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Recently: The market with a soul

Posted on October 2, 2009October 2, 2009 by Staff

By Valarie Schwartz, columnist

The Carrboro Farmers’ Market continues bridging divides, as it brings the dream of a new locovore paradigm closer to reality. Thanks to a woman who was willing to be the axle, a wheel of food for the needy began to spin 15 weeks ago, but a new revolution began last Saturday.

Margaret Gifford and her husband, John Whitehead, relocated here from San Francisco almost two years ago with their daughter, Sophie, now 3. Gifford, 44, and taking a break from her career as a public relations executive to be a stay-at-home mom, quickly adopted the Carrboro Farmers’ Market as her first source for produce.

One day when she overheard a farmer ruing that he’d be composting the tomatoes he had not sold that day, an idea sparked. She conferred with Sarah Blacklin, the Carrboro Farmers’ Market manager, and soon began taking collection boxes to the Wednesday and Saturday markets to collect food from farmers wishing to donate what they had not sold. The farmers embraced it enthusiastically, happy to provide their fresh, (mostly) organic foods to those who need it but can’t get it on their own.
Gifford delivered her boxes to the food bank at the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services (IFC) in Carrboro, and food now also goes to other Triangle agencies that serve the needy. Blacklin connected Gifford with her summer intern, Adam Sherwood, who is part of Fair Local Organic, a student-run program that has begun to change menus at UNC dining halls, incorporating wholesome locally grown foods. He organized teams of students to collect and deliver the donated food to the agencies.

Last Saturday, a new phase, the Farmer FoodShare Challenge, began, allowing shoppers to get into the giving act by donating purchases from vendors. The goal was to collect 1,000 pounds of food.

“Our final total for Saturday’s event was 1,736 pounds of fresh food — eggs, meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables,” Gifford wrote in an email message. “This is far more food than we normally get on a Saturday, even at the height of the season!”

It also brings the 15-week total up to 9,810 pounds — insuring that 10,000 pounds will be reached by week’s end.
“This was the first time we directly asked shoppers to follow the farmers’ example,” Gifford said. “We were overwhelmed by the response.”

“Saturday’s event was fantastic,” Sherwood said. “What Margaret has done, along with all the volunteers and the support, especially of the farmers and shoppers, is simply incredible.”

It took eight volunteers, who collected, boxed, weighed and transported food to the IFC, CORA Food Pantry, the Durham Food Bank and the N.C. Hunger Project.

“Unfortunately, there is a good deal of hunger and food insecurity in our Triangle community,” Gifford said. “You might be surprised to know what the demographics are. They are not only the most destitute . . . but also people who are working, like firefighters, restaurant workers, social workers or others, who do not make a living wage in the Triangle. Recipients are also people who have been laid off and are working to find jobs, but must choose between paying their mortgage or utilities and buying food for their families. Emergency food assistance provided by our participating organizations and others helps these people through a rough spot.”

Feedback from the farmers and shoppers will keep the wheel turning. Blacklin said that Ken Dawson, owner/producer of Maple Spring Gardens Farm (and the farmer Gifford overheard making the comment about composting), told her that he’d had a conversation with a customer who said she was delighted to see local produce being donated to hunger relief.

“She told Ken that one of the reasons she loves the Carrboro Farmers’ Market so much is because it is a market with a soul,” Blacklin relayed.

Yep, soul and heart and local sweat and tears, combined with a savvy woman willing to take on a challenge, have furthered a food movement. Carrboro’s Locovore Revolution would make Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) right proud. Let’s keep it turning!

Contact Valarie Schwartz at valariekays (at) mac.com or 923-3746.

5 thoughts on “Recently: The market with a soul”

  1. Pingback: Carrboro Market distributes 10,000 pounds of produce to food banks « sustainable grub
  2. Dolores Hart says:
    October 7, 2009 at 11:17 am

    My husband and I just returned to the
    area from Ithaca, NY, and read about your program. What a great idea.Do you need volunteers? Do other Farmers Markets do this? would like to inform Ithaca’s very popular, huge Farmers Market about this. Wonder if they do something similar. I’ll have to find out.

  3. Sarah Blacklin says:
    October 9, 2009 at 6:38 am

    Hi Dolores,

    We can always use volunteers :) If you’re interested in volunteering with the FoodShare, please email Margaret Gifford or myself for more information. My email: carrborofarmersmarket@gmail.com
    Margaret Gifford’s email: mgw@well.com

    The FoodShare would like to help other Markets start similar programs. You can visit our website for more details about the FoodShare at
    http://carrborofarmersmarket.com/community.shtml

    Thank you for your interest!
    ~Sarah

  4. margaret Gifford says:
    October 24, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    Yes, we LOVE more volunteers. The more hands we have to help carry boxes or staff the donation station to answer questions, the better! Email me at mgw@well.com or just come out to market. We’re collecting and sorting during the last half hour of each market day. Deliveries happen after market.

    Thanks Valarie for helping to spread the word.

  5. Pingback: Carrboro Farmer’s Market feeds the food banks « sustainable grub

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