The word "success" is best described here by the queues to the stands and the registrations to sell at these stands. It started modestly with a few traders, today there are about 40 of them here and many more willing to exhibit here. One of the distinguishing features of this place is that it has a roof, which makes it easier to trade regardless of the weather. More importantly, however, it is not a market created by the local government, as is usually the case, but by the farmers themselves. This is the result of the implementation of a project financed from the "Cooperation" action, from the Rural Development Programme for the years 2014-2020, which supports the creation and activity of Operational Groups for innovation. Here, the innovative way of reaching out to the customer was to create a place for trade, discussion, and meetings. To make this possible, the so-called Operational Group had to be created. It was created by 6 farmers and the Local Fishing Group "Pojezierze Olsztyńskie".
– After the pandemic, we noticed that there was a very big need in society. People started looking for quality food, they started looking for contact with other people. However, what was very visible was that it was time-consuming. Tomek Piłat was also guided by this idea – says Katarzyna Maziec from the Warmińska Pszczoła Farm in Purda, one of 6 farmers participating in the "Cooperation" project. Tomasz Piłat is an expert in the issue of EU funds, president of the FLAG "Pojezierze Olsztyńskie" and the LGD "Południowa Warmia".
"Good, because it's ours" market in Tomaszkowo near Olsztyn. Photo: IP
And so the farmers and the Local Fishing Group joined forces to create a place that is like a culinary journey through Warmia and Mazury. Tomasz Piłat became the guide here, who greets customers with a conversation every Saturday morning. He asks about their impressions, offers sandwiches, pancakes, coffee or other delicacies that traders prepare to better present their products.
Tomasz Piłat, president of the Olsztyn Lake District FLAG. Photo: IP
As Piłat says – We operate here only one day a week, because they are small producers and would not have time to produce more goods. The important thing is that it is practically every Saturday, i.e. the one during the long weekend and the one just before the holidays.
And she adds – We care about the character of this place. This is a place that brings together local producers, but it is also supposed to encourage local residents to do their shopping here. To buy what is produced in the region. As the name says, “Good, because it’s ours.” The beginnings were difficult. There were a few stands and few customers. – Sometimes there weren’t a hundred people the whole day – recalls Katarzyna Malicka from Komalwy, who sells primarily lamb and delicatessen products made from it, but also vegetables, fruit and her own preserves under the Owcze Klimaty banner. – The first year was the hardest. You brought everything you brought back. The first ones who exhibited here deserve medals for getting it all going. It could have fallen apart then. But they survived.
At first, everyone sold on their own table, using their own refrigerated counter. Later, the hall gained identical stands and refrigerators. With each month, the popularity of this place grew.
Katarzyna Malicka, SHEEP CLIMATE. Photo: IP
As Tomasz Piłat, president of the LGR "Pojezierze Olsztyńskie" says – The market is open on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and in the meantime, more and more often, traders do not have time to put out their goods, and the first customers are already there. It should be emphasized that the marketing support for the project was non-existent, because there was no funding for it. The so-called "word of mouth marketing" and posts on social media work.
Katarzyna Maziec, Warmińska Pszczoła Farm. Photo: IP
Katarzyna Maziec, Zagroda Warmińska Pszczoła – Through word of mouth, customers passed on information about the products, about the producers, information about this place. And two years later, this place is bustling with life. Not because we pumped millions into promotion, because we don't have any. But because this place defends itself with quality and atmosphere. This atmosphere attracts customers on the one hand, but also sellers. The exhibitors have become friends, cooperate, and do their shopping interchangeably. That is why Katarzyna Maziec, who successfully sells honey and dairy products straight from the farm, also appears in Tomaszkowo every week – We haven't had weekends for two years. We know what we will do every Saturday. Sometimes you get tired of routine, but I come here and revive myself. I start by doing my weekly shopping. I like to talk to my neighbors: Kuba from Mount Ganga, Kasia Malicka, sit on sheepskins, eat a sandwich from Jarek, because Jarek Flis always makes us sandwiches. This is so touching.
Above all, it is a place to meet customers – says Jarosław Flis. As the owner of the "Flis-Pol" Meat Processing Plant from Miłomłyn, he participates in the project and has a role – sharing the experience gained in direct sales over a dozen years, that is, since he started buying meat from local farmers and producing traditional meat products. – We worked here for a year, a solid year, to develop this market here. To convince people that there are producers here, there are no traders here. These are small producers and farmers. There are no people here by chance. Only those who produce themselves, what they come here with and what they sell. All of them are characterized by the artisanal method of production.
