Editorial staff
United Farmers Market's editorial team researches, writes, and reviews guides for cottage food producers, farmers market vendors, and people who buy local. Articles are researched from government, university extension, and industry sources, and reviewed before publication. See our editorial standards and AI policy for how the work is done.
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About one in five U.S. farmers markets runs all twelve months, and others open a separate indoor season. Here is what a winter market looks like from the inside, what sells at one, what changes when you move under someone else's roof, and how to find the one nearest you.
· 8 min read
One 9-by-5 loaf, and one decision at the start: a can of puree, or squash you roasted yourself. They do not behave the same in a batter, and this recipe explains how to make either one work.
· 5 min read
Twelve bins, twelve names, and no stickers to help. Here is how to choose apples by what you plan to do with them, why the market's fruit looks different from the grocery store's, and what to ask the person who grew it.
· 9 min read
The second week of December is decided in October. Here is a ten-week countdown to your last pickup: cutting the menu, recosting it, ordering packaging, opening pre-orders, capping how much you will take, and banking the freezer.
· 9 min read
Sunset in Chicago falls from 7:17 p.m. in early September to 4:37 p.m. on the first Saturday of November. Some winter market deadlines passed in July, and your canopy weights have not moved since June. Work the list in deadline order.
· 6 min read
Plain sourdough sits on almost every state's allowed list, which is the easy part. The hard parts are the bake-day schedule, an oven that caps your revenue, an ingredient statement that has to name the starter, and a bag that softens the crust before the market opens.
· 10 min read
A shopper who cannot find a price often walks instead of asking. What the three signs every booth needs should say, how big the letters have to be, what survives weather, and the point-of-sale placards some states require by law.
· 7 min read
From the first read of your state's rules to your first market Saturday, in eight steps: choosing products that qualify, registration and training, labels, pricing, sales channels, bookkeeping, and a realistic plan for the first 90 days.
· 13 min read
Cottage food is a legal category, not a cooking style: food made in a home kitchen, sold directly to the person who eats it, and in most states limited to foods that stay safe at room temperature. Here is where that line comes from, how states move it, and what falls outside it almost everywhere.
· 9 min read
Home bakers routinely leave their own labor and the market fee out of the price. This is the cost-based method extension economists teach, worked through on a hypothetical batch of cookies so you can see every number move.
· 12 min read
Cottage food laws disagree about almost everything except the label. Here are the six elements nearly every state asks for, the exact disclaimer wording six states use, and how to build a label that survives a refrigerator and still reads as a brand.
· 10 min read
How markets are organized and why it changes what they ask of you, how to read a rulebook before you apply, what fees, insurance, and sales tax involve, what to bring, how the first morning runs, and how to judge the numbers after a month.
· 14 min read
Retail display rules were written for stores with shelves and overhead lights. Here is how they translate to a 10-by-10 canopy: height and tiers, the front edge, color, abundance, sightlines from across the aisle, coverings, and a clear place to pay, plus an exercise for seeing your booth the way a stranger does.
· 10 min read
The USDA directory alone lists more than 7,000 farmers markets. Here is where to look, what a listing cannot tell you, and how two visits as a shopper and one conversation with the manager reveal whether a market actually needs what you make.
· 8 min read
Cash, card readers, payment apps, sales tax, and SNAP tokens each move money into your business by a different route. Here is how each one works, what it cost when we checked in September 2026, and what to set up before opening day.
· 10 min read
A bag or box has three jobs: keep the product safe and fresh, carry the label your state requires, and sell it from three feet away. Here is how to choose packaging by product type, what a unit really costs, and which states require sealed, labeled packages before you can sell.
· 12 min read
You can probably make twenty things well. A market needs three or four you can make every week, that hold up on a folding table, that your state allows, and that nobody else in the tent row is already selling. Here is a set of filters for getting from twenty to four.
· 11 min read
Window light, a clean background, the right angle for each product, and ten seconds of phone settings matter more than any gear. Here is the routine, plus a shot list you can reuse every time you add a product.
· 8 min read
A stranger buys once because of a sign and a sample. A regular buys twenty times a season because of you. Here is why the second kind of customer carries a one-person food business, and the plain habits that make more of them.
· 8 min read
Regulars don't spend more; they know the rhythm. When to arrive, what to carry, what to ask the grower, how to read a producer-only sign, where SNAP is handled, and the manners that keep you welcome at the table.
· 10 min read
Fall at the market is four different seasons depending on where you stand. Here is what arrives in September, October, and November across the Northeast and Midwest, the South, the Pacific and Mountain West, and the Southwest, with buying and storage notes for the crops that define it.
· 11 min read
Market produce is usually fresher than what the supermarket sells, and it still turns to slime in the wrong drawer. This reference, built from university extension storage bulletins and FDA handling advice, says where each item lives, whether to wash it first, and how many days to plan on.
· 12 min read
A cottage food exemption lets you cook at home because what you sell is low-risk and sold face to face. Here are the five kinds of kitchen a small food business can legally use, what each one costs and lets you sell, and the signals that you have outgrown the one you have.
· 8 min read
A sales cap is the edge of your state's cottage food exemption. Here is what the number actually measures, why lawmakers write one in, how far apart the states are, and how to keep a running total that never surprises you.
· 8 min read
Taking orders online, delivering across town, and mailing a box are three different acts under cottage food law. Here is which states allow each one, what the agencies actually say, and the label, payment, and tax details that follow.
· 10 min read
A pop-up canopy is a sail with a price tag. What markets require for weights and how to attach them, when to drop the tent, how to keep product dry and cold food cold, and how you hear when a market calls it off.
· 8 min read
Five pounds of market apples, a slow cooker, and an overnight simmer. This version skips the canner on purpose, so the jars go in the refrigerator or freezer, and the notes explain why that is not a step you can add back later.
· 5 min read
One brine, one method, seven vegetables. A refrigerator pickle uses the same 5 percent vinegar as a canned pickle but skips the canner, which is exactly why it has to stay cold and get eaten within a couple of weeks.
· 5 min read
The farmers market is older than the country, and for most of its life it was a city service, not a movement. How public markets were built, nearly abandoned, written into federal law in 1976, and rebuilt as the nonprofit, mostly tent-based markets we sell and shop at today.
· 9 min read
Four USDA datasets count farmers markets in four different ways, and none of them shows the boom still running. Here are the numbers as published, what each one measures, and what they suggest for a vendor deciding where to sell.
· 9 min read
Your name goes on every label, sign, and search a customer will ever run. Here is how to choose one people can say and spell, run the SBA and USPTO checks before you print, and build a two-color, one-mark look you can keep for years without paying a designer.
· 10 min read
A cottage food exemption skips the inspection, not the science. Here is what an inspector would look at in your kitchen if one ever came: hands, household traffic, allergens, temperature, water activity and pH, cleaning versus sanitizing, and the training some states require.
· 11 min read
Set up a manageable online menu, clear pickup windows, and reliable order records. A practical guide to getting started with Local Cottage Foods, the platform United Farmers Market recommends.
· 5 min read
