We're all fairly familiar with the environmental and economic benefits of farmers markets -- they prevent food from traveling long distances, they keep money in the regional economy, they encourage organic farming, they keep land in the hands of local farmers and out of the hands of sprawly developers, etc. etc.
But as I strolled around the Ballard farmers market today, I was most struck by the social benefits.
It's completely different from the typical retail experience in America. You're forced to think about what's in season, how to cook something tasty from the limited palette nature offers at a particular time. People mill about in the open air, in close proximity. Chatting and socializing occupy at least as much time as "shopping." Much of that socializing is with and among the people selling; the gulf between vendors and buyers shrinks. Sellers are personally connected to and invested in their products -- eager to explain the benefits, offer samples, and talk about the history of their wares.
A vendor selling meats came out from behind his booth and approached us to explain that the fat in grass-fed beef is omega-3, "which is good for developing brains!" he said, pointing to our kids. We asked him if it could prevent brain shrinkage in adults ... pointing to our kids. He laughed and said, "we can't promise miracles."
This all happened, mind you, after we'd already bought and paid for the beef.
He wasn't trying to sell us anything. He was proud of what he'd sold us.
Is anyone -- the workers in China who made it, the sullen teenage cashier who sold it, the corporate executives who profit from it -- proud of that cheap plastic geegaw you bought at Wal-Mart last week?
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Americans aren't materialists, not really. Yes, they "consume" lots of "products," but they do not appreciate material itself: the social and physical history of objects, the tactile, visceral reality of matter. To the American shopper, material is just a promise: of status, of convenience, of happiness. In itself it is a temporary totem, ephemeral and replaceable; indeed, the logic of the American economy depends on it being replaced, on it never being good enough.
No one is a "consumer" at a farmers market. Everyone, buyer and seller alike, is a human being. Every product is an expression of labor and love. Every transaction is a social bond formed.
Most Americans have simply never experienced anything like it. If more of them did, the environmentalist's job might be easier.
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mtuckr Posted 8:09 am
30 Apr 2006
I really like your notion that we are not materialists. That applies perfectly to the food sector.
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AE Posted 11:39 am
30 Apr 2006
Milwaukee now has lots of farmers' markets, including a large one in the inner city. Some of the farmers are Hmong immigrants and seem to be doing well. We could use more organic farmers, however, in spite of the fact that Wisconsin has the second highest number; perhaps they all go to Madison, which has a huge market, famous I believe.
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atreyger Posted 3:30 am
01 May 2006
Organic certification is a two-headed beast: really good on one side, since there is adherence to a standard, but high-cost for the producer and thus effectively shuts out low-volume growers. The same thing applies to wood certification. One way to really find out about a grower's practice is to ask them, and you will find out that many use minimal herbicides and pesticides.
There is a new label that is coming out, which might be as useful, and hopefully have certain standards to adhere to: 'Homegrown' or something like that. Have not heard much about it, but wouldliketo hear more.
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LibertyFarm Posted 4:15 am
01 May 2006
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John Fish Kurmann Posted 11:13 am
01 May 2006
I think it goes deeper, however. Many people don't value what's around them, the places they live, the stuff they buy, because they aren't truly valued in our society. This disposable culture treats people as disposable, too, to be put to work at a young age and kept there until they either die or become too old to be useful any longer. Employees are, indeed, "human resources," and they're treated very much like "natural resources." Not as bad, mind you, but not because the economic system is too kindly for that. No, the robber barons tried ruthless exploitation in the era of laissez faire capitalism and they found out there are limits to the abuse workers will put up with. Better to give 'em enough pay and benefits to keep 'em quiet than to have to put down workers' uprisings and anarchist insurrections every so often.
People who aren't valued can hardly be expected to value others, and certainly not things.
The world is sacred and I am sacred as part of it.
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mrosloff Posted 1:12 am
02 May 2006
In Boston we also have another huge produce market - not a true farmers market, since almost none of the stuff being sold is locally grown, but it's a venue for produce wholesalers who normally sell produce to restaurants and supermarkets to sell to the public on Fridays and Saturdays. Still a much more interactive buying experience than going to the supermarket, it reduces waste (anything that can't be sold to restaurants goes to the public) and it's a fraction of the price (last week I bought a pineapple for $1 and 3 red peppers for $1). And it's done with very little of the overhead of a supermarket either - it's outdoors under makeshift tents, without using massive quantities of wasted resources (electricity, water, etc...) that many supermarkets use.
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kmp Posted 1:41 am
02 May 2006
Perhpas it was because I lived in the North End for many years, and had to walk through this morass every weekend in order to gain access to Boston "proper;" perhaps it was because I had been to beautiful, pleasant, diverse and abundant farmer's markets in such unlikely locations as Reno, NV, San Antonio, TX and Ann Arbor, MI. Surely Boston could do better.
Perhaps Haymarket has cleaned up it's act in the years since I left the Hub.... but it seems so unlikely. My recommendation is to walk the little underground path to the North End and instead go shopping in the many little markets you'll find tucked into side streets, away from the bustle of Hanover St. Fresh meats, gorgeous vegetables, tomatoes to die for... coffee and herbs from Polcaris that I still buy every time I am town.. I haven't eaten so well (for so little money!) since.
Kaela
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dreamcatcher Posted 12:41 pm
02 May 2006
Most seeds/plants are being controlled by a few mega companies (e.g., Monsanto) and heritage seeds (which you can save & grow again) are being bought out -- much the way the early solar & wind companies were.
Free seeds handed out in third world countries were genetically modified to produce sterile offspring in essence so the already struggling fmrmers who saved the resulting seeds had a U.S.-funded & backed harvest of shame. The result was starvation & a high rate of suicide for the unfortunate recipients.
We are about to be bar coded in the name of protection -- do you care enough to read up on it?
dreamcatcher
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