Tag Archive | southeast area farmers market

Weekly events planned for Southeast Area Farmers’ Market

The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market will offer more than fresh produce this year. Our Kitchen Table (OKT), the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council (GGRFSC) and the Kent County Health Department (KCHD) will take turns hosting fun, educational events throughout the market season.

OKT will host do-it-yourself workshops on making wine, making soap, urban food foraging and brewing beer from homegrown hops.
The KCHD plans on bringing in staff members to share about the animal shelter, various preventive health issues and healthy eating.
The GGRFSC will host children’s arts and crafts activities, provide information on the dangers of genetically modified foods and hold question and answer sessions on the 2012 Farm Bill, which determines the budget for SNAP (food stamps) and local farm initiatives.

In addition, OKT is inviting local chefs to do hands-on, healthy food cooking demos—and working on some surprise celebrity appearances. Plus, market manager Yvonne Woodard will ensure that music and dancercise continues as a weekly activity.

As the market season progresses, OKT hopes to line-up even more fun and informative activities for market days. After all, the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market is more than a place to stop for produce, it’s a place where neighbors come together, make friends and build community.

Oasis in the Food Desert

Apr30

While farmers’ markets are a popular trend across the nation, studies show that most of them serve our affluent citizens. Yes, eating local healthy fruits and vegetables is all the rage. Sad to say, studies show that urban neighborhoods classified as food deserts are less likely to have farmer’s markets.

Across the US, 803 counties have been classified as food deserts–areas where the average resident of the county lives 10 or more miles from a full-service grocery store (a grocery store that sells fresh
produce, meats and the kinds of foods needed to cook healthy, home-made meals).

Another study concluded that more than 23 million Americans living in low-income neighborhoods are
more than a mile from a full-service grocery store—a long ways to walk with bags of groceries (and
public transportation seldom makes it any easier). People who do not have access to fresh whole foods are stuck eating convenience store foods and fast foods that cause obesity, diabetes, asthma, heart disease and a host of other ailments.

Researchers have determined that Grand Rapids does indeed have food deserts, as classified above–our Southeast neighborhoods included. However, when the women of OKT polled these neighborhoods a couple years ago hey discovered something else. Many neighbors were growing food in their own gardens. OKT’s yard gardening program supports both new and existing food gardeners so even more people can grow and share food.

2012 will be the second year that the community women of Our Kitchen Table manage a farmers’
market—your farmers’ market–within “food desert” neighborhoods. Please come out and support your
farmers’ market. Making the market a success can mean better health for you and your neighbors.

Southeast Area Farmers’ Market Vendor Spotlight: Vandalia Farms

Jan31

Vandalia Farms, Cassopolis, Michigan

With the opening of the 2012 Southeast Area Farmer’s Market season more than four months away, you might think our vendors are enjoying some leisurely time off. Not so! Take a look at Ms. Leslie Huffman and Mr. Cornelius Williams from Vandalia Farms. After consulting with Grand Rapids neighborhood growers and OKT’s garden posse, Ms. Huffman placed an order for food-plant seeds. These seeds will be planted next month in specially selected growing medium at the former Molesta Greenhouse on Madison Avenue. The vacant greenhouse owner, Dave Molesta, let OKT grow seedlings there in 2011, as well.

In all, Ms. Huffman will oversee the planting, care and distribution of approximately 10,000 food plants. Many of these plants will be given to the gardeners and small farmers who sell produce at the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market. Others will go to yard gardeners and community gardens participating in OKT’s Food Diversity Project. The food you may be eating next summer is already on its way to being grown.

Mr. Williams comes from a long line of southwest Michigan black farmers. He began Vandalia Farms with Ms. Huffman in Detroit several years ago. He also taught other Detroit residents how to grow fruit and vegetables on vacant lots―and to make money from what they grew.

This past season, Mr. Williams also worked with OKT to build raised beds for demonstration gardens in southeast side Grand Rapids’ neighborhoods. In addition to farming and growing, Ms. Huffman also works as an experienced homebirth midwife. To her, the two occupations go hand in hand as healthier foods build healthier babies.

Vandalia Farms has since added a rural farm in Cassopolis. Be sure to sample the farm’s blueberries and chemical free vegetables when you visit Southeast Area Farmers’ Market next season!

Low-income families are buying more at local farmers markets with Double Up program

Jan12

This story was Published January 10, 2012 in the Grand Rapids Press

EBT patrons were able to purchase $1,900 worth of fresh produce by spending $950 on Double Up Food Bucks at the Southeast Area Farmers' Market last year.

