One of the things I enjoy at farmers markets is the display of each stand. I love the colors of the ruby red radish mountains piled high next to beautifully bunched carrots. It’s fun to walk around to the different stands and see the fullness of variety and how everyone has their display baskets just overflowing with fruits and vegetables. If you’ve ever been to the tail end of a market, you know that even as the afternoon comes to a close, most farm stands still have much to offer us. So once the market closes and all the tents are down, what happens with that food? Do we bring it all back to the farm in hopes of selling it at the next market? Or do we cook up a gigantic dinner back at the barn and eat what we can, and then some more?
While it is nice to be able to bring food back to farm and continue to sell it, the truth is that this can only be down with very few things. The majority of the produce we sell at market is best eaten within the next few days. And while it is nice to have leftovers to share amongst our community here on the farm, sometimes we can make but a dent in the amount with our appetites alone. Most of the leftover produce then is donated. We work with a few organizations to provide them with a variety of produce as the market winds down, and they each distribute it in their own unique ways.
After Saturday market, we drive from downtown to the Eugene Mission in the Whitaker. The Mission has been in this location on 1st Ave since 1967, and provides shelter to 350-400 people per night. Their goal is to provide holistic wellness to the homeless women, men, and children who enter and are accepted with open arms. Part of this wellness is to address the immediate needs of these folks with shelter and food. Much of the food that we deliver is served that night or the next day to the current residents. When I’m there, albeit just briefly, the environment is very open and caring. The folks we speak to who work in the kitchen are kind and loving. Many of them have been homeless themselves and are in turn compassionately serving others in similar situations. The Mission’s goal is to provide long-term solutions and empower its residents.
We also attend Tuesday market, which is downtown just catty-corner from our Saturday location. On this day, we work with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. This is a group that includes many individual tribes that originally inhabited this land. The ancestors of the tribes spoke at least 11 different languages and had differing cultural practices from village to village. The organization now provides a number of services to this community of tribes. The food that is collected is distributed to low income tribal families within the county. They also supply their community with housing, education, childcare, employment assistance, vocational rehabilitation, elder services, and health care. They’re also very active in addressing recovery projects including environmental conservation and urban development.
On Thursdays, our third and final market of the week, we work with First Place Family Center, an organization here in Lane County that supports the needs of children and their families who are low income and either at risk of losing their housing or transitioning between housing due to job loss. The staff at the center support a holistic healing approach tailored to each family. This may include job searching assistance, GED classes, drug and alcohol treatment, locating affordable housing, money management, and other programs. They also have a Kids Early Childhood Program, located on Amazon Pkwy, that serves children experiencing homelessness in their early years. This is an environment provided for kids to have the freedom to play…a necessary ingredient in childhood development that can be missed when a child is afflicted by a trauma such as homelessness. This center also provides health services, a pre school, and links families to essential community resources.
While harvesting in the early morning in the field, I love thinking about all of the people who will be eating the food and reflecting on the powerful implications of community.