Food And The Local Economy

Let’s face it: food truly lies at the foundation of every culture, and of every economy. We all must eat. Most family celebrations and community gatherings happen around food. And food begins with farms.

Our farmers, with the knowledge that they apply, the experience that they bring to their land, and the labour with which they toil, are the basis of our local economy. Support them, and you support the health not only of your families (through the amazingly fresh and nutritious things that you can buy and put tantalizingly… even decadently on your kitchen table), but the health of our local economy as well. It is one of the key reasons to shop at farmers’ markets.

But there is more to the story. There is an untouchable richness of experience that you will harvest, spending time at your local farmers’ market with a local producer. Do not rush the process. Stop and hear the stories of the farmers and craftsmen, the food producers and artisans. Get to know them. They will give you amazing insights into life itself, and they will give you a sense of the history of the item that you are purchasing. Don’t hesitate to ask questions. You will be richly rewarded with advice, and a connection. Yup. I firmly believe that a farmers’ market is a place to set down roots.

Too often in our society, we are distanced from the things that we buy. We do not know where they come from, what experiences they had (both good and bad) to wind up in our bodies, in our homes, in our lives. Get to know your grower and producer, your artisan and craftsman, and you get to know a little more about this rich culture that we live in. Hear the stories and the advice and your life will be richer for the interaction. For the connection.

Here are two of our market's vendors from T.R. Greenhouses and Prairie Mill Bread Company.

Stuck for ideas? Here are some questions to ask of your farmers’ market vendor:

• Where did this come from?
• How did you come up with the design for this item?
• Where did you gather the materials to make this item?
• How have you found the growing season so far?
• What is really good at your stall today?
• What can I do with (insert the name of something that you are unfamiliar with… kale, kholorabi, a particular bedding plant, an intriguing spice mix)?
• How are your animals raised?
• What is it like to be a (insert occupation here… chicken farmer, meat producer, food truck vendor, jewelry designer, hot house grower)?
• What, in the world, is that!?
• What did this item do to wind up here, at your stall?
• What is your favourite way of preparing this vegetable? This cut of meat? This partially prepared food item?

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Piles & Piles & Piles of Peppers: The Urgüp Market

My love affair with Farmers’ Markets began 24 years ago when I was backpacking through Turkey with my husband. We came across a local market in what was then the small town of Urgüp, in the Cappadocia region. It lay in the heart of a dry & arid landscape full of whimsical hoodoos and the most amazing underground cities carved out of the volcanic pumice rock that covered the countryside.

Look closely at this photo and you'll see rooms carved out of the hillside
and cone shaped rock formations that were also people's homes.

It was getting to be late fall, the mornings were crisp and the fresh produce was coming in by the truckload. The Urgüp market wasn’t a fancy one with tents awnings, tables and beautiful crafts and jewelry, prepared foods and delicious treats like those you’d find at our market. It was a strictly utilitarian fruit & veggie market: flat bed trucks backed into the town square in a line, tailgates opened up and contents for sale; and tables were fashioned out of planks and wooden crates that were heaped with pears, apples, gigantic carrots, and small lemons with a central weigh scale placed behind. 

The Urgüp Market, look at the mountains of peppers
cascading off the yellow truck.

What astounded me… and this image has stayed with me ever since… were the farm trucks piled high with mountains of hot banana peppers! Never had I seen so many hot peppers in one place before! Their sheer numbers, and the towering height of their piles, astounded me! Their vivid colours… the bright yellows, set against the deep purples of their neighbouring eggplants were incredibly beautiful. Just look at that pile! Have you ever seen so many in your life!? 

Sure, a farmers’ market is hands down, the best place to stock up on fantastically fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables, but it is so much more… and this first exposure to a rustic market in a foreign land taught me that even at its most basic, a local farmers’ market was a work of art. A scene of incredible beauty. And I have found that wherever I encounter them, in my adventures abroad or in my own neighbourhood, fruit and vegie displays stir my heart, even to this day.

I can’t wait to experience the beauty that our vendors will produce this season at our Southwest Edmonton Farmers’ Market. Look for artfully displayed produce at the following 2013 season’s fruit & veggie vendors at The Southwest Edmonton Farmers’ Market:

• AIG Produce Osoyoos
• Dargatz Family Farm
• Holden Colony
• Red Apple
• Riverbend Gardens
• Steve and Dan’s
• TR Greenhouse
  
  
  

  Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
  Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca

  Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

  
  

An Introduction...

Hiking through McTaggart

My name is Sheri Hendsbee and I am the newest member of the Southwest Edmonton Farmers’ Market Board www.swefm.ca.

Even as the temperatures plummet and the snow flies, we are actively planning for the next Farmers’ Market outdoor season. And I am thrilled to be on “board.” Farmers’ Markets are something that I have always loved.

Raspberries, freshly picked, laid
out in a single layer on a baking tray,
placed in the freezer, and bagged
once frozen, keep their shape
all winter long, never turning
to mush or a solid mass.

There's nothing like enjoying
the sweet crunch
the very freshest beans!

I spent much of my childhood on a farm outside of Toronto helping to seed, weed, nurture, harvest, can, freeze and preserve the fruits and vegetables of our family’s garden. Living in a large city, a considerable part of me mourns the loss of that connection to the land. Though I try to replicate it to a certain extent by getting down and dirty in our backyard plot, hiking regularly through McTaggart Sanctuary and the Whitemud Creek Ravine and canning & freezing our backyard bounty… it is visiting Farmers’ Markets that bring it all back to me, and that take it to an entirely new, satisfying and enriching, invigorating and inspiring level.

