Category Archives: general

6-10 of the Top 10 ingredients

April 29, 2013 – 7:30 am

6. To have community-produced energy:
More solar panels on our rooftops. Everyone should be able to invest in solar panels for their homes, apartments and office buildings. The ability to invest our money into solar energy projects is paramount, and our friends at Mosaic are experts in doing both of those things.

Billy Parish, Mosaic: Mainstage speaker

7. To live and work in harmony with the natural world:
There are countless innovations that are inspired by nature. Economic systems can be designed like living systems in which there is no waste, but rather every output becomes a nutrient to another subsystem. Janine Benyus is the expert!
Janine Benyus, The Biomimicry Institute: Vision speaker

8.To adopt a “Buy Local First” purchasing initiatives:
Communities can thrive by thinking “Local First” in every aspect of their purchasing. Alignment of their economic development policies and buying from local sources keeps money in the community. We know there may not be a local option for everything (all you caffeine junkies know what I’m talking about), but if we make it easy for hospitals, universities and other local institutions to connect with local producers and providers, there will be greater impact. These people are all doing it!
Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance: Towards a Localist Policy Agenda
Matt Raker, AdvantageWest: Economic Development and Community Capital
Carlos Velasco, Fuerza Local: Local First 2.0

9.To tap into community capital:
We need to unleash local money! We need local banks, investors, and community foundations to drive investment into our local businesses. Many of the most pioneering businesses and farms that are critical to a thriving local economy have the most difficult time gaining access to traditional sources of capital, so we need innovative and relationship-driven solutions for funding. Hear from the people on the ground.
Don Schaffer, RSF Social Finance: Integrated Capital and Connections
Michael Shuman, Cutting Edge Capital: Rethinking Investment
Dawn McGee, Goodworks Ventures: Rethinking Investment
Paul Hogan, John R. Oishei Foundation: Community Foundations and Grassroots Funders

10.To connect leaders and spread solutions:
There will be hundreds of local business networks, incubators, hubs, and people to learn from in your community, so connecting people in meaningful ways to share ideas and spread innovation is key to our learning and momentum. Let’s talk openly about what worked and what didn’t. Create gathering spaces that bring people together and foster collective work at all levels. We are better together! These two dynamic women are making it happen.
Deborah Frieze, The Berkana Institute: Cultivating Leadership for Localism
Angie Hawk Maiden, ACENet: Economic Development and Community Capital

(1-5 are found here in this earlier post)
Learn more at BALLE’s 2013 conference, held in Buffalo NY this year:
http://bealocalist.org/2013-balle-conferenceBALLE 2013

By Darlene Wolnik | Comments (0)

FMC Discover You Can program participants for 2013

April 29, 2013 – 7:30 am

• Bellingham Farmers Market, Bellingham WA

• Bushwick Farmers Market, Brooklyn NY

• City Market, Kansas City MO

• CitySeed, New Haven CTCommunity Farmers Market, Bowling Green KY

• Countryside Conservancy, Peninsula OH

• Downtown Evanston Farmers Market, Evanston IL

• Downtown Farmer Market, Salt Lake City UT

• Durham Farmers Market, Durham NC

• Farmers Market Association of Toledo, Toledo OH

• Foodchester, Inc. Pleasantville NY

• Greater Springfield Farmers Market, Springfield MO

• Green City Market, Chicago IL

• Hub City Farmers Market, Spartanburg SC

• Lancaster Market, Lancaster NY

• Las Vegas Farmers Market, Las Vegas NV

• Mainstreet Farmers Market, Statesboro GA

• Minnetrista Farmers Market, Muncie IN

• Moscow Farmers Market, Moscow ID

• Neighborhood Farmers Market, Seattle WA

• New Orleans Food & Farm Network, New Orleans LA

• North Central Texas Farmers Market/Cowtown Farmers Market, Fort Worth TX • Omaha Farmers Market, Omaha NE

• Oregon City Farmers Market, Oregon City OR

• Rochester Downtown Farmers Market, Rochester MN

• SD Weekly Markets, San Diego CA

• Seacoast Eat Local, Exeter & Dover NH

• Smart Markets, Fairfax VA

• Teller County Farmers Market, Woodland Park CO

• Ypsilanti Farmers Market, Ypsilanti MI

©2013 Hearthmark, LLC dba Jarden Home Brands. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Hearthmark, LLC dba Jarden Home Brands, Daleville, IN 47334. Hearthmark, LLC is a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH).