KATARZYNA MALICKA, SHEEP CLIMATE. Photo: IP
Katarzyna Malicka, Owcze Klimaty z Komalwy – I appreciate this place because it gives me the opportunity to promote lamb. They can treat people here, let them try it, persuade them, because someone who has not tried it and does not know it will not come to my house to buy it. They come here for something else and at the same time they can try it and buy it. And apart from that, it is a place where one customer recommends to another. Additionally, direct contact allows for obtaining feedback on whether it tastes good or not, what I can change, season differently, maybe do something new. Such places motivate farmers to legalize their business. They show that it would be worth reporting everything, labeling, the product must have a description of the composition, expiration date, etc. The path to this is not as difficult as it seems at first and it helps to present your products better, the product is no longer nameless. Thanks to this, the customer feels safer, but it also benefits us, the producers. Thanks to this, the person who buys it knows where to return, it also allows us to stand out on the market.
Craft lemonade, Siedlisko pod linami. photo IP
Aleksandra Niechwiadowicz, Siedlisko pod lipami in Ornowo – My story with Tomaszków began with elderberry syrup. I made a large batch and came here to sell it. Since autumn was already starting and apples appeared in my settlement, I decided to make some apple juice. Not the kind everyone knows. I decided to combine these apples with other flavors and make different combinations, and that's how different combinations with wild rose, choco-apple were created. I made everything from what I had. Almost all the raw materials for juices and lemonades come from my farm. That's why what I offer to customers largely depends on the season.
HEALTHY TURKEY STACK.jpeg
Radosław Rafalski, Healthy Turkey from Żabi Rog – before we came to Tomaszkowo, we had been on the market for over 10 years, although the beginnings of our farm date back to 1976. We started by selling portioned turkeys. Various situations on the market meant that we also started distributing and selling our own products. Especially since we put a lot of emphasis on the high quality of these products and no one paid us for it in commercial slaughterhouses. And because we have our own factory, our own recipes, we are educated in this field, we started slaughtering this turkey 12 years ago, bought a refrigerated truck and delivered it to customers' homes. First portions and then cold cuts. We appreciate Tomaszkowo for direct contact with the customer, with the retail recipient. The bulk of the profit we have, not only our meat, is eaten up by intermediaries. The market is the market of the one who trades, not the farmer. And it is he who decides how much the producers, who put a huge effort and often a lot of money into this process, should earn. Another important aspect of this marketplace is that you have contact with the person who produced it. In our example, I can say that I am able to tell you about each sausage, how it was made, what it was made of, what spices. The person who acts as an intermediary does not know this. Besides, I am responsible here with my face and my person for the quality. If I sold something bad to a customer, he would come back in a week, I would be here and he would be able to tell me.
The hall in Tomaszkowo near Olsztyn is an example for the whole of Warmia and Mazury, and even Poland. This can be seen in the interest of the tour groups that increasingly visit this place. Here is one of them – “Rural Women”.
WOMEN STAND FOR POLISH FOOD photo IP
A group of women in characteristic pink T-shirts with the logo "KOBIETY WIEJSKIE WALEM ZA POLSKĄ ŻYWNOŚCIĄ" (RURAL WOMEN WALL FOR POLISH FOOD) was easy to spot between the stands. This logo fits perfectly into the idea of the market in Tomaszkowo.
Karolina Butkiewicz, one of the initiators of the group "KOBIETY WIEJSKIE WUREM ZA POLSKĄ ŻYWNOŚCIĄ" – We would like to reach out to customers with our products, just like here, local producers and farmers, only in their own towns. At the moment, we are in the phase of creating such groups or Agricultural Retail Trade. We want to make the consumer aware that in every region, there is a local product, that it is worth looking for it. This is how we want to promote what is ours, tasty and encourage people to buy what they have closest to them.
Looking at how trade is developing in Tomaszkowo, the number of conscious customers is growing. One of the customers is Marta Gołąb-Kocięcka, a journalist, a promoter of a healthy lifestyle, who comes to Tomaszkowo from Olsztyn every Saturday – A healthy lifestyle is my way of life. I come to Tomaszkowo after Saturday training. Shopping motivates me to go earlier. If I don't make it to the 8:15 one, I have to wait in line, so I finish at 10:30 and I'm at "Dobre, bo Nasze" after 11… at this time Mr. Tomek, in his characteristic Warmian outfit, often just throws up his hands… Because my favorite cheeses are gone, the deer sausage with hazelnuts that my husband eats is already gone, and the rose buds are just a memory. But it was worth coming anyway, because maybe I'll try something new, someone I know will give me some advice… Because "Dobre, bo Nasze" is a celebration of shopping, conscious nutrition, but also social contacts.
Meanwhile, I (Iwona Pacholska, the author of the text) visiting the Tomaszkowo market almost every week have noticed that I spend more and more time there. Sometimes I have to wait in lines. It is worth noting that these are lines in which there is no boredom, because there are conversations about life, but above all about what is worth buying. Time also passes in discussions with exhibitors, when the first customers leave and have a bit more time, you can hear what is currently happening on the farms, how the season is going, what is currently being harvested in the orchards or how the harvest is going. You are supposedly in a hall, but you feel as if you were in the countryside.
