Meghan - Friday, Oct 28, 2011 - UBCO Farmer's Market

Today was the first (of hopefully many) Farmers Markets at the UBCO campus. There were many vendors with all sorts of interesting, local and tasty foods. Along with many interested and engaged students, facility and staff that were coming by to check out the event. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to run a booth as a way of engaging the campus community and educating them on our project of eating within 100 miles. 

The variety of just basic knowledge on what eating local was, all the way up to understanding what the 100 mile diet actually looks like was diverse. I had people come by the booth and say what do you mean by "eating local" or "what is local food" for which it was a wonderful opportunity to answer that question for them and share our experience. I also had many people that were very familiar with eating local or within 100 miles and understood the principal and they would sharing their experience and their practices. Many people asked abut price, access and choices available which were great questions and I took them through what I had learn. I explained what grows in our area and where they could find these items. Many were surprised by the choices that we actually have around fruits and vegetables even dairy and eggs. Admittedly grains was still a bit of a challenge to find and I explained that but also guided them towards where you can find those things. Price came up in a few cases where people, especially students, commented that they could not afford to make the choices they would like because of their limited budget but would love to buy more local in the future. I explained to them that if they just choose one thing and make that their local purchase that it is still a step and if you simply budget for it then eventually you will find that you can add more things that are local.  Many students commented that they are making efforts to be socially conscious of their food choices and as such really embraced the idea of local food also because of the impact on our local economy.


Through many of the discussions people mentioned that they would like to start a garden but didn't have the space for it living in residence or in an apartment. The discussion often moved to ways that they could do that, such as putting potted plants on their deck for herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers etc but also how they could engage through community gardens. I was pleasantly surprised how many people were interested in ways that they could connect to the earth and slow down the pace of their hectic lives and gardening and eating more fresh local food was a way that they would like to start doing that. 


I feel that this event was a huge success, for the campus community and vendors, because I saw many people (myself included), caring bags of veggies etc and because people were talking and learning about food and where it comes from. The vendor in the booth next to me had to call her family member to bring more supplies and a friend of mine with a booth was planning on going to the Kelowna Farmer's Market the next day but ended up selling out of many things. I would say that's a good sign of success.


For my part, I felt the day was time well spent because I spoke to many people about our experiences which helped to educate people a bit more about the importance of local food and what it means to our community. I hope to be part of future Farmer's Markets on campus in some capacity.