 

 

More about this popular program

By Darlene Wolnik | Also posted in farmers markets, farmers/farming information, FMC | Tagged | Comments (0)

Impact on neighborhoods must always be considered

April 16, 2013 – 6:25 pm

One of the reasons that I stress markets over festivals as a tool for building community cohesion (and yes, there are excellent exceptions to that rule) is the negative impact that poorly designed open air festivals often have on their neighborhoods. Since the organizers do not have to be back there for some time after their staged event, it allows them to bypass getting input beforehand or feedback afterward from the surrounding area.
In contrast, when markets run weekly or even more often than that, they must rely on the goodwill of the neighbors to make it work and must fit into the fabric of daily life.

The festival that brought this post on says they are about the greening of my home city, yet they have an event that lasts for more than 10 hours that creates tons of trash, noise pollution and drives the nearby lower income neighbors away from quietly enjoying their tiny slice of bayou on their weekend. Furthermore, the scale of it is immense and the neighborhood itself gets little to no benefit from this event. To be clear: this is NOT a festival ground, but a small green space that is the bank and grassy area of the bayou that runs through the city of New Orleans. There are no parking lots nearby. These three blocks are in a quiet area with four parks less than three miles away, including one of the largest parks in the U.S. that is desperate for events like this to get funds to be viable. Instead, these organizers come to an open space that is managed by the levee district, probably knowing that the agency has no infrastructure to oversee this or to know how to charge them for the repairs needed for the space.

One respected organizer of markets once told me that they preferred markets over festivals because they believed in the transformative power of connecting people through everyday life, through simple public interactions with time and space to talk over asking them to spend a suspended 12 hours recreating (buying?) culture in an inauthentic setting.
Well, I do like festivals – I just attended the French Quarter Festival which has grown from 2 tents in Jackson Square in the first year to a very well attended event in a neighborhood that has the infrastructure to manage it AND still has the smarts to put most of the noisiest stages away from the residential areas. With older family members in the Quarter, I can tell you that the FQF noise does not hamper their weekend enjoyment, which is not true for those directly impacted by this event. I also attend the JazzFest, which started as a block party and then quickly moved to the Fairgrounds when it outgrew its blocks. I don’t attend the JazzFest as often I used to, as the entry fees are prohibitive now for locals, but I do tip my hat to the amount of money and support over the last 40 years that they have given to their constituency – musicians mostly – and for the fact that they manage an extremely professional event that does not severely impact the neighbors, as the fairgrounds have buffer areas for noise control and they have staff that patrol for trash and they manage traffic and parking very well (from someone who lived NEXT to the JF for a few years!)
I simply wish these newer festivals would spend some time realizing proper scale, for how to use proper outdoor events to promote neighborhoods and about the give and take that open air farmers markets and well-run festivals build with their neighbors and attendees.
Festival Info | New Orleans Earth Day Festival & Green Business Expo.

By Darlene Wolnik | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

The passing of a volunteer and friend

February 21, 2013 – 3:25 pm

Just got word that a longtime volunteer of the Crescent City Farmers Market and a personal friend passed away this week. Judy Serice was there near the beginning with the small group that founder Richard McCarthy gathered around him to help him build this dream. Judy was a true fan of the market and for the rest of her life, she always championed it in every way possible. A champion cook herself- she won a category of the Pillsbury Bake-Off with (I believe) her chicken and dumplings recipe. I’m actually angry with myself that I remember neither the details of the year (1970?) or the dish exactly, because I used to send Judy into peals of laughter when I introduced her and knew all of the details.  (She also later won our Orange Julius contest partly because of her making the recipe at market in her “vintage” green mixing blender.)

