Announcing Harvest Bowls, an Empty Bowls series, coming to four Midcoast and Downeast farmers’ markets in August 2025!
The Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets is holding an Empty Bowls-style fundraising series to support food access at farmers’ markets and raise awareness of our food security work. We’ll host a simple free meal, with handmade artisan bowls to take home by sliding scale donation.
Tentative dates and locations are planned:
Rockland Farmers’ Market – August 28th
Belfast Farmers’ Market – August 29th
Camden Farmers’ Market – August 30th
Bar Harbor Farmers’ Market – August 31st
This series is supported with generous help from Maine Clay and Tugboat Arts, who will host a make-a-thon to produce bowls for the event. Potters are also invited to donate bowls at pick-up locations before the event. Want to contribute as a business sponsor? We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to sustain farmers’ markets, supports farmers by increasing their sales by more than $3million annually with our voucher programs, and runs low-income food access programs at more than 80 direct farmer-to-customer sites around Maine. To learn more about this event or become a sponsor, please get in touch with our Midcoast Regional Coordinator, Amber: [email protected]
All proceeds from these events support Maine Harvest Bucks, our biggest food access program. We started Maine Harvest Bucks ten years ago as a way to direct existing Nutrition Incentive Funds to feeding farmers’ market shoppers and boosting farmers’ sales. When SNAP/EBT shoppers choose to shop for groceries at the farmers’ market, they earn matching Maine Harvest Bucks to spend on fresh fruits, raw unprocessed vegetables, and even seedlings that will produce food. Maine Harvest Bucks shoppers eat more fresh, healthy Maine-grown produce, and farmers get paid directly for their hard work. It keeps more money circulating among Maine farms and small businesses, and builds healthier communities and social bonds by encouraging shoppers to develop in-person relationships with their farmers. The program has grown steadily and sustainably over the last decade, and now results in about $650,000 in direct sales, all of which we pay out to farmers. We raise most of the money to fund this program through:
- dozens of grants we write and report for
- local business partnerships
- state funds that we advocate for biannually
- individual donations
After ten years of improving economic sustainability for farms and public health outcomes, the future of one of our major grants, GusNIP, is under threat. Our Harvest Bowls series is one of many ways we’re turning to our Maine community for help securing the future of Maine Harvest Bucks. We hope you’ll join us! And if you can’t, please consider becoming an MFFM member or making a direct donation for food access.