Everything from kittens to knitting available at weekly Cornwall farmers market

By KAREN BARTOMIOLI

CORNWALL — Times are tough for small businesses. But Cornwall might have created the formula for a perfect retail outlet.

All that seems to be needed is a shady lawn and an ever-changing group of enterprising producers of all sorts of things.

That seems to be the draw to the popular Cornwall Farmers Market, held every Saturday in front of the Wish House in West Cornwall, within view of the Covered Bridge.

Of course there are farmers— professionals as well as green-thumb types with an abundance of produce from the backyard plot (yes, some have managed to produce despite the rain). There is fresh local meat and eggs and plentiful (and sought after) baked goods. Visitors also come for knife sharpening and a new line of knives on display each week by Nick the Knife Jacobs. His booth alone attracts a weekly crowd of locals and tourists.

And there’s no telling what else can be found there from week to week.

This past Saturday there was handmade clothing, baby chickens, and crafts by Mike Degreenia.

Degreenia stayed busy with a small tool called a Knitting Knobby, creating knitted yarn coils he turns into coasters for his Doctor Coaster business. People are finding other uses for the soft, colorful disks, including dollhouse rugs.

Then there’s his hat, which proclaims "$6."

That’s because Degreenia is also the $6 man. That’s six, not six million. But for six bucks, he’ll copy treasured video cassesttes onto DVD. He’s been doing that for about two months, and can handle any size camcorder tape.

"I can’t find work, so I had to do something," he said. "I’m hoping through word-of-mouth and my Web site that things will take off."

Degreenia can be contacted through switchingit.com.

There is also a social aspect to the market. It’s not just a chance to catch up with neighbors and friends, but to reach out to a caring community. Five-year-old Linda Petersen was deeply saddened to hear, in church, of the death of local teenager Kaelan Paton. With help from her mom and grandmother, Leslie and Chris Gyorsok, she launched a lemonade stand this week. She hopes to do it every Saturday during the summer.

"I feel bad for the family," she said.

Business was brisk, with the family busy making fresh batches of lemonade. Linda plans to give half of the proceeds to the Paton family for a memorial in Kaelan’s honor (see story, page A1). The other half will go into a fund for theater school. Linda is calm as she talks to a reporter and waits on customers, but she gets her brown curls to bouncing when she announces her other summer plans: Youtheatre at TriArts in Sharon.

As cute as Linda is, she was upstaged before the day was over by a bundle of kittens — 17 in all were available at a Scoville Road farm. (It appeared that one might be going home with her family.)

The market is held every Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.