GRAND RAPIDS — When officials at local farmers markets signed on with a program aimed at improving access to healthy foods while boosting the West Michigan agricultural economy, they had no idea what they were in for.

In its first year as a true statewide program, the Double Up Food Bucks program sponsored by the Ann Arbor-based Fair Food Network has proven more successful here than nearly anywhere else in the state.

Begun in 2009 with five farmers markets in the Detroit area, the program offers recipients of the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamp program, double the purchasing power for up to $20 worth of Michigan-grown fresh fruits and vegetables when purchased at local farmers markets.

The program offers those who qualify up to $20 in matching tokens to pay for fresh, healthy foods, funded through grants and donations from private companies and foundations. The project is aimed at improving access to healthy fresh fruits and vegetables and helping to reduce the risk of diet-related chronic illness.

“We were overwhelmed literally and figuratively by the response that we had to this program,” said Christine Helms-Maletic, Fulton Street Farmers Market development project manager. “It was extremely successful.

“We had to scramble to get volunteers in there to man those machines that give out the tokens.”
Statistics for last year show the five participating farmers markets in Kent County racking up 8,750 transactions under the program, with combined sales under Double Up Food Bucks reaching $136,062.

That compares to the 10,297 transactions and $159,060 in sales at Detroit’s Eastern Market. Marcia Rapp, vice president of programs at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, the program’s largest West Michigan supporter, said the organization is pleased with the results of its $150,000 in backing last year.

“We’ve been seeing reports coming out comparing ourselves to the Eastern Market in Detroit where it was wildly successful among farmers, growers and users,” Rapp said. “We’re almost neck-and-neck in numbers and you have to consider we have a much smaller population here.
“We’ve had a really good acceptance from the local growers, too,” Rapp added. “It’s new but they’re seeing the benefits and more and more are signing up each week.”

Melissa Harrington, manager at Fulton Street Farmers market, said counterparts at four other markets in Kent County also enjoyed the program’s success. He said the program created awareness for the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids’ inaugural farmers market last year and helped publicize the Plainfield Township’s market acceptance of Bridge Cards for the first time.

“It increased exponentially both the awareness that we accept Bridge Cards and accessibility for low-income customers to nutritious, healthy foods.” Harrington said. “Everybody said it was very successful and I don’t think any of us anticipated how successful it actually was.”

The program has now spread to 54 markets in places like Menominee, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, Bay City and Kalamazoo. Rachel Chadderdon Bair, program manager for Fair Food Network, said her group has funding for the program through 2013 but hopes to extend it or sway policy makers to address issues of accessibility to healthy foods in future legislation.

“We have funding for two more market seasons, but we’re always seeking funds to bolster the program and extend it,” Chadderdon Bair said. “We’re actively involved with trying to shape the next farm bill and hope there will be a healthy food incentive built into food assistance programs in the future.”

OKT and market vendors ready to set course for next season

Dec19

Last Friday, Our Kitchen Table hosted the vendors serving the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market for a 2011 market season review and 2012 season preview. At the beginning of last season, about a dozen farmers and growers indicated interest in selling at our two market locations. However, throughout the season, only a faithful three or four kept coming back regularly.

As managers of the markets, OKT hopes to attract more vendors who will commit to being at the markets week in and week out. Even though the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market has been running for quite a few years, roadblocks along the way have forced quite a few location changes. This has made it difficult for the market to gain momentum. The 2011 market season brought yet another location change. Growers expecting larger profits pulled out early on.

On the bright side, both the Garfield Park and Gerald R Ford School locations built a good community of customers by the end of the 2011 season. Even though vendor numbers were low, each week our customers found the produce they wanted to buy. The markets never sold out! These customers kept our faithful vendors coming back―and committed to returning next season. In fact, our vendors are now planning next year’s gardens to grow more of the specific foods that market customers will enjoy.

Would you like to see more variety and more vendors at the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market? The best way to make that happen is to shop more at the market. Our vendors are good folks who enjoy doing a good turn—but they also need to go home with a little money in their pockets!

What would you like vendors to sell at the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market next year? Contact OKT and let us know! OKTable1@gmail.com.

What’s your role in the Farmers’ Market?

