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Community Corner

Huntley Farmers' Market Continues Growth and Variety

Vendors offer fresh products and conversation, despite cool weather.

Saturday morning’s cooler-than-normal temperatures may have affected the turnout at the Huntley Farmers’ Market, but that gave some of the vendors more time to interact with their customers.

The market takes place on the square from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and features organic coffee, gourmet foods, fresh produce, fresh breads, pickles, flowers, olive oil soaps, dog treats and informational booths for local organizations.

Linda and Wayne Workowski, of Wayne's Home Grown Fruits & Vegetables, said that although bee populations in recent years have experienced dramatic declines in the United States, their honeybees are doing well.

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The couple owns several beehives and produces honey, and beeswax, to sell at markets.

“Each layer of the hive has a purpose,” said Wayne, explaining the first layer is for the eggs. As the bees hatch and grow, additional layers are built by the hive.

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They also grow strawberries and blackberries.

“If I go home with a couple of baskets of berries that didn’t sell, then I go home and make some jam,” Linda said, adding they’ve taken part in the market for the past three years. “It continues to get bigger each year, and next weekend is the home-based businesses, so I will have my Longaberger baskets out, too.”

Tiffany Scerbicke, co-chair for Huntley Relay For Life of Northern Fox Valley, an
annual fundraising event tp benefit the American Cancer Society, said that although the market wasn’t crowded, she talked with more than a dozen individuals about the event. 

“We’re doing really well with registrations,” Scerbicke said. “We’re at 18 teams and $50,000 registered online.”

Relay For Life is a community event that welcomes the public to enjoy various entertainment and activities. It will be held at the Huntley Park District at 6 p.m. Friday, June 17.

Elaine Book, who brought produce, flowers and herbs to market, said her family’s farm is a 27-acre business run solely by her husband, Randy, and their seven children, Kristen, Stephanie, Justin, Gloria, Daniel, Josiah, and Stephen.

Named Providence Farm, the endeavor reaps lettuce, corn, soybeans, zucchini, tomatoes and more. Stephen, 7, tended the market with his mom and said he picks and weeds the crops six days per week with his siblings.

“It hasn’t been too bad with the weather. We’ve had the rain when we needed it,” Elaine Book said. “We have a sandy subsoil, and irrigation system with our creek, so
it all works out … We’re really very blessed.”

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