As the sun set over the back lawn of Town Hall Monday evening, Stephanie Young and Debbi Duarte carefully arranged a couple dozen "carrots" in a temporary plot.
The carrots, made from re-purposed sign material and not meant for consumption, played a key role in the Town Council meeting that night and they needed to be organized.
During Monday's meeting, members of the South Windsor FOOD Alliance updated councilors on the organization's master plan and its sponsorship of the town farmers' market.
As part of the group's effort to raise money for farmers' market expenses, such as wheelchair mats to make the market more handicapped accessible and a Connecticut Grown tent of their very own, they will be selling the recycled carrots. (To purchase a carrot, it costs $5 for one or two for $9.)
On Monday, alliance members presented each council member with a recycled carrot to kick off the campaign and encouarage them to think about the farmers' market and "plant a carrot" in their front yards.
Young explained that as an organization that is not in the business of making money, the group needs to fundraise to generate revenue to cover market expenses and position it for the future.
In addition to the carrot sale, the group will host a plane sale on May 18, which will include plant from three local farmers, including more than 500 unique heirloom tomatoes, hostas and Siberian Irises.
The market itself will open on June 29, and the group hopes that it will be in a new location at 150 Nevers Road. It is scheduled to to before the Planning and Zoning Commission with its location request on May 14.
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