Dec5

Did you have a chance to get out and support your community farmers’ market? This past season, the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market locations tallied more than 1,400 residents in attendance. These market patrons did more than go home with healthy produce, they created two vibrant community spaces where neighbors got to know each other, children discovered “real” food, hundreds attended educational activities and all ages joined in for a little exercise via the Cupid Shuffle.

You see, the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market is about more than doing business. While it is important that our local farmers and growers go home with money in their pockets, it’s even more important that community comes out and grows their own food power.

Food power is waking up healthier in the morning so you can do better at work and school. Food power is knowing that eating certain fresh fruits and vegetables can mean fewer asthma attacks or less arthritis pain. Food power is a pregnant mother providing her unborn child nourishment that keeps her baby in the womb until term while building his or her highly intelligent brain. Food power is saying no to the unhealthy foods that make you overweight, damage your heart or cause diabetes. Food power is saying yes to whole foods that empower you to live life on your own terms―without the burden of added medical expenses.

Dancercise at the Gerald R Ford market location -- The Cupid Shuffle!

Please support your Southeast Area Farmers Market. Do you have suggestions for how Our Kitchen Table can make the market a better experience? Tell us! Are there any whole foods that you would like us to make available next season? Let us know! You can email us at OKTable1@gmail.com or call 616-570-0218. Or, stop by a Community Potluck and Cook-in. The Southeast Area Farmer’s Market is sponsoring these one Friday evening each month at Gerald R Ford Middle School. (Check back for dates and times.)

Grand Rapids Press runs story on Greens Cook-Off & Fried Green Tomato Festival

Nov3

mlive.com

Cook-off to celebrate green living, Grand Rapids diversity

Published: Wednesday, November 02, 2011, 8:37 AM

By Mary Hefferan | The Grand Rapids Press

Jack Frost is dishing up a green weekend.

A Greens Cook-Off & Fried Green Tomato Festival Friday and Saturday will celebrate the last unripe fruits clinging to frost-bitten tomato plants and the sturdy collard and turnip greens that thrive in chilly autumn.

Celebrating culture, food
The contest, sponsored by Our Kitchen Table’s Food Diversity program, is part of a grass roots movement celebrating the culinary heritage of people living in various parts of Grand Rapids. The nonprofit organization works with Grand Rapids residents who want to grow organic produce on their property.

After holding community meetings to find out what people wanted to grow, Our Kitchen Table distributed 20,000 organic seedlings to residents of four Grand Rapids neighborhoods. A “garden posse” of volunteers trained the neighbors on how to cultivate and care for the plants. Besides feeding their families with the produce they grow, neighbors can sell it at the Southeast Area Farmers Market.

Recipient of a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant, Our Kitchen Table teams with the Kent County Health Department and the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council to promote environmental action and food security in Grand Rapids.

Collaborating with the Southeast Area Farmers Market is one arm of its outreach; another is lobbying for fruit trees to be planted on city-owned land.

IF YOU GO

Greens Cook-Off & Fried Green Tomato Festival

When & where:
• 5-7 p.m. Friday, Gerald R. Ford Middle School Market, 851 Madison Ave. SE
• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Garfield Park Farmers Market, 334 Burton St. SE

To register: Call 570-0218, email OKTable1@gmail.com or show up with your dish. No preparation facilities are available.

More details: Prizes awarded in each cook-off category. Chef Nancy Rutledge will provide cooking demos with free samples. Free to participants and visitors. For more information, visit OKTjustice.org.

RECIPES

• Fried green tomatoes with cream gravy

• Chef Nancy Rutledge’s collards and tomatoes

• Chef Nancy Rutledge’s green tomato cake

Southeast Area Farmers’ Market Open ‘til Nov 12

Oct21

The antioxidants that give fresh fruits and vegetables their brilliant colors protect the aging memory.

During the past few weeks, both Southeast Area Farmers’ Market locations have enjoyed heavy traffic. In fact, Market Manager, Yvonne Woodard, has had a real challenge closing the market on time—there are simply too many customers stopping by to shop for fresh, chemical free produce.

In addition, Our Kitchen Table, the group in charge of the market locations this year, just found out that that Senior Project Fresh Coupons do not expire until November 12. So, the markets will stay open an extra week to honor those coupons.

So often, we hear the message that children need to eat their vegetables. However, eating healthy is just as important for senior citizens. Your body’s basic nutrition requirements do not decrease as you get older. In fact, you may require even larger amounts of certain nutrients as you grow older.

