WIC’s Fresh Produce Program Cut 30 Percent – NYTimes.com

Education is part of almost every market’s mission. Explain to your vendors and shoppers that when food assistance programs include regionally sourced food and farmers, it benefits everyone. HOWEVER, do remember those of you that are 50(c)3 organizations, you must not use your organization’s resources to lobby for legislation.
From the IRS website:
… may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.

For those of you NOT 501(c) 3 organizations, a letter writing campaign might be in order!

WIC's Fresh Produce Program Cut 30 Percent – NYTimes.com.

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Vendor’s 360 degree view

Recently, I noticed that this vendor at the New Orleans Road Food Festival had thought through their entire setup-both from the front and from the back. It’s a great idea when vendors walk the space they use to see how people will view their setup from a less obvious vantage point.

Not only does this vendor have a 2-sided sign up, the entire group has t-shirts on that identify their site. AND, the whole thing looks pretty organized.
If a shopper happens to see mess, or can’t tell what what is being sold from whatever side they are on, they may just keep on walking…
and by the way, they had great gumbo. And had another great idea- they offered a 2-dollar “tasting size”!

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Technical Assistance Poll-Type

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Applied Research Center – ARC’s Spring 2012 Racial Justice Webinar Series

JUst attended the first of these which was very informational and useful for organizers. Some good tools to work towards racial justice. Recorded webinars are available on their excellent site.

Applied Research Center – ARC’s Spring 2012 Racial Justice Webinar Series.

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Study Links Honey Bee Deaths to Corn Insecticide

As evidence piles up on honeybee decline, I think it’s important for markets to share this with their shoppers and their farmers. In many cases, market managers are the only the link between emerging news, global research and their community.

Study Links Honey Bee Deaths to Corn Insecticide | Care2 Causes.

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Ohio Farmers Market Conference highlights benefits of ‘association’

Farmers Market Coalition Board President Bernie Prince visits Ohio to support their state association and to promote FMC’s work.

Ohio Farmers Market Conference highlights benefits of ‘association’ | Farm and Dairy – The Auction Guide and Rural Marketplace.

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A ‘Vertical Greenhouse’ Could Make a Swedish City Self-Sufficient

The new age of Plantascrapers has arrived.

A ‘Vertical Greenhouse’ Could Make a Swedish City Self-Sufficient – Environment – GOOD.

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2 market organizers, sharing.

One of my favorite sights is when two market managers have a minute. Jan, the longtime market organizer of the Covington Farmers Market and Richard, founder and director of the Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans catch up after many years of running neighboring markets. The Covington Farmers Market is across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, only about 50 miles north of the city but the two have not seen each other for a long time. Richard assisted Covington when they first opened (the year after CCFM opened) and the two markets amiably share a great many vendors and so also share information when needed. This type of warm, informal market relationship is found in almost region. I can think of many examples-Durham and Carrboro in North Carolina, Mount Pleasant and 14th and U markets in Washington DC, the Westside Community Market and Dane County Farmers Market and so on. Networking doesn’t always mean a formal association; it can simply mean professional sharing and interdependence.

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Leah Chase: Paintings by Gustave Blache III @ NOMA | New Orleans Museum of Art

Leave it to my city to hold an exhibit of paintings of one of our favorite chefs and restauranteurs, Leah Chase. Dooky Chase Restaurant was the headquarters of the civil rights movement in the 1960s in New Orleans, and was one of the few places where black and white people sat together. Add to that the importance of the location (it anchors the 6th ward and Treme), the multi-generational kitchen (grandson has now joined Miss Leah in the kitchen), the long memory of our food culture held there (I once waited for Miss Leah to make me a 5 gallon bucket of proper sweet tea for an event at the farmers market which she did by getting on a ladder and taking the largest spoon I ever saw to stir it up), and her warmth with everyone she comes in contact with and you end up with the long list of reasons to thank Miss Leah and the rest of the Chase family for their devotion to New Orleans.

Leah Chase: Paintings by Gustave Blache III @ NOMA | New Orleans Museum of Art.

 

Also give a listen to Leah Chase, jazz singer- no, not the matriarch, but her daughter who is one of the premier jazz vocalists in the area.
Leah Chase jazz album
 

 

 

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From Weed Chopper to Community Farmer – Listen.

My colleague and friend Demalda Newsome posted this piece that her husband and farmer partner Rufus recorded. I think it’s a piece that food organizers should carry far and wide and deep into their communities to remember the work left to be done and yes, also what has already been done by our fellow organizers. In 1995 they started a community farm in north Tulsa, Newsome Community Farms, and have helped more than a dozen families, churches and schools build backyard gardens.

From Weed Chopper to Community Farmer by thislandpress on SoundCloud – Create, record and share your sounds for free.

Rufus and Demalda Newsome of Newsome Family Farms in Tulsa OK.

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Multiplication Philanthropy – Dan Pallotta – Harvard Business Review

This is a great column on extending the thinking on philanthropy past a program grant or even just capacity building! Many of the foundations that work with public markets already do that, if you’re savvy enough to have the conversation with them. And it is also true that most of the markets I know miss the opportunity to leverage more money when they do get a grant by asking your grant officer if they have any ideas about other funders they might know who might also want to support the project.

Multiplication Philanthropy – Dan Pallotta – Harvard Business Review.

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