Southeast Area Farmers’ Market, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays through November at MLK Jr. Park, 900 Fuller Ave. SE 49506. 

First day of the 2018 market!                           Photo by Grace Michienzi

Last Saturday, the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market held its first 2018 market. We got off to a good start! (Despite the competing clean-up event.) The Grand Rapids Fire Department was on hand sharing resources from its Residential Safety Program (RSP). And, area residents enjoyed a nice selection of local produce.

If you stopped by the market, you may have noticed a new face at the main table. Grace Michienzi is spending her summer as an intern with Our Kitchen Table and MSU Extension. Originally from West Michigan, she went to Hudsonville High School. She says that she is excited to be working in a community that she considers her home.

Grace is a junior at Michigan State University studying Social Relations and Policy with a minor in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Throughout her life, she has had a passion for social justice issues, but it was not until she went to college that she learned that she also has a passion for food and food justice.

“It all started with a research paper that I wrote about urban farming and its
history,” Grace says. “I began to learn about food movements within cities to address the social and environmental inequities.”

She also loves to learn about organic gardening and farming, food policy issues such as the Farm Bill, and environmental issues regarding food production. You may have read Grace’s very informative post about the Farm Bill on our website.

“Mostly, I want to learn about the connections between people and their
food, and in what ways food movements can be as successful as possible at serving the
communities and neighborhoods they are meant to serve,” she says. “I have already learned so much in my weeks as an intern so far, and I am looking forward to learning more!

Besides her studies, Grace loves to hike, be outdoors, garden, cook, and travel. She has an adorable dog named Fish who she love to spend time with outside. She adds,”I love that I will get to spend a lot of time outside at the South East Farmers Market this summer!”