Wednesday, July 22nd
Holy basil! Mineral makeup made with fireweed and beets. Farm stand frequent shopper punch cards. Farmers market token coins that stand in for the cash you forgot at home. Food pantry pick-up volunteers ready to ensure today’s harvest gets to the hungry. Bike parking with discounts for riding to the market. And a Market Manager who doubles as moose defense!
Suffice is to say I was blown away by my visit to the Homer Farmers Market.
First of all, it is huge! There are lovely wooden stalls and tents that don’t have to be taken down between market days. The welcome sign is…very welcoming. The produce was bountiful and beautiful- despite the cold July and late spring and rainy Wednesday of my visit. AFMA board member Lauren Jerew is the Market Manager and her smiling face, along with her awesome market team members, welcomed me after my long drive from Anchorage. Did I mention the welcome tent….is VERY welcoming. There you can check-in about WIC and Senior incentives and double your SNAP dollars each visit.
As Lauren and I made the rounds chatting with farmers, artists, community members, and local kids, there was so much to notice. The hand-drawn sign that reads “welcome, welcome young and grand to the greatest market in all the land”, a friend wearing her “47% Alaska Women in Ag” t-shirt, kids-size Extratuf rainboots serving as flower vases, edible flowers for sale (I ate some), kids selling their art from their own permanent market stall (I bought some), kids playing in a grassy field beside garden beds built by the market, a list of market sponsors that includes everyone from the City of Homer- to a local photographer volunteering services- to AFMA and the long line of folks who came before me to build our organization to support markets like this.
And of course, the produce! Finally time for broccoli this chilly summer. And thank goodness for strawberries. Plus bundles of kale, beautiful radishes, so much basil, and more. And all this in the last hour of the market- some stalls happily already sold out. And for those who weren’t sold out, the Anchor Point Food Pantry pulled up to accept donations made possible by the last bits of our Local Food Purchasing Assistance funding that ended this year. Raising money for that work- Farm to Food Banks– is my number one priority this fall.
And finally, the people! So many of my new personal heroes since starting my job at AFMA last fall. Farmer Emily Garrity, owner of Twitter Creek Gardens, was present at the market while her produce was also being picked up by her CSA (community supported agriculture) subscription customers at the local brewery. Alaska Farm Bureau Policy Director Amy Seitz who I visited on her Soldotna farm on my drive down- a 3rd generation farmer, alongside her 83-year old mom, whose “This is Women’s Work” hat basically says it all. My welcoming host for the evening- Kyra Wagner, District Manager at Homer Soil & Water Conservation District, whose yard is a bountiful food forest. And Robbi Mixon, who leads the incredible Alaska Food Policy Council, with her colleague Sundance and their very fun office dogs- who spent Thursday with me dreaming about collective action and the future of our organizations before my drive back to Anchorage.
Thanks to everyone who shared a bit of Homer magic with me this July!