Farmers Markets

 I enjoyed this article because of the small anecdotes and because I have experience with farmers markets through vending for a local CSA. 

This paper focused on two farmers markets in California, but I am curious about ethnographic statistics in other places. 

In my own ignorance, I did not know "gypped" was offensive language (I didn't even know that's how the word was spelled!).

I thought it was interesting that organic produce and farmers markets have gone from being considered "health food for hippies" to gourmet food for elites. At the CSA, I'd say the employees lean hippy, and the customers lean elite, but at the farmers markets, I don't see much elitism. However, many of the vendors at the farmers market are more fancy foods like macaroons or French gluten-free baked goods which seem elite, but there's also the kombucha guy and the microgreens vendors!

I laughed when the cliche, "know where your food comes from" was mentioned. My farm manager has a bumper sticker with "know your farmer" and there are similar signs all over the farm's marketing. I agree with this idea, but I've heard the cliche repeated a lot! The ethics of supporting holistic farming and local growers is a huge motivation for CSA and market customers, I've noticed.

There's always the issue that locally-grown organic produce is more expensive than grocery stores. But every time I'm at the store, I just scoff at the gross quality of produce compared to what I help grow!

I do love the community aspect of farmers markets. A Wednesday night market my farm did was more of a small fair than a farmers market. We were the only produce stand and the rest were hot food, craft stands, and local organizations. Watching the families with kids or groups of friends was fun, and the network of local farmers was also evident. My coworker frequently told me about his bartering for a quart of strawberries for a bunch of baklava or the free microgreens from the guy he knew a few stands over. I loved seeing the people who came every Saturday to the farmers market. There were a couple kids I got to watch grow up over the past couple of years and there were so many cute dogs I got to see every week! 

I've noticed a lot of people using food checks at the farmers market. Older people and those with heavy accents were common, and they carefully calculated which vegetables added up to $20 to make the most of their check. 

Sometimes people would come and ask for specific vegetables that I hadn't heard of or that we didn't grow. I wonder how much of that was for cultural dishes...

I really do enjoy working in the farmers markets. The customers are so encouraging fun and loyal. So many people are thrilled to support local growers and I'm happy to hear what people cook or plan to make with the produce! I honestly feel guilty because half the stuff I'm selling I haven't ever tried. People ask me what to do with tatsoi or acorn squash and I have to admit I didn't really eat it. I have lots of interesting observations and stories from the farmers markets I've worked at. I wonder how much the ones I've been to are similar to the ones in this article.