No Bosses, Just Bees: New Castle County farmers markets help enthusiasts become entrepreneurs

Like all good Cinderella stories, Beth Esrey’s journey was helped along by a pumpkin.

Actually, LOTS of pumpkins: When a glut of the gourds threatened to overwhelm a Middletown produce market a few years ago, the owners asked the not-so-retired grandmother to turn their autumn oversupply into a sellable product.

The result was dozens upon dozens of scrumptious pumpkin donuts — and an enduring local reputation for Esrey’s home-style cooking skills. Today, hundreds of hungry fans seek out her baked goods at New Castle County’s farmers markets each summer.

Esrey is just one of dozens of ambitious locals who have leveraged personal passions into profit by becoming vendors at the four markets run by the county: There’s a high-tech visionary who has created a line of freeze-dried snacks; a seller with West African roots who wants to bring Nigerian “puff-puff” donuts to the masses; and a host of fellow vendors who have found that the path to success can start with nothing more than a table, a sign and a good idea.

That’s how Neil Vosters got his business going after he became the accidental owner of a highly extended family of bees that had set up quarters in his Maryland garage. Soon, he was tending his uninvited guests as a hobby, but over the past ten years, he expanded into serious business, selling a range of honey-based beauty products under the Randalia Bee Hives brand.

Somehow, even as he headed well past the typical retirement age, he found himself swept up by the wholesome product preferences of youthful customers.

“Pretty much the demand has given me direction,” said Vosters, from Chesapeake City, Maryland. “The natural products are very popular, especially with Gen Z.”

Today, his farmers market stand is just one element of a honeybee business that is generating buzz around the country: “I do a phenomenal business online,” he said. “But I keep coming to the farmers markets to get that personal contact. Farmers markets are my happy place.”

While Vosters was leveraging a trend, Amira Idris Radović is hoping to inspire a new one with her business. Forever Freeze Co. was actually born in a moment of disappointment — the pandemic had short-circuited the launch of technology she invented as a biomedical engineering student at the University of Delaware. 

In true 21st century fashion, she found fresh inspiration on TikTok, where the trend gurus were freeze-drying just about everything they could.

“That got me down the rabbit hole. And being the engineer I am, I had to get a freeze-drying machine,” said the Wilmingtonian, whose farmers market lineup includes fruit, candy, and a few unexpected taste sensations. “I want to freeze dry cheddar cheese,” she said of her next big challenge.

Such outside-the-box approaches and big-dream ambitions are common at the farmers markets, which set up shop each spring in North Wilmington, Pike Creek, Glasgow and Middletown. The markets’ primary purpose isn’t only about serving customers — it’s also about creating opportunities for local startups to be born, said Carey Lockman Corbin, community services coordinator for New Castle County government.

“We really are looking to encourage people who are entrepreneurs to come out and see whether the farmers markets are right for them, whether they make cinnamon rolls, or scrunchies, or whatever,” she said. 

Those who take the plunge typically find a nurturing ecosystem of fellow vendors, who frequently lean on one another — and find inspiration from each other — as they work toward success together. “The entrepreneurial community in Delaware is really close, and they really support each other. It’s a cool community just to be part of,” Corbin said.

Vendors typically cover their bases by working several markets each week, and are routinely invited to county-sponsored events, helping them boost visibility outside the markets. And, as the season progresses, vendors say they also benefit from word-of-mouth endorsement on the community grapevine — historically a formidable promotional force in Delaware.

‘’There are definitely people who have gained a reputation through the market, and then went on to bigger things,” Corbin said. 

That’s just what Zeinab Savage hopes will happen with the endearingly offbeat Nigerian donuts called “puff-puffs” that she sells under the Puffs and Spice brand.

“I’m Nigerian by way of my dad, and Southern through my nana, who’s from Georgia,” Savage said. “I created Puffs and Spice as a way to honor both of those roots, blending the classic Nigerian puff-puff with a hint of Southern beignet tradition. Sharing that fusion at the farmers market means a lot to me.”

Big or small, being a vendor can bring a chance to chart a personal destiny, without a boss in sight. 

“I get to work when I want to work,” said Maria Smith, who found plenty of post-retirement satisfaction after starting to sell sweet treats at her Give Me Some Sugar stand. “I’ve been blessed with this business.”

To learn more about becoming a vendor at New Castle County farmers markets, email donna.francisco@newcastlede.gov, call (302) 395-5893, or visit www.newcastlede.gov/1196/Become-a-Market-Vendor.