Judy was a teacher by trade, a chef by talent and a mother by choice. She had a thoroughly modern view of the world, but honored the New Orleans traditions she was raised with and shared with her 3 children (John, Mark and Ashley), one of whom became a professional chef. Her advice to me while I ran the markets was invaluable, especially when it came to matters of literally, taste. Judy was always spot on  with her assessment of vendors products and I actually created a “Mystery Chef” program partly because of her, which asked for anonymous evaluations of products to then share with the vendors to help them continue to refine their table.

Even after she stopped volunteering, Judy and I (and her market buddy, the ever acerbic and delightful Pat) would have lunch and chat and spend a fascinating few hours. To listen and laugh with Judy and Pat were among the best moments of my market management and my larger life in those years.

I’ll miss my buddy and always remember how a volunteer taught me so much.

 

 

By Darlene Wolnik | Comments (0)

“I am a river to my people”

February 18, 2013 – 7:30 am

Be forewarned- here is another of my odd posts..

This quote from Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite from the movie and one that immediately stuck with me after hearing it years ago.
Later on in life, I realized that it was because Bedouin shaikh Auda abu Tayi was portrayed as a wily, committed freedom fighter but more than that, as a community organizer. This speech speaks to his leadership style (well, in a violent way) and how outsiders cannot or should not judge it with their own yardstick:

Being a river to his people translated (to me) as being the conduit for resources and knowledge while being responsible for maintaining their cultural identity. I think markets are rivers in their community and, as such, need to manage the appropriate direction of the market without impeding the cultural flow.

By Darlene Wolnik | Comments (0)

The Lessons We Can Learn from France’s Fertile Soil

January 17, 2013 – 7:30 am

“Understanding this process is awakening to the simple reality that nothing in this world is ever really new. Only recycled. Soil organisms are the engine of an endless reincarnation process through which land fertility is maintained.”

Wonderful piece on soil; please feel free to share widely with your communities. Again, I take this back to markets: if we as market organizers and producers can reawaken our regional bioregional and watershed communities to regrow our soil and clean our water, then I think we will have served our purpose for the Earth. How can we ensure that our work continues to transfer the knowledge needed? Good soil/bad soil comparison demos? More farm visits for our customers? Soil testing at markets?

The Lessons We Can Learn from France’s Fertile Soil – Environment – Utne Reader.

By Darlene Wolnik | Tagged | Comments (0)

Lompoc growers sue farmers market

January 7, 2013 – 7:30 am

Wow, two stories posted today about vendors publicly disagreeing with markets. Not my favorite subject but certainly a necessary one to acknowledge.
I wonder if anything could have been done (in either case) to reduce the scope of these problems by assessing the problem ahead of time or maybe by asking for outside facilitation. I often hear stories from markets about disagreements they have with vendors. The best markets respond quickly and fairly to those issues and whenever possible, create more avenues of transparent governance to ensure that increasingly complex market projects do not leave loyal vendors behind.
So, as we expand the reach of markets, I think we need to make doubly sure that our main partners-the farmers-understand how decisions are made and are included when possible. Of course, it is possible that in both cases that there was nothing that could be done to avoid this conflict. In any case, let’s hope that the markets and the farmers rebound quickly from this.
Market suit story

By Darlene Wolnik | Also posted in articles, farmers markets, market vendors, SNAP | Comments (0)

Nine Meals Away from Anarchy

January 3, 2013 – 7:30 am

My brilliant colleague Wayne Roberts adds some thought-provoking ideas to the New Year. Now I understand how the four systems of food: production, logistics, nature and cities could be the cause (any or all of them) of a serious crisis and a real panic. So once again, how can markets and direct marketing farmers work to ensure a safe (uninterrupted) food supply?

Nine Meals Away from Anarchy – Environment – Utne Reader.

By Darlene Wolnik | Also posted in Canada, disaster planning, environmental issues | Tagged | Comments (0)

Complaints feed Santa Rosa farmers market feud

October 11, 2012 – 7:30 am

Certification is a great idea. Associations are a great idea. Feuds are not a great idea.

Complaints feed Santa Rosa farmers market feud.

By Darlene Wolnik | Comments (0)
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