Fertile soil

On Saturday, about 350 people picked through the offerings at the first-ever Lakes Region Farmers Market.

Situated in the parking lot of Manchester Elementary School on Route 302 in North Windham and held each Saturday morning through October, the farmers market has the potential to rake in the profits as thousands of tourists and locals drive on Route 302 each Saturday morning this summer. Here’s hoping the farmers do well and are able to continue this feel-good and community-focused venture.

The market itself is a combination of past and present. At once, there is the concrete, noise and red lights of busy North Windham raging in comparison to the pleasant simplicity of farmers offering their tasty treats dug straight from the ground. To be sure, the organic beauty of rural living meets the concrete jungle of North Windham at the market.

The market is also a tangible connection to the area’s past when most homes were farms or at least had a large “Victory Garden” in the backyard. It’s not just the big farming operations providing produce for the market, but smaller operations are invited to participate as well.

Of note as well is that the market isn’t an outdated pursuit that will attract only the people who remember simpler times. It’s actually on the cutting edge. People now want to feed their children and themselves healthy food that wasn’t grown thousands of miles away under the spray of some sketchy pesticide. The national trend is toward eating local. Time Magazine had a recent cover “Forget Organic, Eat Local” and it seems that trend is hitting our area as well. Now, people will have an easy place to get their “local” fare.

So, if you want to know where your food comes from, get a good deal and meet some local farmers, check out the Lakes Region Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. It seems to be the trendy thing to do.

Rocky ground

Peter Busque is back in front of the Windham Planning Board, this time trying to get a smaller gravel pit operation on Nash Road passed. The big question at Monday’s first meeting on the project revolved around issues of full disclosure.

Opponents of the quarry wanted planning board members to reveal their ties to Busque, be they personal or professional. On the flip side, Busque supporters wanted to know who in town government were friendly with members of the Windham Preservation Committee, a group which fought hard against the first iteration of the Busque quarry on Nash Road.

Can’t we presume professionalism in this quarry debate? Let’s assume the members of the planning board and town council are wise enough to recuse themselves if they have conflicts of interest.

Instead of debating red herrings, let’s focus on the merits of the quarry itself, what the town ordinances say about such a use and be done with it. Instead of presuming scandal, let’s let our leaders do their jobs.

-John Balentine, editor