Farmer spirit keeps winter market going

Farmer Ed Thompson of Flanders, decked out in a shirt printed with mule deer and pine trees, stood beside a stack of brown eggs packed into pale blue cartons, on sale for $6 each. Outside, his pickup was neatly stacked with seasoned wood, also for sale.

Dee Muma and Jeffrey Trujillo, owner and chef, respectively, of Tweed's in Riverhead and Dark Horse, which is under construction next door to it, wore fur-lined hats and offered samples of prizewinning local duck pâté ($10 for half a pound).

This hardy band, together with Kathleen Werner, a nurse practitioner who concocts herbal products, are keeping the Westhampton Beach Farmers Market open in winter, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, inside Sydney's, a specialty food store at 103 Main St.

Root vegetables and greens are gone, yet market manager Elsie Collins, owner of 1880 Seafield House, a local bed-and-breakfast, was determined to carry on this winter, one of the coldest in recent memory.

Sometimes, Art Ludlow brings his cheese from Mecox Bay Dairy in Bridgehampton, and Alexandre Apparu, chef at The Wandering Palate, a caterer, shows up with quiche and other baked goods. Muma and Trujillo also had fresh potato chips, a delicious onion dip and an assortment of gluten-free baked goods, including chocolate chip cookies and bagels. (Their duck pâté won best appetizer in the New York State Restaurant Association show.) They also feature a homemade "TV dinner," which that week was pasta with marinara sauce, organic beef meatballs and green beans.

Martine Louis of Quogue, a shopper, said in her French-accented English, that it is gratifying "just to know you support the local farmers in a very good atmosphere." Grant Werner, Kathleen's husband, played his guitar and sang, an added reason to check out the market.