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Ithaca Farmer’s Market(2)
Ithaca Farmer’s Market(2)
Yesterday I was talking to you all about the farmer’s market, or trying to at least, here in Ithaca, New York. The main farmer’s market here is held every Saturday in the morning until around two or three when everyone starts to really thin out and go home with their produce and things. I got a chance to go to the market here for the first time yesterday and I must tell you that it made our markets here look kind of funny and like small children trying to do something greater than their means. Though our own local markets are doing well on their own, I can only hope that with the current developments in the minds of people around this country, that the organization and sense of community at home will grow.
After our chores in the morning, which today included picking the melons that were ripe and the beans that were so crispy, we had piled in to the vehicles. Off down the road in our veggie cars, we drove through downtown Ithaca and on to the market. When we pulled n to the parking lot there were almost no spaces left anywhere. When we finally got two they were not in sight of each other. The first thing that I noticed about this market was that it had it’s own building. This was not like back home where it is a converted parking lot or a street that has been closed for a few hours. No this was a huge wooden structure with a big farmer’s market sign on the front. It looked like it could have been a nice sized strip mall if it were all closed up and made of concrete or something.
The farmer’s market was just amazing on the inside. There were booths for everything. It would be like if you were to gather up all of the various vendors from around our town’s markets and put them in one place, then add another twenty or thirty unique booths. I got lunch at this organic Cambodian booth and I bought enough local Organic produce to fill up my big cooler on wheels. The thing that blew me away the most though above all else about this market was that it as a whole was devoted and committed to being a no waste market. At each entrance there were two cans for waste. One bin was for compost and one bin was for recyclables and there was a sign over each one showing what should go inside of them. Then there was a small can just for coffee cup lids which are a unique type of recyclable plastic. I mean this was like a conservationist’s dream. I certainly recommend that all of you out there take time and check this market out.