Hello all!
Firstly: Click HERE to learn more about a detention centre on the island of Nauru and how you can help reverse inhumane treatment happening currently.
Now, Farmer’s Markets.
My family and I went to a few farmer’s markets on my recent trip home to the States. I’m involved with my community’s monthly market back here in Australia, so when we stepped out of the car at a new community market location I couldn’t help but take lots of pictures and gently interrogate stallholders and market organizers about food licenses and methods of payment and whatnot.
Farmer’s markets naturally reflect the region’s local agriculture and industry, right. But while every market is unique, I also wanted to see if I could recognize any similar small enterprise behaviors that southeastern American people are doing that could help out a small local enterprise in a little permaculture village in southeast Queensland.
We ended up attending, like, three and a half different market areas: two in Virginia, one in South Carolina, and one in Delaware. In one case, visiting a market led us to a farm, and on a different occasion, visiting a farm led us to a farmer’s market. Also some flat-footin’ ensued and I ate a honey-n-lavender lollypop. READ ON.
Wytheville
The first market we attended was in Wytheville, Virginia: the place of my grandmother Bingmu (Beulah)’s childhood, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachian Range. We found the farmer’s market inside, in a large garage / warehouse- type structure with smooth cement floors that was not completely closed off to the outdoors. 
In Wytheville, there are two main places to get your food. The one grocery store is the Food Lion. I had a look inside it to look for some herring for my grandmother. A store 
manager I asked about chicken regretfully had never heard the phrase “free-range” before. He also didn’t know what herring was. So that sent me to the other choice for produce and meats, Super-Walmart. It is rather large.
Wal-Mart does offer a minute organic section of produce. But the choice in packaged snack and dry-food goods, in contrast, takes up half of this enormous space. For eating out, fast-food restaurants make up a majority (it seems) of Wytheville’s dining-out options.
I’m not hating on Wal-mart and Food Lion; the businesses employ a lot of good Wythevillians (“Wythevillians” would also make an AWESOME band name for any enterprising Wytheville musicians, just saying). But here’s why I find Wytheville Farmer’s Market to be a very special entity: Wytheville is surrounded by farm area, just like our market here in Crystal Waters. And it was only at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market that you could see the wealth of produce and meat animals being grown and raised in this region. If you looked at its mainstream choices, you’d think that 
Wal-mart and fast food restaurants are Wytheville’s main industries. If you go the farmer’s market, you realize there’s actually fresh meat available that was raised right here by farmers that treat and feed their animals well. There’s fresh vegetables from farms and home gardens. There’s local honey. There’s American-made clothing from home-spun yarn. In a small town where corporations have moved in and claimed responsibility for feeding and providing for locals, these local industries and products are something of better quality for people to consume, and creations for which Wytheville citizens can take pride. This is a revival of what my grandmother would be quick to tell you it used to be like in Wytheville, when people came, built houses, worked the land and grew food to survive.
So What I Learned at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market: 1. In Wytheville, the Market is essential as a provider of a variety of fresh and hormone-free chicken, pork, beef, and lamb. 2. A talk with the organiser showed me how she does a cash-for-chips system through her bank for people that did not bring cash with them to the Market. 3. I saw someone selling worm castings, which I haven’t yet seen at the Crystal Waters Market and think it would be a great idea of which dedicated composters and worm farmers could start taking advantage!
So, one of my family members got to talking with someone who worked on her family’s farm, and before I knew it we were piled back in the car and on our way to go visit the actual farm. The backseat was not informed of what was going on; I don’t actually know how it happened. Long story short, my 93-year old grandmother found herself on the passenger-side of a farm buggy at an organic family farm called My Shepherd’s Farm, being led on a tour by a sister who bore striking and surreal resemblance of the young lady that apparently told us about her farm in her first place.
We went to see the chickens, and then we went to go see the pigs – first the mommas with their offspring, and then the yearlings, the year-old males. It was a real treat to see a permaculture-style agricultural venture in Wytheville (on their website they say “Rather than following the trend of the modern monoculture farm, we are returning to the self sustaining, multifaceted, traditional family farm” (link). Sounds like permaculture to me). Bingmu ended up ordering a chicken from them the next week. I know there’s an amazing organic meat farm nearby to Crystal Waters, and it made me wonder why we don’t have stalls selling fresh pork and chicken at our market – I wonder if Council food license regulations get in the way of such endeavors in Queensland. I will call and ask them.
Floyd
We took a side excursion before we left Virginia to Floyd, another small town and hometown of the popular Floydfest Music festival.
