
{"id":1563,"date":"2008-01-03T07:53:17","date_gmt":"2008-01-03T15:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2008\/01\/03\/farmers-market-gets-new-manager\/"},"modified":"2008-01-03T07:53:17","modified_gmt":"2008-01-03T15:53:17","slug":"farmers-market-gets-new-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/01\/03\/farmers-market-gets-new-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers&#8217; market gets new manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Jack Carley<\/strong><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Carrboro Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Market, like the calendar year, is changing. This year the market opens all year \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcround, starting Saturday at 9 a.m. And market manager Sheila Neal is stepping down, yielding her position to not-quite newcomer Sarah Blacklin.<\/p>\n<p>Blacklin took up the job on Wednesday and is still settling into the position, but she already has a lot of experience at the market.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I took the aspect of being a grower and also a vendor, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also had experience as a manager and as a buyer. I feel it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really important to understand all aspects of the Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Market.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--> Blacklin comes to the position with experience in agriculture, management and retail. A Tar Heel who studied North Carolina culture and graduated from UNC summa cum laude, she recently worked for two local farms, and you may have seen her selling produce on a Saturday morning for Maple Spring Gardens.<\/p>\n<p>She began growing food for herself and becoming more involved with farming and now grows her own food sustainably.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have a little acre in Hillsborough. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a backdoor garden with some produce, some free chickens. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s small, with a small pond. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shrunk down for one person.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Blacklin said farming and the market appeal to her because it allows people a glance at the production process from planting the seed to meeting the customer.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Most people are so removed from that, I think we really should bring it back. We need to,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Blacklin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And it makes you proud of what you do because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re creating a self-sufficient, sustainable life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Blacklin described her first day as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pretty scattered,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but she says she is excited and honored to have the job. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of growth that can happen, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already a very fantastic market. So I am excited. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really excited.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nFormer manager Sheila Neal is now working with her husband, Matt, to start Neal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Deli in downtown Carrboro. She took time to think back on her work managing the Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Market.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On a practical level, I learned about running a small business,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, and expects the experience to help her in the deli venture.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And I enjoyed working with the community.  Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 markets still feel very grassroots. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of excitement in that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was exciting to be there on market day and see local commerce happening.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I felt really connected to the town of Carrboro,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, because the job put her in contact with much of the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government and staff.<\/p>\n<p>She said the farmers impressed her because they had the threefold jobs of farming, selling at the market and running a business.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I gained a lot of respect for the farmers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Neal commented on the future of the market, saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going year round. I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really key.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nShe said the year-round schedule was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153experimental,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that the lengthened schedule is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a good opportunity for the community,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but may face challenges because of the drought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jack Carley Staff Writer The Carrboro Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Market, like the calendar year, is changing. This year the market opens all year \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcround, starting Saturday at 9 a.m. And market manager Sheila Neal is stepping down, yielding her position to not-quite newcomer Sarah Blacklin. Blacklin took up the job on Wednesday and is still settling&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-land-and-table"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}