If Haderlie Farms grew spinach and lettuce in its Thayne greenhouse all last winter, why does Jackson's local food calendar still go quiet every October?
The Jackson Hole Farmers Market held its 2026 season closer on Saturday, September 26, after running Saturday mornings on Town Square since June 20. The People's Market finished three days earlier, on September 23, on the Center for the Arts lawn at 265 S. Cache St. The next in-person market on the calendar is November 21. In a valley where a greenhouse a short drive south now grows food from November through April, that eight-week gap has less to do with the growing season than with the drive to town and the shortage of cold storage once a farmer gets here.
Why the gap is a storage problem
Shelby Belote has worked with local food producers in Jackson for about a decade and sits on the Jackson Hole Farmers Market board. Farmers told her that having so few places to sell in winter made it hard to keep a viable business going. She explained the practical problem to the Jackson Hole News&Guide:
"For farmers to be able to access Jackson, some of them are driving eight hours round trip. For them to do that, they need to be able to drop for a substantial amount of time."
A Saturday morning market works for a four-hour sale in July. In February it means an eight-hour round trip for a four-hour window, and anything unsold goes back down the canyon. Belote spent four or five years looking for a downtown building, and the deciding requirement was room for enough cold storage.
Curtis Haderlie of Haderlie Farms described the same pressure from the farm side. If customers can stop by a store whenever it suits them, he told Buckrail, the family farm can spend fewer hours driving to meeting points to deliver produce and pick up compost.
What is going into the Miller House
Belote found her building in the historic Miller House at the corner of East Broadway and Bruun Boulevard, the former home of Wyoming Title and Escrow. The nonprofit is called The Farm Jackson Hole, at 211 E. Broadway Ave., and it plans to be open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The equipment list shows what the project is really about. A February grant from the Wyoming Department of Family Services and Food Works Group, through the Wyoming Aggregation and Distribution Grant Program, is expected to pay for walk-in cold storage and freezer rooms, commercial refrigeration, receiving and aggregation equipment, a paved receiving area for producers, and point-of-sale technology. With 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, the building is meant to work as a distribution hub as well as a shop. Products will come in from across western Wyoming, get stored and sorted, and go back out.
The business model is set up to keep producers coming back:
- Consignment split: The Farm keeps a 10% commission and returns 90% to suppliers. Belote said producers usually keep about 70% of revenue at other local markets.
- What it carries: Produce, meat, cheese, fermented foods, baked goods and more. The News&Guide says these come from six Wyoming counties and two in Idaho. In August, Buckrail reported contracts with 50 businesses across six western Wyoming counties.
- Payment: The store will accept SNAP.
- Legal footing: Buckrail reports it will be the first year-round, brick-and-mortar storefront in Teton County to operate under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, the state's cottage food law covering homemade and uninspected products.
- Funding runway: Belote has raised $1 million for opening equipment and three years of overhead, including grants from Teton Conservation District and the Wyoming Department of Family Services.
- Classroom: The building includes space for farmer-led workshops on how food is grown, which farmers also asked for.
Belote has been open about price. Goods will cost slightly more than at a grocery store, with philanthropy covering part of the difference. Shelves will also follow the season. "There will be months that you'll be showing up at The Farm and you cannot source a specific product," she said. "That is how food is truly grown."
As of early October, there is no firm opening date. In its August 23 story, Buckrail said the store would open once all formal approvals were signed off, likely within four to six weeks. The later News&Guide report said construction was underway and Belote expected to open sometime in the next month or two.
The greenhouse that proved the supply exists
The Farm's case depends on winter food actually existing, and that is where the Thayne greenhouse matters. Belote helped Haderlie Farms build it a few years ago and saw it as groundwork for the Broadway store, since a longer growing season was a must. According to the Jackson Hole Farmers Market, the greenhouse was fully running in winter 2025–26 and supplied produce to all eight winter markets. It runs on heat from recycled waste oil.
Haderlie told Buckrail that last season was mostly greens, which are easier than fruiting plants, and that customers were glad to find lettuce, kale, arugula and scallions at the winter markets. This season the farm plans to try growing tomatoes through the extended season. "It's an experiment, so we'll see how it goes," he said.
That is the connection between the two projects. A greenhouse producing in January needs a place to sell in January. A handful of winter market days gave it eight outlets last season. A storefront open daily would give it a place to sell every day.
Where to buy local food until the doors open
Until The Farm opens, local food in Jackson comes through four channels.
Slow Food in the Tetons Online Marketplace. This is the only year-round option on the list that runs every week. The ordering window opens Friday at noon and closes Tuesday at 6 p.m. Pickup is Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 6 p.m. at the Slow Food Farm Stand in the Snake River Brewing lot, 280 S. Jackson St. An order placed on a Friday is ready the following week. Slow Food's Local Food Access Program lowers the cost of farm and ranch products closer to grocery prices, at no cost to the farmer.
Haderlie Farms direct. The farm's website lists weekly delivery or pickup for Jackson customers through FarmMatch, and an on-farm store in Thayne open Thursday through Saturday.
Vertical Harvest greens on grocery shelves. Vertical Harvest now describes its Jackson farm as a research and development facility that still supplies the community through Jackson Hole Food Rescue, Food Bank of Wyoming and Slow Food in the Tetons. Its site lists its year-round greens at Pearl Street Market, Hungry Jack's, Aspen's Market and the Slow Food marketplace.
The winter market calendar. In-person markets come back in late November:
- November 21: People's Market winter season opens. Later dates are December 5, January 2, February 6 and March 6. Slow Food has not yet posted a venue or hours.
- December 12: Jackson Hole Farmers Market Winter Market at Hotel Terra in Teton Village, 3 to 6 p.m. Later dates are January 16, February 20 and March 20.
- December 19: Jackson Hole Farmers Market Winter Market at Wister Hall in The Virginian Lodge, 1 to 4 p.m. Later dates are January 9, February 13 and March 13.
The Farmers Market homepage shows these winter dates without a year, and its separate Markets page still labels the winter series "Dec 2025 – Mar 2026." All the homepage dates fall on Saturdays in the 2026–27 calendar, but check the market's site before planning around them.
Taken together, the calendar shows what The Farm is trying to change. In 2026, Jackson had two weekly summer markets running from June into late September, an online marketplace with weekly pickups, and a scattered set of winter market days. A cold room on Broadway open seven days a week would turn those occasional dates into a regular place to buy local food, and producers making an eight-hour round trip could leave their food there instead of loading it back into the truck.
If you're watching the Miller House at Broadway and Bruun for opening day, you're not the only one. At Bryan Lyster, we keep track of the small changes that shape a week in Jackson, from a new cold room on Broadway to the Saturdays the winter markets come back. If you'd like to talk about life in town through the off-season, let's connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
