Local farmers and artisans welcomed the winter season Saturday at the Metro Center in Downtown Binghamton with the Otsiningo Winter Farmers Market.

The market is an indoor version of the weekly one that occurs in Otsiningo Park Downtown during the warmer months. The winter market will take place from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of each month through April.

Shoppers at the indoor farmers market can enjoy locally grown produce year-round through a program called Extended Harvest that offers a winter produce subscription. The winter subscription periodically rations shoppers a portion of produce that was frozen during the peak of its freshness.

In addition to locally grown fruits and vegetables, vendors offer an assortment of organic meats, all-natural honeys, maple syrups, jams, baked goods and natural products.

Among the local vendors was Binghamton University student Natalie Hughes, a senior double-majoring in environmental science and geology. Hughes works with Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments (VINES), a nonprofit community gardening group. Hughes, who was selling produce Saturday from the VINES urban farm on Tudor Street, is a veteran of both indoor and outdoor Otsiningo Farmers Markets.

“It’s mostly all the same vendors,” Hughes said. “Some of the farmers stop selling for the winter.”

Hughes said the outdoor and indoor markets differ based on what vendors can produce in season.

“The winter market spread is more bread, meats, jams and jellies,” she said. “There are definitely more vegetables at the Otsiningo Outdoor Market.”

Keeping true to the “winter market spread” was Ann Marie Stone, a baker from Maine, N.Y. Stone and her husband sell baked goods at the market for their company, Gimme Cookie.

Stone began selling her all-natural breads and cookies at the Otsiningo market four years ago. She said she believes in supporting local farmers and providing shoppers with high-quality goods.

“I like people to read the labels,” Stone said. “The stuff is natural, no preservatives. I use all the best ingredients to make quality products.”

Abby Stevens, a Binghamton native and local enthusiast, runs an herbal spa treatment company called Ravenwood Gardens from her home.

“I grow locally myself,” Stevens said. “I try to be as local as possible.”

Stevens began selling her homemade herbal remedies, spa treatments, soaking salts and cough drops at the Otsiningo Farmers Market five years ago and hopes to open her own spa treatment practice one day.

Stevens said it is important to buy local and support regional farmers and producers.

“Keep an open mind,” Stevens said. “With everything that’s going on these days, you kind of have to be self-sufficient.”