Take a moment to chat with a market vendor as you stroll through the Haymarket on an early Saturday morning, and you’ll get a taste of the passion, knowledge and energy that goes into every jar of honey, bouquet of flowers, bunch of asparagus, and handmade toy that is sold.  Stop for a moment to ask a few questions and you may just meet a man named Buzz who just so happens to have a passion for bees, a mother who started the family farming business so she could stay home with her kids, a husband and wife team that is establishing their roots in Nebraska and watching their business take flight, or a young entrepreneur who is handcrafting her business one super hero cape at a time. 

Buzz’s Bees, Harvest Home, Robinette Farms and Owl People are just four of the Haymarket Farmers’ Market vendors that represent the people, the products and the hard work that make the market a unique experience for everyone to enjoy. 

Buzz Vance has been a beekeeper for over 30 years, and he’s been a proud vendor at the Farmers’ Market off-and-on for 18 years.  He has a true passion for bees and also works for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture as an entomologist.  Buzz knows his bees, so when asked if there were any myths he would like to dispel about his flying friends, he went straight to the facts.

“Cartoonists and graphic artists always paint honey bees as yellow and black.  Honey bees are brown and black, not yellow and black.  A flying insect that is yellow and black could be a wasp, a bald-faced hornet, a bumble bee, or even a fly, but if it’s got yellow and black markings, it’s not a honey bee”, he clarified.

Buzz also wants people to know that very few individuals suffer from true allergic reactions to be stings.

“I think the figures are that 4% of the population is likely to be allergic to honey bee stings, which means 96% of people will not have an allergic response.  If a person is stung in the forearm and breaks out in a rash over their entire body or experiences trouble breathing, that would be a true allergic response.  Getting the stinger out right away greatly reduces the severity of the response.”

Buzz sells many different types of honey products including liquid honey, creamed honey in several flavors, crystallized raw honey, bee pollen, beeswax, and fresh-cut comb honey in July and August. 

What’s the best way to enjoy the nutritious golden indulgence?

“Honey on bread or toast is hard to beat.  If I’m having vanilla ice cream, a drizzling of a light-colored honey is quite the treat.” 

After brushing up on your honeybee IQ with Buzz, follow your bee instincts to the tent full of fresh-cut flowers whose bright colors and sweet floral aromas are sure to ignite your senses.  The family-owned and run business, Harvest Home, will greet you with warm hellos and welcoming smiles.  Explore their unique floral selection and choose from carefully crafted bouquets, or ask one of the attendants to design a beautiful creation with stems of your choice.  Meet Jamie Rohda, mother hen of the Harvest Home flock, and she’ll tell you how they got their start.

“This will be our 17th year for market gardening and our 16th year at the Haymarket Farmers’ Market.  All of our family is involved.  We started this business so that I could be home with the kids.  I just enjoy the fact that we can work together as a family and not have everyone going different directions.”

Harvest Home offers a variety of fresh produce as well.  Each week patrons can select from seasonal vegetables, legumes, and fruits that are grown just around the corner in Waverly, Nebraska.  Rohda explains why buying produce and flowers from local farmers is so important.

“For one, it’s a great way to support the local economy. It also just makes sense because it is so much fresher. There is no way you can get a head of lettuce from the west coast that is as fresh as one grown locally or flowers from South America that will be a fresh as ones cut the day before you buy them.”

Just a few tents up the street from Harvest Home is a husband and wife team that shares the same appreciation for selling locally-harvested produce.  Chloe Diegel & Alex McKiernan started Robinette Farms in Martel, Nebraska just two years ago.  This is their first year at the Haymarket Farmers’ Market, and they look forward to making new friends each week.

“Our favorite part about working at the market is creating relationships with new customers and cultivating relationships with our returning customers.  It’s fun to see a familiar face as well as meet new ones.”

Robinette Farms offers a wide selection of more than 80 varieties of vegetables, as well as pastured pork and poultry products.  Their meats are not available every week at the market, but they always have baskets and bins overflowing with delectable vegetables.

Even though they’re newcomers to the market and farming business, Diegel and McKiernan have plenty of advice to offer those interested in having a small vegetable garden of their own.

“Start with healthy soil; add lots of compost and cover crops or green manures.  The healthier your soil is, the healthier your plants will be.  The healthier your plants are, the fewer pests you will encounter.”

While you’re visiting with Robinette Farms, a tent filled with whimsical children’s items will grab your attention from the corner of your eye.  Just across the street sitting on the sidewalk in front of Hillis & Company is a crafty little operation called Owl People.  Kaitlyn Bright is the bubbly owner and handcrafter-extraordinaire that has made a living out of designing children’s clothing, toys, accessories, and other unique items.

“My goodies include my appliquéd onesies, softie dolls, appliquéd baby blocks, baby and toddler dresses, unique headbands and hair clippies, and little guy neckties and bowties.  For the mama’s out there, I’ve designed some great key chains that slip over your wrist, DSLR camera strap covers, coffee sleeves and the occasional fabric cuffs.”

Bright has been selling her items at the market since 2007, and in the off-season also runs her business on the popular handmade goods site, Etsy.com.  But for Bright, nothing compares to her Saturday mornings at the market.

“I love my Farmers Market mornings!  Who doesn’t like to people watch?  I love the rush of customers, and the kindness and generosity of comments that the local townspeople give me.  For me, no other venue compares to the quality of the audience that is at the Farmers’ Market.”

Bright expresses the satisfaction that comes with giving a one-of-a-kind handmade gift.

“Sometimes I feel that when giving a handmade gift to someone, the story behind where it came from is more exciting than the gift itself!”

And the best gift that you can give your local Farmers’ Market vendors?  Pay a visit to the Haymarket on any given Saturday morning now through October 15th to show them that you appreciate their business and support our local economy.  It’ll give you a feeling more delicious than the ripe produce that they handpicked just for you.

For more information about the Haymarket Farmers’ Market, and to view a complete listing of weekly entertainment, click here.
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This is the second story in a three-part series about the Haymarket Farmers’ Market.  Next week, we will meet Kevin Shinn, owner and head chef at Bread & Cup, and follow him through the market as he selects items to prepare for the Saturday night market meals that he serves at his Haymarket restaurant.

To read Part 1 of the Farmers’ Market series, click here.

To read Part 3, click here.