The First Taste of the Season: June at the Market

Opening Day is the first real taste of summer in Kittery

There is a certain kind of magic that happens at a farmers' market in June.

It is not the heavy, overflowing abundance of August yet. It is not tomato season. It is not sweet corn season. It is not the moment when every table looks like a rainbow spilled across the pavement.

June is different.

June is the first deep breath of the season. It is tender greens, crisp radishes, bright herbs, rhubarb tucked into baskets, seedlings ready for backyard gardens, and that unmistakable feeling that local food is finally waking back up in full color.

At Kittery Community Market, Opening Day on Sunday, June 7, marks the start of our regular season, and it is one of the best Sundays of the year to come hungry, curious, and ready to reconnect with the people who grow, raise, bake, prepare, and make the good stuff close to home.

The market runs Sundays from 10 AM to 2 PM at Post Office Square in Kittery, in the parking lot area of Blue Mermaid and Tributary Brewing Co. This season, shoppers can look forward to 35+ local vendors each week, including returning favorites, exciting new vendors, live music, kids’ activities, fresh local food, baked goods, prepared foods, handmade items, and all the easy Sunday energy that makes the market feel like more than a shopping trip.

It is a place to grab your groceries, bump into neighbors, bring the kids, pick up something beautiful, listen to music, and make a whole little morning out of it.

What’s in season in Maine in June?

June in Maine is all about fresh, tender, early-season ingredients. These are the crops that do not need much fuss. They taste like spring turning into summer.

At the beginning of the month, shoppers may find:

Asparagus: One of the true early-season stars. Local asparagus has a short window, so when you see it, grab it. Roast it, grill it, shave it raw into salads, or toss it into a simple pasta with herbs and lemon.

Greens: June is a beautiful month for greens. Look for lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, bok choy, beet greens, turnip greens, and other tender cooking greens. This is the season for big salads, garlicky sautéed greens, breakfast scrambles, wraps, and anything that makes you feel like you are eating something fresh from the field.

Radishes: Crisp, peppery, colorful, and underrated. Slice them onto buttered bread with flaky salt, add them to tacos, chop them into salads, or roast them if you want a softer, sweeter flavor.

Scallions and spring onions: These are the quiet heroes of early summer cooking. Add them to eggs, grain bowls, dressings, potato salad, stir-fries, or anything coming off the grill.

Fresh herbs: Chives, parsley, and other early herbs bring big flavor to simple meals. A small bunch can wake up a whole week of cooking.

Rhubarb: Tart, bright, and perfect for pies, crisps, syrups, compotes, and cocktails. Rhubarb is one of those ingredients that reminds you local food has personality. It is bold, old-fashioned in the best way, and very ready to be paired with something sweet.

Salad turnips: If you have only had storage turnips, June salad turnips may surprise you. They are mild, juicy, and delicious raw with dip, sliced into salads, or lightly sautéed with butter and herbs.

Peas: Depending on the farm and the weather, peas may begin making their way into market season in June. Snow peas, shelling peas, and sugar snap peas are all worth watching for as the month unfolds.

What about strawberries?

We know. Everyone wants to know about strawberries.

Strawberries are one of the great Maine market moments, but they are also one of the crops most dependent on weather, variety, field conditions, and timing. In southern Maine, they often begin appearing later in June, but they are not something we would promise for Opening Day.

That is part of what makes them special.

When strawberries arrive, they arrive like a little local holiday. They are fragrant, delicate, deeply flavorful, and nothing like the berries that traveled across the country in a plastic clamshell. They are the kind of thing you buy with good intentions and then eat half of before you get home.

So yes, keep an eye out later in the month. Ask farmers what they are seeing in the fields. Follow the market updates. And when the berries show up, do not overthink it. Buy the berries.

Why June is such a good month to shop local

Shopping in season is not about being fancy. It is about eating food when it is at its best.

June produce has not been sitting around waiting for you. It is fresh, local, and connected to the actual rhythm of the place we live. When you shop at the market, you get to ask the person behind the table how they like to cook something, when the next crop is coming in, what is especially good that week, and what you should try before it disappears.

That kind of connection is hard to find in a grocery aisle.

It also matters. Every dollar spent at the market helps support local farms, food producers, artisans, and small businesses. It keeps more money circulating close to home. It helps make local agriculture more visible and more viable. It supports the people doing the hard, weather-dependent, early-morning work that makes a farmers market possible.

And because Kittery Community Market is a nonprofit market, your Sunday shopping trip is also part of something bigger. The market helps connect the community with fresh local food through programs like SNAP/EBT access, Maine Harvest Bucks, Kid’s Power of Produce, and the Customer Loyalty Program. These programs help make the market more welcoming, more accessible, and more useful for more families.

That is the heart of it.

Fresh food. Local ingredients. Real people. Stronger community.

A few easy ways to shop Opening Day

Opening Day is a great time to wander first, then shop with a plan. See what is fresh. Talk to vendors. Let the season tell you what dinner is going to be.

A few easy ideas:

• Pick up greens, radishes, scallions, and herbs for a bright early summer salad.

• Grab asparagus for the grill or a sheet-pan dinner.

• Bring home rhubarb for a crisp, jam, syrup, or baked treat.

• Choose seedlings to start or refresh your garden.

• Let the kids use their Kid’s Power of Produce vouchers on something they get to pick out themselves.

Treat yourself to baked goods, prepared foods, flowers, or something handmade.

Then stay a while. Listen to live music. Say hello to someone you have not seen since last season. Grab brunch nearby, stop for a brew, or build your Sunday around Post Office Square.

The best farmers' market trips are not rushed. They are wandered.

Join us for Opening Day

Kittery Community Market opens for the regular season on Sunday, June 7, from 10 AM to 2 PM at Post Office Square in Kittery.

Come for the first greens, the early-season produce, the local food, the handmade goods, the music, the kids’ activities, and the feeling of a community coming back together for another season.

June is just the beginning.

The tables will get fuller. The colors will get brighter. The berries will come. The tomatoes will have their moment. The pumpkins will have theirs too.

But Opening Day has its own kind of joy.

It is the first Sunday back.

And we cannot wait to spend it with you.