuesday. “But I don’t need that at all. It sells itself. We’re in the Northern Colorado area, where people are looking for this. They want fresh, local and healthy.”
The Eden Valley produces herbs, vegetables and fruits such as strawberries and raspberries, and has a special relationship with tomatoes, which they have perfected through various soil amendments that do not involve pesticides or genetically modified plants.
Nikki Martens, who participates in other farmers markets through her company, Heaven’s Choice Popcorn, knows many of the vendors who participated in Tuesday’s farmers market. One of the attractive things about farmers markets is the community and camaraderie that comes from being a vendor, she said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all my vendor friends that I haven’t seen all winter,” she said. “It’s a community thing, for sure.
In fact, she stopped by Tuesday during her lunch break to trade some of her popcorn for some produce from Eden Valley.
“That’s the great thing about vendors at farmers markets, you can trade your goods for other goods,” she said. “In the summer, I don’t pay for most of my groceries. I’m able to barter at farmers markets. It’s great, it’s one of my favorite things about doing the popcorn business.”
The West Loveland Farmers Market will be open every Tuesday through Nov. 5, and a similar market in East Loveland, also at JAX, 950 E. Eisenhower Blvd. It will take place every Friday between June 7th and September 27th. The Loveland Farmers Market at Fairgrounds Park will be open from 9am to 1pm every Sunday from June 2nd through September 29th.
Karen and Alan Castronova started making jams and jellies years ago when Karen was picking cherries with her daughter, who is now an adult. Alan, who is based in Livermore, dismantled his log cabin decades ago and rebuilt it piece by piece in its current location in Livermore.
Now, in addition to jelly, they process beef tallow into candles and soap.
Jellies are their origin though.
“That’s how I started making jelly,” Karen Castronova said. “But people started ordering, and it became a business.”
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