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As a long time island farmer and a part-time vendor in the SJI Farmers Market I wanted to wade into the waters of the word war and give you a view from the shore.
The issues are many and I am not going to try to answer them all but I will address several that have been brought to our attention in this on going verbal slug-fest.
So, how about some history? We all love history because it helps make the present so real! . My farm was homesteaded in the late 1800’s and the house I now live in (and with) was built in 1910 near Mitchell Bay. I have been working this farm since 1988 and started selling at the SJIFM in the early fall of 1993. We don’t grow the crops that most vendors at the market do. Instead we concentrate on grass fed lamb, kiwifruit and Asian pears. These are late season harvest crops forcing us to brave a bit more inclement weather.
In years past we have been rained on, blown around and often just stayed home. Yet, over the years we have built a substantial following for our products.
So you are all involved in the current politics of the choice that we have made as a community of farmers with the help of the Ag. Guild. How did we get to this point?
This project has been in the works in one form or another since 1995. That is a bit ago for sure. You are probably aware of the Island Grown Farmers Cooperative (IGFC) and their Mobile Processing Unit. This was the first USDA certified mobile slaughter unit in the U.S. The unit was developed and the farmer’s co-op organized in 2000 and is still going strong today. That process was the direct result of meetings on Lopez Is. in the fall of 1995 in which producers from all the islands met to discuss needs for strengthening and building infrastructure for agriculture in SJC. There were so many folks in attendance that the group had to break up into two groups. Thus we had the livestock producers in one room and the fruit / vegetable producers in another. Both groups came up with needs lists. I raise both, so I moved back and forth!
The second phase of this process was a meeting some months later with John Bruger, a USDA Rural Development expert from Spokane. In a meeting that took all of the morning the various needs were presented and discussed. Mr. Brugger came back after a lunch break and basically said; “you folks have a large plate with a lot on it. You need to decide which infrastructure you want to tackle first and go for it”.
Well we did. IGFC is that legacy. A lot of folks screamed and ranted, the usual word war. We just kept working and to heck with the naysayers. We even tried to get support from the then County Commissioners and even they were skeptical! It took a community and support from no fewer than eight other organizations, both local and governmental to do that project. Funds came from every possible source both private and public. Our tax dollars, hard earned private dollars, a shared food system, vegetables, fruits, and meat, raised on our local farms. Guess where you can get IGFC meat? The Farmers Market. Talk about a multiplier effect! You can share in that true wealth grown right here in your county.
But wait…what about the fruit and vegetable folks?
The previous process left their ideas on hold. In the vision we had, each island would have a covered farmers market to help extend the availability and diversity of local ag products for the market that existed and could be developed. Why let the changing seasons and weather bring down an open-air market anymore? This vision also included cold storage, freezer storage and if possible a certified kitchen for value added products. Later the food security issue popped up. There is room for this ugly stepchild too!
The current process is the result in many ways of these earlier organizational efforts (and there is even more history in between then and now but I won't go there for the sake of brevity).
I don't think we the farmers or board members view the Nichol's street building as a shiny new PFM. It is a funky old 1920 brick building with a lot of character and history. It is small and intimate. Currently it is an eyesore, delegated to the forgotten back streets and sidewalks of FH. We realize times are not the best but why should we put our efforts on hold? The benefits of this project (and hopefully a second and a third on Orcas Is. and Lopez Is.) transcend current economic problems. In many ways they are a vital and important process in working the community out of these times.
Many have expressed a fear that there is not enough parking. What happened to walking? Why is walking in our town discouraged? Why do a large number of visitors walk on and off the ferry? The problem is only a problem if you are glued to your car seat and a full-time consumer of fossil fuels to go two blocks. What is the cost of that kind of life style? Gee, I guess we are going to find out huh?!
The site currently supports private pay per month parking. We are going to open it up and actually add twelve public use parking spaces that will be available on non-market days! Heck we may even allow them to be used for special shuttle vehicles that offer a lift to market shoppers! You know there are a lot of options to consider here and I am sure we will find them. We have a lot of creative thinking constantly going on. I don’t think the problem is so blown out of proportion when you think of walking. What is the distance across the nearest shopping mall, Cascade Mall (Burlington)? 1,931 feet. What is the distance from the County Courthouse parking lot to the Nichols St. property? 1,162 feet. A small mall, short walk, a small town, short walk.