Meet Sonia Mora | Co founder of The.Woodland Farmers Market

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonia Mora and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonia, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
We had purchased 5 acres in Woodland and had planted a garden that was going to feed way more than 2 people. We worked in Davis but preferred shopping in Woodland so we talked about starting a farmer’s market in Woodland. Many people felt the same as we did about leaving our town just to go shopping at a farmers market so we did some research and met up with Ed and Janet Eckhoff who were also growing vegetables and needed a place to sell locally. We decided to start The Woodland Farmers Market as co-owners in 1996, The Woodland Farmers Market became a Non Profit, 501c3, in October of 2021.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The 4 of us worked full time while doing the farmer’s market. We were pretty dedicated to keeping a farmer’s market in our local town. The more we got into growing vegetables the more we liked it. Once we started adding vendors to the market and we got a steady flow of weekly customers it became a social gathering for a lot of our community members.

What sets our market apart now is that we have a kids farmers market that we host every other Saturday. We purchase produce from the vendors at the market and then we set up a small Mini market for the kids to shop at. We find sponsors to help pay for the produce and then we give each child $5 in play money, so they can actually shop at the market. This is the teachable moment for our kids since they have to actually “pay” for what they select, also , the kids will actually eat the produce they pick because they “paid ” for it and it is theirs.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Besides visiting the local farmers market here in Woodland, we usually take visitors to our local restaurants. We have quite a few local restaurants who support fresh and local produce so we like to support them as well

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We were on our own with this venture. The 4 of us,  struggled  to get this market going. We struggled for the first 10 years to keep it going. We were not in it for the money, but we wanted to allow others to have access to fresh and locally grown produce.

Website: Www.thewoodlandfarmersmarket.org

Instagram: Woodlandfarmersmarkt

Facebook: The Woodland Farmers Market

Image Credits
Kids market pictures and kids enjoying produce from the kids market One of our weekly basket winners Sonia with 2 of our weekly customers