The Stonington Farmer’s Market is open this Saturday at the Velvet Mill, 22 Bayview Avenue, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM for fresh, organic foods, hot meals to go or to eat in the café area, hand-made household items, live music, children’s activities, and good company. This Saturday, we begin a new year of exciting and robust market activity; and we also take an opportunity to look back and thank those who brought us here, who had vision and technical know-how to promote our local, organic produce, and sadly to say goodbye to one person in particular who made a huge impact on our community. Our newsletter today is dedicated to Peg Moran, an inaugural member of the Stonington Farmers’ Market, who passed away this December 25th. Peg was our flower vendor for 17 years, since the market began in 1997. During the growing season, she supplied the Market with a wide range of flowers, from common favorites to unique wonders that she grew on an acre of land she cultivated in Pawcatuck. It was always a banner day at the Market when Peg returned for the season wearing her signature straw hat, the back of her car filled with buckets of beautiful flowers. Her book, An Acre Plus, An Invitation to a Growing Life, describes her journey to becoming an experienced flower grower and building her business, Friends in the Country. She used sustainable farming techniques to raise cut flowers for weddings, parties and local farmers markets. She brought on teen garden apprentices from Stonington High School to learn agricultural techniques and help in her business. She grew annuals in long raised beds and fifty varieties of perennials in terraced beds that curve around her farmhouse on Mary Hall Road. Recently, responding to growing demand, she modified her business model and began growing bulbs for the holiday and early spring seasons, working with other local growers to extend and broaden her seasonal offerings. Peg was a fervent entrepreneur, and she shared that passion with others, developing entrepreneurship courses and teaching at the University of California as well as far-flung schools in Estonia and Russia. She developed curriculum and taught peer-based programs for microloan lending agencies in Boston, Massachusetts, Willimantic and New London, Connecticut. She was devoted to sustainable, local and small scale agriculture. She spearheaded CLUC*K (Chicken Lovers Urge Change), the organization that promoted back-yard chicken farming and successfully worked to change planning and zoning regulations to permit such farming in Stonington. Peg—author, entrepreneur, farmer and agricultural advocate—lived a busy, engaged life. She was a mother, grandmother and mentor to many. She worked hard, crusaded for causes in which she believed, and supported herself through her lively intellect and avid interests. She will be remembered as “the flower woman” to her customers and “quite a woman” to her friends. A reception will be held this Saturday, Jan. 3 at the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club from 3 to 5pm to “Celebrate the Life of Peg Moran.” Please join us. We look forward to your company at the Market this Saturday. Cheers!
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 14:16:27 +0000
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