Currently the Cottage Market works with a community of 22 local food producers and 45-50 market traders. The Local Green Box source directly from 8 growers and food producers, and their produce is also used exclusively to produce the menus in our Cottage Market mobile food trailer.

On an on-going basis we provide training and up-skilling opportunities to develop the community of producers and encourage new entrants. We support new and expanding businesses in developing and testing new products. The producers who are part of our community also form an informal peer network who can support and learn from each other.

We run a Spring , Summer, Autumn and Winter Market.   Each market is meticulously planned and is totally representative of the skills and talents in our community. We work with our food producers, crafters, artists, community groups and public services such as our ETB, Cavan County Council, Cavan Arts, to showcase what’s great about Cavan and offer the opportunity for the people of Cavan and visitors to socialize and experience the Cavan culture.

Online, zero waste market: This online, farmers style market operates weekly and offers a selection of food from 25+ small-scale food producers living in Cavan and our border counties. Products are updated weekly and customers have three days (Sun – Wed noon) to place their order. Producers can view their orders online and all orders are dropped into our packing room on Friday mornings. As we only operate a pre-order food system, our producers appreciate the zero waste aspect of our market. Food is freshly prepared and harvested on the morning of collection. We operate two collection points – Cavan Town and Ballyconnell. We strive to reduce our carbon footprint by working with producers from Cavan and our border counties. We work collectively to reduce and eliminate packaging whilst our online ordering system eliminates food loss and food waste.

Our kitchen only uses produce available from The Local Green Box Cavan. This means all our menus are created from what’s available in the Green box on that week. This means food is local, highly nutritious, fresh and seasonal. We operate from different locations across Cavan and use our online channels, in particular social media,  to share our locations.

DineYard is a new initiative by The Cottage Market Cavan to bring a unique dining experience to rural locations across Cavan. Each DineYard will feature the Cottage Market Mobile Food Trailer. Our DineYards also host other Cavan food vendors with delicious tasting, local food and drink offerings with special “add-on” performances and demonstrations on the day.

We offer a range of workshops, activities and supports to our producers and members of our community:

• A training and advisory support package for new and existing food producers
• Test & Learn Kitchen to support startup producers that wish to test phase their product while adhering to guidelines set out HACCP
• A grower’s group that supports small farms growing and producing food organically and regeneratively for The Local Green Box Cavan.
• Educational workshops delivered by skilled, local people e.g., 
  • Grow your own, foodscape designs, food web etc 
  • Introduction to Fermentation & Pickling – A Gut Health
  • Reuse & recycle, 
  • Drumming, 
  • Wood carving,
  • Forest fitness, etc.
  • Foodscape Design
• Foraging Walks & Talks on edible and medicinal plants native to West Cavan.
• Food Swap – Allows diversification of your homemade foods while getting to know like-minded people. A sustainable practice, allowing seasonal, local food to be shared and prevent food waste amongst like-minded people within our community.