These Farmers Market Bags are Pure Gold!
Once upon a time, artists and chefs Olga Bravo and Becky Wagner made glorious pies in an expanded farm stand (Olga’s Cup & Saucer in Little Compton), then at a superstar bakery/café in Providence. In the last decade, they turned from pastries to a line of handmade bags under the name The Golden Trout. Named for the trout that live in streams near their home in Hope Valley and inspired by the burlap storage bags they found when they closed the bakery, these are farmers market bags extraordinaire.
Made from burlap potato sacks, many have colorful images; others are just plain, which they vegetable-dye (often with onion skins). Bags are lined in waxed canvas; handles are leather; a pocket goes inside if there’s a vintage image, outside if there’s not. The bags’ clever designs are matched only by their practicality. Both Bravo and Wagner love to work the farmers markets, and they listened carefully to what people wanted in a bag. The bags can be ordered online, but Bravo prefers the personal exchanges: “I like it when people actually see them and feel the texture and the weight of them.”
Alternating Stonington and Tiverton Winter Farmers Markets; additional markets in warmer months. Find them on Instagram @thegoldentrout for holiday and other market updates. DM them there for bag order requests, too. (Photo courtesy of The Golden Trout.)
Johnette Rodriguez is a food, travel and arts writer published in Yankee, Saveur, The Boston Globe, SO Rhode Island and The Westerly Sun.
