Dorothy Feltner, VISTA at Lotts Creek Community School reporting in.

Last week I attended a small Farmers Market conference put on by the Community Farm Alliance in Berea, KY. Some of you lovely G.A. bloggers were there. Nice to see you! I thought the conference was extremely beneficial for me. The Farmers Markets near me are in their early stages. They don’t accept cards or snap benefits. In the unique area that I work of Lotts Creek we have a Perry County market and a Knott County market. I will be working with Mae Humiston, Appalachian Transition Fellow, on a proposal for the betterment of Perry County’s market this week. The market in Knott County started halfway through last year very informally but I foresee it becoming bigger this year. It is put on by UK Extension agent Chad Conway, who has taught classes for our program in the past. I’d like to see our Grow Appalachia participants selling at either of these markets. I intend to work closely with both markets with  and through the Lotts Creek Learning Garden. My goals are to have SNAP and WIC accepted at the markets. Accepting these forms of payment will open up a new customer base and provide more income for growers, especial in our area where poverty statistics are pretty high compared with the rest of the country. I would really like to see the markets near me join with the Community Farm Alliance under their Farmers Market Assistance program. It would give both markets an amazing boost.