Baraboo Farmers' Market returns slowly after cold, wet spring

Growers have gotten a late start this year as the weather affected their plants, impacting the crops of farmers and the seedlings of vendors, like those who sell items annually at the Baraboo Farmers’ Market.

The supply was small during the first Wednesday market of 2022, with just three booths offering items to the public that morning.

Jacque Enge was selling for Veggie Emporium, of Denzer, as a trickle of customers came by around the noon hour. The table held a variety of the beginnings of pepper, tomato and other plants, such as lemon basil and tree seedlings.

Enge said spring conditions made it difficult to grow.

“It’s been a very cold spring until this week,” Enge said. “So a lot of the veggies aren’t coming in until later.”

The first official market of the year took place Saturday during the Spring Fair on the Square event. It was a positive sales day for both Enge and maple syrup vendor Richard Denker, they both said.

But on that first day, there were limited options because of the slow growth during a cold and wet spring, with some vendors expressing disappointment they had little to offer.

“It is what it is, you just have to take it as it comes,” Enge said. “Everything is going to be late because of it.”

She said it was an especially difficult spring. The weather meant that not much of any type of plant could thrive in its first stages, with those Enge sold Wednesday developing in cover from the harsh elements. She said some growers have greenhouses, so “hopefully they’ll have things at the normal time.”

While the season was rough on growers, Denker, who has been a vendor at the market for nearly 30 years, said the spring was helpful to him.

“It was a great year for syrup, as far as the weather,” Denker said, noting that growers had an opposite experience.

Denker, who prepares the syrup just east of Reedsburg, said of all the farmers markets he could visit, Baraboo always brings him back because of the people he meets. Some customers have even told him it’s the best maple syrup they have ever had, “so that’s always nice to hear.”

Part of the reason he keeps returning is the revenue. The other is the people, he said.

“I have gone to other markets around,” Denker said. “But found just coming to Baraboo twice a week, I sell as much as I need to and I enjoy it.”

One of the customers was nearby Cornerstone Gallery owner Rachel Rosenblum, who said she visits the market multiple times each season. She purchased a plant from Enge, not for herself, but for a friend who enjoys gardening much more than she does despite her best attempts. Rosenblum said she is “glad to see fresh items” grown locally “and support the people who are working hard to do it.”

“I love coming to the farmers market anyway and just seeing what’s here,” Rosenblum said. “A lot of it is just the people. The people who are here are just wonderful.”

Enge said she is grateful that Veggie Emporium is part of such a “community-based, community-oriented” farmers market with a variety of items, from plants to soap to honey, to sell.

“It’s a really great market, we’re so thankful to be a vendor here,” Enge said. “Everyone is just so loving. It’s like a big family.”