FARMERS MARKET WITHOUT THE FARMER

Posted by Justin Dervaes • August 18, 2010 • Printer-friendly

Not everyone has the space, time or oppurtnity to "grow their own" and folks are flocking to farmers markets. As the the local food movement gains momentum as people start "knowing their food", but do we really "know the farmer?"

Don't Be Fooled By a Farmers' Market Without Any Farmers

As the food movement continues to gain momentum, demand for local, seasonal fare increases exponentially. But just as all this sustainable food crops up, another entity rears its ugly head: We're seeing more and more attempts by unscrupulous companies to cash in on the movement's popularity by "greenwashing" (or "foodwashing" perhaps) their unsustainable products. Sometimes this insidious technique succeeds in conning well-meaning consumers out of their hard-earned cash. Other times, it's just laughably transparent.

In an example of the latter kind, a Safeway in Kirkland, Washington recently set up tents in its parking lot and hung a huge, yellow banner advertising a new "Farmers' Market". Martha Tyler, manager of the local Redmond Farmers' Market, noticed the setup and stopped by, excited to see which farms the business was promoting. Unfortunately, actual farmers were conspicuously absent. Safeway had just moved their regular produce outside to be sold "farmers'-market style."

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Last Fall, I had the chance to visit northern Italy with my family. One of the outings we took one morning was to the local farmers market on the edge of town. Here we were in October at the base of the Alps and the venders were hawking bananas, mangos and avocados! What, how can this be? Something is wrong with this picture! Where was the local foods? Were we considerably shocked and disspointed as we walked down the spendidly colorful rows of tables to only find tables full of foods from Chile and California.

Some tips to help you navigate the world of Farmer's Markets

Warnings signs that the food is not locally grown

beware of stickers
produce out of season: ie corn in december
too much surplus
constant supply - all food all the time
when you ask questions the folks behind the table about the location of farm, they look at you like "farm what farm?"
if you ask to visit their farm and they beat around bush

Justin Dervaes aka “Farmer Justin" is an extremely talented jack-of-all-trades. Ask him exactly what his role is and be prepared to get quite an earful. Pry a little deeper and find a seed junkie in denial. Justin is addicted to plants — often planting seeds and growing them until there just isn’t a single inch of space to put them. If you can’t find your way to our front door, blame it on Justin’s plants. It truly is a jungle out there. That edible jungle, however, provides the family with more than enough to feed our family and sell as surplus. From sun up to sun down, he toils and is not afraid to get his hands dirty – really dirty!