Local products meet local produce
Photo by Debra DeAngelo

Valerie Engelman, owner of Wildflower Naturals, displays the goodie basket that will be raffled off this Sunday, Aug. 2, at the Winters Farmers Market. The raffle is free, and you must sign up at the market for a chance to win. The Winters Farmers Market takes place every Sunday, 8 a.m. to noon, at Rotary Park.By DEBRA DeANGELO
Express editor

The Winters Farmers Market already offers fresh local produce every Sunday morning, and on Aug. 2, local products will also appear in abundance. This Sunday marks the first arts and crafts fair for the market, featuring everything from jewelry to goat soap, all made by residents of Yolo and Solano County.
Market coordinator Ana Kormos says the market has stayed true to its goal of offering only locally produced items, and the addition of an arts and crafts fair is one more step along that path. She says another arts and crafts fair is planned for the market’s final day of the season on Oct. 25, and local vendors can still apply for booth space at that fair.

With 15 arts and crafts vendors slated for the Aug. 2 market, Kormos is pleased with the response so far.
“I’m just super excited,” says Kormos. “It’s just another thing to draw new people to the market.” She notes that attendance has lagged a little over the summer months, with hot weather and vacation schedules eating into the attendance, but she’s hoping to pump up the numbers a little, beginning this weekend.

One attraction for the Aug. 2 fair will be the raffle of a huge basket of handmade soaps, candles and balms from Wildflower Naturals, a new Winters business owned by Valerie Engelman. Engelman’s products are already for sale at Eagle Drug, Lorenzo’s Town & Country Market and the Davis Food Co-op, and a full line will be available on Sunday.

Engelman says she was inspired to make her own soaps by her mother, who enjoyed making her own spa treatments, and all her products are completely natural.

“A lot of people use the term ‘natural’ and it means nothing,” says Engelman. “I am really dedicated to making things that are good for the earth, good for you and affordable.”

Besides offering a natural product, Engelman creates her own unique scents, like Applejacks, Rose Trellis and 7-Up Pound Cake. How scrumptious are these smells? She says she’s had to start putting up signs next to her soap because one customer took a sniff of her chocolate raspberry soap and noted the “free sample” sign.

“For her free sample, she took a bite!” says Engelman.

Some of her other unique items are shampoo bars that can be used in place of bottled shampoo, thereby cutting out much of the water and unnatural chemicals, and with the added benefit of oils that are good for hair. She has developed a tinted line of shampoo soap specifically for blonds, redheads and brunettes, and says as far as she knows, she’s the only one offering shampoo soap with tinted bases.

The raffle to win a collection of Engelman’s products happens at the Farmers Market on Sunday, and doesn’t cost a dime. Just sign up for the raffle at the market and you might be the lucky winner to take it all home.

For more information about Wildflower Naturals, visit www.wildflowernaturals.com. For more information about the Winters Farmers market, which takes place every Sunday through Oct. 25 from 8 a.m. to noon at Rotary Park, or for information about becoming a vendor for the Oct. 25 arts and crafts fair, visit www.wintersfarmersmarket.com.

Vendor list
The vendor list for the Aug. 2 arts and crafts fair at the Winter Farmers Market includes Michelle Dally/fused glass jewelry; Ky Dally/spice cabinets; Gray’s Designs/spice cabinets; Christy Ireland-Little Shamrocks/tote bags, purses, children’s clothing; Castlerock Soap/ goat soaps and lotions; Judi Smith-Los Nichos/ceramics, sun faces, mirror frames; Christine Boldt/beaded jewelry; Debbie Muller-Winters Workshop/dolls; Kerry Sorter-Coucamanda/children’s clothing, handbags; Jan Schubert-Bee Happy/beeswax candles; Valerie Engelman-Wildflower Naturals/soaps and scrubs; Juana Saunders/Mexican dolls; Jared Ropelato/photographs; Francis Leidinger/metal work; Colleen Simon.