This time of the year, when the last tomato has been picked, the greens are frozen in the field and the Lawrence Farmers Market has shut down for the year, Debbie Yarnell still has plenty of product to sell.

Yarnell owns Homespun Hill Farm near Baldwin, which specializes in grass-fed beef, lamb and other meats. Sixty percent of her sales are down at the Farmers Market, even though her product is available through the entire year.

“At the market, we have a lot of regular customers saying, ‘How can I get your beef this winter?'” Yarnell says. “We want to make it more convenient.”

That’s the idea behind a new weekly meat market that will kick off tonight in the parking lot of Local Burger, 714 Vt. Six local meat producers will sell their cuts from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through the winter, hoping to bridge the gap until the Farmers Market starts up again in April.

“People forget about you,” says Amy Saunders, owner of Amy’s Meats, who came up with the idea for the winter meat market. “No matter how convenient you make it, or if you tell them you’ll do deliveries. Food is one of those things that unless you’re in front of people – like in a grocery store – they forget. It’s hard to stay in people’s minds.”

There are nine meat producers who regularly have a booth at the Farmers Market, which had its last day of this year Nov. 11.

The six producers who will sell over the winter are regular suppliers to Local Burger, which features locally grown and organic products. Among the offerings will be grass-fed beef, pasture-raised chickens, lamb, bison and elk.

Hilary Brown, the restaurant’s owner, says she’s been trying to find a way to sell local meat since she opened her restaurant more than a year ago.

“Nobody wants to drive out to Baldwin to pick up meat,” Brown says. “We wanted to make it easier, to make it convenient for them.”

Yarnell says customers this time of the year tend to stock up for the winter, opting for roast, brisket and ground beef over steaks, which are more popular in the summer. She also sells quite a few gift bundles for the holidays.

Saunders says her farm also sees those trends in the winter. But with nearly 90 percent of her sales coming at Farmers Market, she says the local meat producers need another option.

“Trying to make a name for yourself is a little hard,” she says. “Farmers Market is quite the staple. The produce ends with the cold, but the meat doesn’t.”

If the producers can find a way to make their business year-round, Saunders says, it will make the industry more viable.

“It’s a long winter,” she says. “The nest egg kind of depletes.”