The antioxidants that give fresh fruits and vegetables their brilliant colors protect the aging memory and may help prevent Alzheimer’s. The vitamins in found in fresh produce protect the heart. You’ve heard the joke about rabbits not needing glasses because they eat carrots. Well, it’s true! The vitamin A found in carrots helps protect your eyesight. Other nutrients found in a wide range of produce also help prevent vision problems in older folks.

Asthma, diabetes, kidney disease and cancer can all be addressed through eating a diet that includes fresh fruits and vegetables. It may seem confusing to figure out how much you need of each fruit or vegetable to prevent each specific ailment that comes with aging. So, don’t. Just be sure to include many servings of fruits and vegetables in your diet every day.

Where’s the best place to get your fresh produce? The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market, of course!

Gerald R. Ford Middle School, Fridays 5 to 7 p.m.
Garfield Park, Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Greens Cook-off and Fried Green Tomato Festival” to showcase best greens and green tomato dishes

Oct14

The first weekend of November, both Southeast Area Farmer’s Market locations will host a “Greens Cook-off and Fried Green Tomato Festival” Do you have a family collard or turnip greens recipe that beats all? Are your fried green tomatoes to die for? Then come on down and get the recognition you deserve.

The event sponsor, Our Kitchen Table, will take place: either November during regular market hours:

5 – 7 p.m. Friday November 4 at Gerald R. Ford Middle School market.
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.Saturday November 5 at Garfield Park market.

Chef Nancy Rutledge will be our volunteer in charge. You may have met Nancy last summer at the Gerald R. Ford Middle School market when she shared samples of a tasty, healthy veggie stir fry, coleslaw and fruit.

OKT will ask all Greens Cook-off entries to bring along their recipes so we can compile and share them with our neighbors who shop at the Southeast Area Farmers Markets next season. For information on registering the Greens’ Cook-off, email oktable1@gmail.com or call 616-570-0218.

Are the recent cuts to welfare and food stamps impacting your family, friends or neighbors? You can still use up your Project Fresh, Senior Project Fresh, WIC or Kent County Health Department coupons for produce at either Southeast Area Farmers’ Market location. We also accept EBT/Bridge Cards and participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program.

If you grow your own food or would like to learn how, talk to one of the women from OKT at the market. We are recruiting home growers to sell their produce at both market locations. And, we have resources for neighbors who want to start growing their own food.

Both markets are open through November 12, so come on down!

Produce means more than Fruits and Vegetables

Oct7

In addition to providing Vitamins A, C, K and folate, parsley is a chemoprotective food that can help neutralize some carcinogens.

When shoppers come to the Southeast Area Farmer’s Market, they love stocking up on in-season fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes, squash, collards, kale are still in season while Michigan apples and peaches are making a popular appearance. But that’s not all! At least two of the markets’ regular vendors sell herbs every week.

While many people think of herbs as simply an added dash of flavor, fresh, chemical free herbs, like those sold at the market, actually offer health benefits as well.

Cut salt without cutting flavor

Folks with high blood pressure, heart trouble or edema often have trouble saying no to salty foods. Most of the salt we eat comes from fast food, packaged foods and canned foods, like soup. The first step to controlling salt in the diet is to eat more foods that you prepare for yourself from scratch. The next step is to use tasty herbs to add flavor to your dishes. Add a little fresh basil, rosemary, chives or dill!

Add vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to your diet

Basil gives you Vitamins A and K, calcium and iron. Peppermint leaves not only aid digestion, but, as shown in new studies, help protect against cancer and fight off bacteria. Dill is a another source of calcium that also helps protect you from cancer-causing benzopyrene found in cigarette smoke, charcoal grill smoke and the smoke produced by trash incinerators. The list goes on! Chances are scientists haven’t even discovered all the benefits that fresh herbs bring your way.

While fresh herbs may be out of season soon, you can stock up on these and the other herbs our vendors sell two ways.

Dry the herbs by hanging then upside down in a place away from fresh sunlight. Package in an airtight container or freezer bag.
Chop fresh herbs and mix them with olive oil. Freeze the mixture in an ice cube tray. Remove the cubes to a freezer bag for individual use as needed.

Both Southeast Area Farmers’ Market locations are open through Nov. 6.

Fridays 5 to 7 p.m. At Gerald R. Ford Middle School.
Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Garfield Park.

You can use your Project Fresh, Senior Project Fresh, WIC or Kent County Health Department coupons for produce at either Southeast Area Farmers’ Market location. We also accept EBT/Bridge Cards and participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program.