On the Town: Heirloom Winter Market

Attention Missoula foodies: Our local harvests have a new outlet through the winter.

Kristen Lee-Charlson, publisher of Edible Missoula magazine and founder of the Heirloom Project — a local food sourcing and buying club — started a winter market to fill farmers' frosty void between October and May. But it isn't strictly a farmers' market.

"While we strive to source as much local as possible, we do look outside the region for items not produced here," Lee-Charlson said. "We also source many farm-direct items from within the region that are not available on grocery store shelves."

The Heirloom Winter Market began operating out of the Ceretana — an old grain elevator on the Northside — the last Saturday of October 2011. Lee-Charlson leases the space for her and 10­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ – 15 other vendors to sell from.

The kitschy old building gives the event a rustic feel, with the sound of boots on its old hardwood floors echoing through four distinct rooms.

After walking through the first door, one finds an entrance area, occasionally offering local pastries and/or coffee and an assortment of teas, such as Tipu's Chai.

Through the next door, you will find Lee-Charlson alongside her children, active soldiers in the battle against big agriculture.

She sets up a bounty of roots and other seasonal vegetables alongside Lifeline cheese, butter and sausages, and offers grass-finished local beef. Ahead of you is a rotating cast of vendors and products like local grains, raw chocolate, an extended assortment of produce and Uncle Bill's Sausages.

In the first room further right, a dimly lit, warm chamber contains tables displaying Montana-made soaps and natural beauty care products. In the back of the room you will find potted plants for sale, a dim green light looking forward to the first real thaw.

Another room down, past local honey of all varieties and sizes, is Paula Scoggin's room. She is known for her plains-grown lavender in all sorts of stylish forms, but she offers more than that: chutney, jam, random preserves and squashes litter the aromatic room.

Her daughter, Angelica Seaman, is running her operation while Scoggins is in South Carolina visiting family.

"My mom was pregnant with me at my first farmers' market," she said.

She said it's nice having regulars and a smaller community base to rely on, but it's going to be important to grow customers so that the local food scene stays strong, even in the winter.

So while it isn't a full-blown downtown festival like summer's Saturdays, it fills an important niche and continues the mission of local and sustainable foods and crafts.

An important distinction to make about the Heirloom Winter Market is that it isn't under Missoula County regulation as a "farmers' market." Lee-Charlson took a different route, she said, to include a diversity of products.

"To be a ‘farmers' market' means that all agricultural products must come from Montana," she said. "We are sourcing organic produce and other products such as olive oil, etc., that are currently not available or produced here. Our focus is on organic, sustainably raised, grown product."

The giant Ceretana building — a remnant of Missoula's railroad and agricultural history — is also utilized for artists' studio space. Carpenters, ceramicists, photographers, painters and more all have room for their crafts, which often sell right out of the building on Saturday mornings, Seaman said.

The market can be found at 801 Sherwood St., two blocks north of Little McCormick Park and adjacent to the train tracks. It runs Saturdays from 10 a.m. until noon, with hours carrying over to 1 p.m. in February.

brooks.johnson@umontana.edu