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V O L . X X I N O. X I I I J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 5 18 Her family's farm also sells to restaurants. It employs 15-20, depend- ing on the season, and has close to 50 acres, not all in active production. e farm has 10 greenhouses that are heated and fi ve hoop houses that stretch the growing season as long as possible. It is profi table, Snell says. Like Tierney, she says the markets are a lot of work. e day before the market, her mother rises at 5 a.m. to start listing what plants or crops will be picked. Some workers pick, while others water plants or work in the greenhouses. Once vegetables are picked, they are washed. Some are cooled. By lunchtime, most items are picked, including the fl owers, which also must be sorted and bunched. While the preparation is going on, the farm also sells from its own roadside stand daily. Snell says the plants are loaded fi rst onto the truck and parked in the shade. e vegetables and cut fl owers are loaded late in the afternoon. Around 3:20 a.m. the next day, raspberries and sweet peas are loaded, and the truck leaves for market at 4:30 a.m. e farm is about half an hour from Portland, so by 5 a.m. Snell and a few helpers are setting up a tent and tables to be ready for market opening at 7 a.m. By 7:30 a.m., Snell says, her tent already is busy, but the most traf- fi c comes from 9-11 a.m. Just before the market closes at 1 p.m. she arranges what is left over. Sometimes she trades with other farmers, but she doesn't discount items at that point. She packs up leftovers and takes them back, leaving the market around 3 p.m. ere's time for a short nap before some additional harvesting in the evening, then Snell goes to bed around 9 p.m. She originally wanted to be a teacher, but found she liked the sea- sonality of farming. "It's an intellectual puzzle," she says of all the activity between put- ting a seed in the ground and selling a plant or vegetable. "I grew up at the farmers market," she adds. "You develop relationships with customers here. Folks have seen me grow up and I've seen them grow up. It's an intimate relationship that makes shopping and eating more meaningful." L o r i Va l i g r a , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r, c a n b e r e a c h e d a t lva l i g r a @ m a i n e b i z . b i z a n d @ L Va l i g r a ยป C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Carolyn Snell of Snell Family Farm holds chard near her fl ower tables at the Portland Farmers' Market in Deering Oaks Park.