Nobody's Business
Soggy farmers
need your love
By Steve Hopkins
Greetings, fellow food lovers!
In deciding to launch the Hudson Valley Chronic at the dawn of the Great Recession as the local journalism firmament was crumbling around me, I had to make some hard choices. Number one, in order to give the paper a fighting chance, I had to commit to resisting the impetus to get a full-time job. This in turn has led me down a serendipitous path, in that I recently landed an incredibly rewarding part-time job as manager of the Poughkeepsie Main Street Farmers’ Market, which occurs rain or shine every Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 pm in Mural Park on Main Street, just east of the intersection with Market Street. The market is a delightful, bazaar-like affair, featuring three local vegetable farmers, two local fruit farmers, an incredible local baker, a bunch of tasty ethnic hot food, and a local winery, among other attractions. We have entertainment, cooking demos, a schedule of major events, and all the rest.
But that’s not the point right now. I’ve been out to most of these farms over the past few weeks, and believe me, the recent prolonged deluge of rain has really hurt them. Jose Rodriguez of Three Sisters Farm in Gardiner, for instance, has had to move whole fields, and has lost entire crop yields. The bases of lettuce and other leaf crops are under water and rotting. Vegetables that are supposed to have a flavorful kick are waterlogged and tasteless. The season is close to being a washout for at least two of our farmers.
But all is not lost ... yet. They do have product, and they are committed to getting it to the market each week, by hook or by crook. That’s why I’m appealing to you to get down to the Poughkeepsie Farmers’ Market -- or if you can’t, to another truly local farmers’ market -- EVERY WEEK to support these men and women, buy their vegetables and fruits, and KEEP IT LOCAL. Every time you buy a head of broccoli or a bucket of strawberries from ShopRite, Hannaford, etc., you’re unwittingly hammering another nail into the coffin of local food production -- and by extension into the livelihoods of hardworking local families and their children.
If you’re already patronizing a local farmers’ market or CSA, growing your own, buying from all-local purveyors like Cafe Bocca and The Wild Hive, etc., good for you. If you’re not and I’m making you feel guilty, that’s good too.
Hope to see you this and every other Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Municipal parking is free (see me and I’ll put a sticker on your ticket).
By the way, we can handle credit and debit cards, and there are a bunch of ATMs right around the corner ... so there’s no excuse.
