At the instigation of the Mayor of Gruiisan there is to be a new Marché bio de Gruissan. It will be every Friday from 8am -12am, and 7am-12 during the Summer. It is scheduled to start on Friday the 22nd February and run 12 months a year.

Caroline and her friend and colleague from the Narbonne organic market, Elizabeth have been very involved with setting the Marché bio de Gruissan up. Meeting with the Mayor and his team, the municipal police, ringing round producers to whistle up support.  Unlike other organic markets in the area the Marché bio de Gruissan is putting most of the emphasis on local organic producers and transformers, so far there are 18 local producers interested, organic bakers, organic vegetable growers, organic wine and beer makers, prepared organic food chefs, organic mushrooms, organic fruit, organic pork, beef, lamb, organic sheep and goats cheese and of course our organic herbs aromatic and medicinal herbs and flowers.

Both the Mayor and the stall holders are committed to a 100% organic market, with every product on sale having an independent certification, unlike some of the organic markets which have a mixture of organic and non certified produce.

We do not tend to do beach markets, plants need gardens and the back country usually is more appropriate for us, but Gruissan has a sizable full time community as well as thousands of holiday makers during the tourist season, and we were very encouraged by the Mayor’s enthusiasm for this market so fingers crossed, it will be a long day, especially in the Summer with 4am, starts, then getting back and preparing for Saturday’s markets in Narbonne and Perpignan but hopefully it will be worth it.

There has been a huge growth in the organic market in France over the last decade but a large section of this growth has been taken by the large supermarket chains. Organic local producers markets are a great way to boost local produce, the clientele get the chance to talk with the producers themselves, learn about organic production and share our passion for our produce. For us it is not unusual to spend half the market just talking about plants, advising people on how to care for them and what to do with them, it is always a pleasure to share information and help people get the most from our babies.

For producers unlike re-sellers markets are a mixed blessing, we need them to sell our produce but at the same time they take a big chunk of time out of the week, preparing for them, going to them, getting back. When approached about new markets it is always a toss up on whether it is worth losing most of a day of work on the off chance that they will work. However all the signs are that the Marché bio de Gruissan will be a winner, maybe not at the start, it always takes time for a market to get a name for itself but all the signs are good.

 

For more information on Gruissan here is the Mayor’s website, http://www.ville-gruissan.fr/ and the Gruissan Tourist Boards website http://www.gruissan-mediterranee.com/