• There is something incredibly meaningful and vitally important about knowing where your food comes from. 
• There is something highly valuable and intrinsically motivating about purchasing locally grown & produced foods and handicrafts and supporting the local economy in an essential way. 
• And there is something distinctly satisfying about forging connections with friends, neighbours, vendors and sponsors in a central meeting place, helping to keep a vibrant community spirit alive in our fragmented society.

I am new to blogging, and I am passionate about farmers’ markets, so come along for the ride. This blog won’t be just about our market, though that will be its focus during market season. I hope, instead, to inspire you to embrace market culture all year long. I hope that the stories and ideas I share with you here will encourage you to share your thoughts, feelings, passions and inspirations about farmers’ markets. And I hope that they will leave you feeling inspired by market culture, and encouraged enough to make it part of your life in a meaningful, regular way. 

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Establishing the Right "Mix"

One of the questions I am often asked by both customers and vendors alike is how we decide which vendors to accept as part of our market.

Our vendor decisions are made by considering a number of criteria, some of which are mandated, some of which are recommended and others that are part of our own vision for the SWEFM and our communities.

The 80/20 Rule


When we receive an vendor's application,  we first have to determine if they conform to our 80.20 rule.  As an Alberta Approved Farmers' Market, we have a regulation that stipulations that 80% of all our vendors (including concessions) must sell Alberta products which "they, an immediate family member, a direct staff member or a member of a producer-owned cooperative of their staff have made, baked, or grown." 

While we do have an allocation for up to 20% of our market to include resellers or out of province vendors, we do try as much as possible to favour Albertan businesses, particularly those from the Edmonton area.  We are proud of the fact that over 90% of our market is comprised of locally owned, Alberta businesses!  In fact, the only out of province retailers we allow are BC Fruit vendors and/or other products that are not readily available in our province.

Franchises, resellers and Direct Selling Companies


While many Farmers' Markets do allow for Resellers or other direct-sales style companies like Epicure, Stella and Dot and Tupperware, the SWEFM Board feels that the vision of our Farmers' Market is best served by focusing exclusively on local independantly-owned small businesses and farms.  While we absolutely recognize the value of franchise and resale based companies, we truly want to highlight the unique products that are being manufactured here in Alberta by Albertan entrepreneurs and feel that the best way to do that is by ensuring that they are able to be the primary focus of our operation. This is also the best way to support our local economic growth, which is one of our major objectives as an organization.  For this reason, you will find very limited franchises in our market, and only those that are locally based.

Market Mix
It is very important to us that we offer a variety of vendors to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our customers!  Here is the breakdown that is recommended by the Department of Agriculture. We try to stay as true to this as possible:

• 30% - Agricultural products
• 25% - Non-agricultural food products/value-added products
• 25% - Craft and artisan products & other non-food homemade and handcrafted products
• 20% - Other

Sometimes, to make sure that we have a nice, full market, we will deviate from this percentages.  However, we do always make it a point to ensure that we have an adequate amount of produce/fruit, and other food options available. 

Quality Over Quantity

As a new start-up, it was difficult to resist the urge to universally accept every application that came our way. Certainly, we wanted to make sure that we had sufficient vendors to ensure that we were busy and sustainable for our season. However, ensuring that we also had high quality vendors was the main priority.  We know that our patrons insist upon having only the highest quality, freshest, most unique products in the City and we were committed to delivering on this promise.  For that reason, we chose our vendors very carefully and only after having reviewed all their products. 

Building an attractive, full and diverse market is no small feat! After our first season, we are proud of the 70+ vendors who joined our project and hope to see them (and many others!) back again next year. 

As always, we welcome feedback from our patrons.  Is there anyone or anything you would love to see in our market?

A Moment of thanks!

Ever wonder why your community doesn’t have a Farmers’ Market of its own? Well, that was a question buzzing around the minds of some of the residents of Southwest Edmonton for a long time before a dedicated Board of volunteers set themselves to work at making it happen!

Surprisingly few people know that Alberta Approved Farmers’ Markets such as the Southwest Edmonton Farmers’ Market are volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organizations.  While they do receive some funding from the Government of Alberta and have access to the Department of Agriculture’s support and resources, the ‘heavy lifting’ comes directly from community members who are passionate about seeing a local, sustainable market in their area.

The SWEFM Board is responsible for the governance and operations of the Market including overseeing the Market Manager and the market rules/regulations, ensuring that the necessary funding is in place, approving and spear-heading all marketing and media initiatives, recruiting and maintaining an exceptional roster of vendors.  This is quite the load for a group of volunteers, and building the market is a project that took over 2 years to accomplish.  Now, as we wrap up our first season, we witness first hand the fruits of our labours and recognize that all this effort was totally worth it.

We did want to highlight the involvement and support that we received from a few specific businesses and organizations in our community, without whom this project could never have taken wing.

Our Sponsoring Body: The Terwillegar Riverbend Advisory Council

Our Market Host:  The Terwillegar Recreation Centre (City of Edmonton)

Our Market Host (May/June): Lillian Osborne High School 

Our Corporate Sponsors:

Servus (Terwillegar Crossing)

Petrolia Dental

SRS Industrial

Towne Square Orthodontics

The Running Room (Terwillegar)

Our Donors:

The Riverbend Community League

The Aspen Garden Community League

Landsdowne Community League

We would also like to extend a warm and heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers, in particular the students of Lillian Osborne and community members who join us every week to help set up and tear down the market and to assist us traffic control and customer service.  We could never do this without your help and engagement.