Now, their Market wasn’t open, but we did pass their site, which doubled as a parking area when the Market wasn’t open. Multi-purpose; smart.
Floyd has a history in bluegrass and old time music, which my parents and I enjoyed partaking in mightily at the Floyd Country Store. There was a big jam circle happening with people dancing in the middle of the circle.
A gentleman and others were demonstrating some real Appalachian flat-footin’, which was incredible. Check out them moves:
Rehobeth
Next up.
My mom and I exit the South for a while to travel to Delaware on the middle-east coast to visit her parents, my grandparents, Ceil and Casimer. We had set out that day to visit a lavender farm, actually, and at the farm shop we happened to see a notice that the lavender farm would be having a stall at today’s Farmer’s Market. The sweet and calming scents of lavender had relaxed us and made us happy, and also hungry for lunch. So off we went.
This Market by the beach had it all. Duck eggs. Produce. Olive oil. Teas. Flowers. Seedlings. Lavender products, of course. Meals – my grandparents had fresh oysters, while my mom and I went for curry 
samosas and fresh guacamole. They also sold fresh meat. Again, I was in awe that meat and oysters were available for sale, as I just don’t know what would be involved for that to happen around where I live. But the fresh oysters were an indicator of our location, as Maryland and Delaware are well-known for their abundant and fresh seafood. Seeing as Crystal Waters is an hour and a half inland, oysters would not fly with me.
This time, I had the thrill of going from the place of production right to the market place – and it was a twenty minute drive. There’s so many people on the beach and on the coast, eating and consuming and eating and consuming. How many never think about where their food and products come from? Everywhere, I’ve learned, just a step out of sight, are the people growing the food we eat. Grounded people. Just a little further into the country than ordinary life takes most. Their lives are beautiful and tiring and hard, and it’s good to check in with them.
Mt. Pleasant
Finally, we retu
rned home and I met my mom for some lunch at the Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina farmer’s market – one of many markets in the various satellite towns around the historic city of Charleston. Mt. Pleasant, rapidly growing and just a little trendy, has got their own farmer’s market area now. While meals and snacks like popcorn, popsicles and fancy soda are seen on display, farmers of the rural island areas around Charleston made up at least half of the market as well.
I enjoyed some barbecued pulled-chicken, green beans and macaroni that definitely made me feel right at home. Regional styles of cooking make a big impact – there is the environment of a certain locale, there are the languages spoken – and then, there is the cooking that truly makes a place feel like its own. Mmm.
I learned also that I missed my market back in Oz on its grassy Village Green. The town of Mt. Pleasant has obviously designed for a community market and made this whole big space, with a nice big roof and a cemented sort of common space for people to mill about. But this was my fourth paved market now, and with my tolerance weaning down what I wanted was a beautiful day out with grass beneath my toes. Call me spoiled. But am I? Surely it’s a lot more work to pave the whole area? What made this Market nice was the lovely, graceful Oak trees remnant 
of the natural environment, standing tall despite their hardened external landscape. What made it hearty was produce from farms surrounding the Charleston metropolitan area where it is grassy and hot and gigantic bumblebees find refuge in the blooms of magnolias.
On the other hand, the Wytheville Farmer’s Market showed me that it is not the space that deems the quality. At Wytheville, there’s no popsicles, no lunches, no beach for tourists nearby. But what is offered is a reclaiming of industry and an opportunity for healthy food. That is the reasoning of the return of the Market Place; that is the need. 
Before I leave, let me rave about a couple of organizations. On my trip home I caught wind of a new farm in the North Charleston area of South Carolina that is offering fresh produce in an area where fresh food is scarce: The Fresh Future Farm. According to their website, not only are they growing chemical-free produce in an area described as a “food-desert”, they seek to create job opportunities within the community and ultimately become a “regional training center for other urban entrepreneurs, community gardeners and permaculture advocates.” Support!
I also am a big fan of Grow Food Carolina, a local food and farming hub in Charleston South Carolina started by the Coastal Conservation League that acts as a link between rural farmers of the Charleston area, commercial produce sellers and restaurants, and the public. What a great resource for a community. They also keep an educational veggie garden that has been used in the past to teach garden lessons to kids from elementary schools nearby – I know because I volunteered once with Crop Up helping out with the classes, and it was a blast. Learn more; support good things! Yeah!
Oh, and my home market for those of you back in South-East QLD: The Crystal Waters Market. We love it. Come join us sometime; every first Saturday of the month but January. Cheers and see you later!
permaverse 