I’ve been looking forward to this all season! A day shadowing AFMA board member Brandi Jo Nyberg- from harvest at her Sauntering Roots Farm field, to market set-up at her Matanuska Community Farmers Market, to preparing produce donations at the end of the long market day, it was everything I had hoped it would be and more.
One of the first things that struck me about Brandi Jo last summer, when she interviewed me for my role at AFMA, was her comment that she became a farmer as the clearest way to support her climate footprint reduction- that growing food for her local community, particularly in Alaska where our imported food miles are so loooong, was her form of environmental action. I liked that idea. And I like the way local food tastes better. And I like that farmers market feeling as the community comes together to be nourished. I also like thinking about how many of Alaska’s hardy farmers are women (48%) and Brandi Jo’s quote in her Edible Alaska essay this summer “I believe women’s connection to mothering shapes how we farm.” Brandi Jo’s kids are young, boys ages 2 and 6, so you can imagine that farming, while mothering, while standing up a new farmers market and ensuring it offers every possible support to food insecure folks in Palmer, is no small feat. And in her “free time,” she’s the AFMA board Vice President- advocating in Juneau, presenting at farming conferences, and writing grants to keep it all spinning.
Our day started at 9am in the field (she gave me a little grace since I needed to drive from Anchorage to Palmer first). We began by harvesting spinach, and just those first moments of my hands in soil felt so good. Next we washed and bagged the spinach for market, and I got to behold the washing machine turned giant salad spinner. Then onto the microgreens- so sweet and fun to weigh in their little bags. Finally, rhubarb- so bright and already bountiful even with Spring so late this year. The radishes, turnips, and baby bok choy had been harvested the day before. A quick break for farm salad lunch, and then we packed up the farm trailer for market. This is Brandi Jo’s 6th season on her Sauntering Roots Farm- the first few out of Alaska and the last handful here. She’s one of the many new & beginning farmland-seekers in Alaska hoping to eventually have enough land to avoid farming across multiple leased fields as she does now- crossing back and forth over the Matsnuska River, often with kids in tow, to turn on and off irrigation systems and ensure nothing has gone to seed before harvest, while so many of us Alaskan parents are out hiking, biking, and enjoying summer in a different way than farm families have time to do.
Arrival time at the market was 2pm for the 4-7pm market. As Market Manager, Brandi Jo is in charge of it all. This was week two of a mutual aid program, supported by the MatSu Health Foundation, to provide market discounts to anyone who needs them, so there were coupons to print and arrange. Matanuska Community Farmers Market, now in its 4th season, is one the participating SNAP authorized markets in Alaska- doubling market dollars for SNAP customers (up to $40 per week all season), so there were wooden tokens to count and prepare. The market also participates in AFMA’s Farm to Food Banks program (federally funded and in its final season given USDA cuts last year), so produce and protein remaining at the end of market day can be purchased at retail price for donation to the local food bank. It’s Brandi Jo’s role to gather, store, and deliver it. This summer, the market has two paid(!) youth interns, and once they arrived, we started placing market signs around the church parking lot, helping vendors set up tents, and getting the kids’ table, with seasonal food bingo, ready to go. It was a beautiful day- low 70s and sunny with less wind than the market sometimes faces.
The market bell rang at 4pm, and already 63 people were there. I held the number clicker (lots of fun!) and watched as more and more people came. By 4:10pm, we were at 195, and by 4:21pm 260 people. All told, more than 500 people came through on Wednesday. With picnic tables in the middle and samples of everything from jam to coffee to kimchi, the market was bustling. I loved seeing a young kid buy a tomato and eat it like an apple (his toddler sister had done the same with a ‘snow apple’ which is what the Sun Circle Farm folks called their turnips). Lots of people were enjoying the Farm Fresh Spring Rolls from Singing Nettle Farm and the lovely Sprucetip Rosehip tea they served along with it (their farmer thanked those who advocated to change the Cottage Food laws to allow food sales). People seemed to shop, eat, and then shop again, and having the spring rolls and focaccia from the Bradley Lake Bakery made that possible (and delicious!). I chatted with Chugach Farms and the WWOOF intern spending the summer there- seems like the price of everything has made margins very tight this year (their farmer shared she makes the same amount of money farming now as she did 15 years ago, and we all know life certainly costs more now). Amy O’Neill Houck from Edible Alaska magazine (visiting from Cordova) made the market rounds with me and loved it. From parents with babies on their backs, to elders dropped off at the welcome tent with walkers, and everyone in between, the market felt alive with the energy of people grateful to be there.
At 7pm, with market day over, Brandi Jo snapped on her fanny pack, grabbed her receipt book, and began making the rounds. We collected SNAP tokens, mutual aid coupons, and asked who wanted to sell their remaining fresh food for donation. $25 for each booth was paid to the market, and Brandi Jo asked how the day had gone. Surprisingly, with all those people and perfect weather, there was more produce left over than last week (in worse weather). Was there maybe another competing event in town? Or perhaps the day was too pretty (people out boating or fishing as solstice approaches)? Hard to say and certainly part of the art of harvesting for a farmers market.
Speaking of art, the booths the farmers put together- with piles of rashes and baskets of greens- were stunning. I smiled as Brandi Jo’s toddler wandered from her beautiful radish display to the welcome table, where Edible Alaska magazine was open to his mom’s article “It’s the International Year of the Woman Farmer,” and pointed to ‘my Mommy,’ and back again to his big brother spending saved birthday money on fresh flowers, and I felt nourished- truly nourished- by all that Brandi Jo has brought to life.
At 8pm, with the last signs back in the market trailer and tents stored away for next Wednesday, I said goodbye and made my drive home to Anchorage. Brandi Jo’s day had started 11hrs before. She would get home to children already asleep and wake the next day for a morning of produce donations, bookkeeping, weeding, and preparation for next week’s market. I came home with my market bag full, and our dinner of microgreens, radishes, and spinach on pasta the next night tasted full of all that farm and market goodness.
Thank you Brandi Jo!
