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As many folks already know, Nicacio Soria Rodriguez, owner and operator of Kaki Farm, passed away at the end of April.
I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten to attend his funeral service yesterday in Gridley, California where he farmed. It was actually held in the same church where my parents had gotten married decades before, which made for a beautiful moment of closure for me considering how much I had bonded with Nicacio over our shared connection to this tiny, one stoplight town over the five years I had known him.
To my surprise, the word farmer didn’t come up once during the service or burial - only husband, father, brother, cousin, uncle, and friend. While many of us here in Berkeley knew him primarily for his more tangible impact –as a steward of the land and as someone who fed us some of the best citrus and eggs week after week – those closest to him remembered him for his tenacity as a young man in Zacatecas, his love for music, and his devotion to his family.
I am grateful that I had a chance to witness the kind, generous person he was on a weekly basis, even if it wasn’t as long as some other community members may have known him. He always made time to chat with me about my family even when he was busy, and I saw the way he showed up for other farmers when they forgot equipment or just needed a hand. Reflecting on this has renewed my own appreciation for farmers’ markets as spaces that make these sorts of connections possible. They give us the opportunity to see farmers and vendors for who they really are, beyond what their physical labor provides.
I know I’m not alone in this sentiment. I also know that this loss has rippled through the whole Berkeley Farmers’ Market community. It’s clear from the dozens of notecards customers wrote to him and his family at the South Berkeley Farmers’ Market this past Tuesday, which I was able to present to his wife Carmen yesterday. We will continue to honor him with an altar at the South and Downtown Berkeley Farmers’ Markets in the coming weeks and offer notecards to those who wish to send their condolences to his family. If you’re moved to do so, please also consider joining us in donating to his GoFundMe, linked below, and helping us share it more broadly, too. Thank you to all who have already.
In community,
Viviana Padilla
Berkeley Farmers’ Market Operations Manager
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