It’s a new season, and our monthly newsletter contains some new features. In addition to announcements of upcoming events, each newsletter edition will contain a profile of a farmer, program participant, and/or a dedicated volunteer. This first fall issue is a bonanza, so that you can meet some Market participants up close and personal! Going forward, we will also cover relevant issues in articles written by informed authors. So look forward to your new edition midway through each month. |
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Look What’s Cooking at the
Santa Fe Farmers' Del Sur Market!
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Santa Fe Farmers' Del Sur Market in partnership with Cooking with Kids, Big Brothers Big Sisters, YouthWorks, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, and Santa Fe Food Policy Council is hosting a Chef Showdown on Tuesday, September 21st from 3-6pm at Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center, 4801 Beckner Rd.
Four teams of local chefs paired with a Big and a Little from Big Brothers Big Sisters will use foods fresh from market vendors in a quick-fire cooking competition. The public is invited to participate by tasting the creations and voting for their favorite! Special guest judges Councilor Jamie Cassut, radio talk show host Richard Eeds and Presbyterian CEO Jon Wade will join us to name the winner.
The Santa Fe Farmers' Del Sur Market continues every Tuesday afternoon from 3pm - 6:00pm through September 28th with a wide array of vendors represented. Come shop local!
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Tour the Santa Fe Farmers Market Like an Insider! |
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Seed The Future Market Tours begin on Tuesday morning, September 28, 2021
Join a Tour Host and Guide on a Tuesday morning stroll through the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. See the wide variety of what’s growing locally, and talk with farmers’ about their crops and experiences.
Over coffee and breakfast sweets, learn how the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute supports local small-scale farmers through impactful programs, and assists our community by providing reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Each tour will be limited to ten guests, so click here to register early.
The free tours will end on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.
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Susan Higgins: A Microloan Success Story |
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Canadian born, Susan Higgins arrived in New Mexico via Vermont. During her 21 years in the Green Mountain State, Susan was involved with holistic health and organic farming, working several summers on organic farms. She attended a living foods health program in West Palm Beach, Florida, prior to moving to New Mexico in search of a warmer climate. Here, she purchased a small business growing some of the greens she continues to this day.
Sungreen Living Foods, LLC's. greens consist of soil-grown sprouts of sunflower, daikon radish, pea shoots and buckwheat, as well as flats of wheatgrass. She sells her product to local restaurants and stores, primarily to La Montanita Co-ops in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, as well as to the Santa Fe Public Schools. She continues her weekly appearances at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market where she has been a vendor since 1994.
This year, Susan faced a crippling business expense: the complete cooling equipment for her 8x12 foot walk-in cooler failed and had to be replaced. The cooler is essential for food safety requirements. Her greens are harvested daily for orders, and must be refrigerated as harvested and kept at the required temperature range of 33 deg. To 40 deg. F. until delivery. Covered flats of wheatgrass are also stored in the cooler until ready for deliveries. Additionally, the cooler stores back stock of seeds in plastic totes, sometimes up to 1500 pounds, in order to keep them fresh and germinating well.
Last month, Susan approached the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute for an emergency loan to cover the over $5,000 cost of replacing the cooling unit. The loan was approved and processed through the Institute’s partner for microloans, Guadalupe Credit Union. Susan is grateful for the loan which is at an interest rate 3 times lower than what she would have had to incur if she financed the cooling system, compressor, fans, condenser, piping, and temperature controls through her credit cards. She also finds managing her loan online convenient and user-friendly.
Susan’s microloan is one of 367 loans granted since the program’s inception in 2009, which extended financial support to farmers valued at more than $762,590.
Susan is also considering ways to expand her business in the future, and will approach the Institute for access to its Training and Development Programs resources when her ideas germinate.
Every Saturday, you can find Susan Higgins cutting fresh greens at the Sungreen Living Foods, LLC. Booth just inside the Paseo de Peralta entrance of the Market Pavilion. A supportive member of the market community, she donates the remains of her cuttings to Jennifer Fresquez of Monte Vista Organic Farm, and President of the Santa Fe Farmers Market Board, for composting. It takes a village!
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In Remembrance
Growing Opportunities year-round hydroponic tomatoes have been a mainstay at the Farmers’ Market (and many grocery stores) since 2000. Nearly every week, alongside boxes of tomatoes and cucumbers stacked higher than she was tall, you could find proprietor Kim Martin’s mother, Sue Lessard. Though small in stature, she had a big personality, and usually had a “how ya doing hun?” at the ready while she weighed your tomatoes. We were sad to recently learn that on April 3, 2021 Sue passed away at the age of 72. Sadly, just a little over a month later, her husband of 37 years, Joel Lessard (75), passed away also. Sue’s regular presence at the Market, like so many other vendors who have come and gone over the years, will be deeply missed. Our sincere condolences to Kim, her husband Steve, and their extended family.
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“Eating Is An Agricultural Act:”
Chewing Over Ideas with Pam Walker
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Pam Walker embodies the Mahatma Gandhi adage to “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
The author, activist, and Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute Board Member incorporates her commitment to local farmers into her daily routine.
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In a Santa Fe New Mexican article, Pam expressed her thoughts succinctly, “With every bite we take, we support one kind of agriculture or another. Every day with every bite.” Strolling through the Saturday Farmers Market in Santa Fe with Pam is a pleasure – and one that she enjoys every week. She admires the beauty of the produce and packs her bag with vegetables and grains – especially okra and black-eyed peas – revealing her Southern roots. She also chats with farmers, demonstrating the sincere interest in the human side of the farming community that led her to write Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas: Profiles of Organic Farmers and Ranchers across the State (Texas A&M University Agriculture Series, 2009).
Pam hailed from strong agrarian roots. Her maternal grandparents were sharecroppers in Southwest Oklahoma where they rented a farmhouse and raised chicken and pigs. Two generations later, Pam and her late husband, Walter Isle, bought a farm west of Houston. Their grass farm worked in cooperation with the neighboring small calf and cow operation. Pam also dug-in and began to raise vegetables; it was a learning experience for Pam. “I learned something every year. The season is different and you’re different.” Today her own children have robust gardens, shop at their local farmers’ markets, and enjoy cooking. “I am pleased and proud that the things that are important to me, took root in my children,” she says. She also founded Houston’s first farmers’ market and remains involved with two Texas organizations focusing on small-scale farms and food systems.
Moving to Santa Fe five years ago, Pam quickly found her way to the Railyard, where she volunteered at the Institute’s Information Booth. The decision to become a Board Member was an easy one for her. “I like being in a decision making role and I am passionate about small-scale farming.” She has also become a proponent of closed loop agriculture, which is a farming practice that recycles all nutrients and organic matter material back to the soil that it grew in. Watch for Pam’s article on composting in the October newsletter.
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Andrea Fisher Maril's Rhubarb Crunch
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Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Total: 55 mins
Servings:12 servings
Ingredients
- 4 cups diced rhubarb
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup oats, either quick or 5 minute
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter
Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Step 2
In a large mixing bowl combine rhubarb, white sugar, and 3 tablespoons flour. Optional: add a cup of strawberries or raspberries or peaches.
Stir well and spread evenly into baking dish. Set aside.
Step 3
In a large mixing bowl combine brown sugar, oats, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Stir well then cut in butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over rhubarb layer.
Step 4
Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Serve hot or cold, either plain or with honey-flavored yogurt, ice cream or half and half.
Nutrition Facts
Per Serving:
366 calories; protein 3.2g; carbohydrates 54g; fat 16g; cholesterol 40.7mg; sodium 116.1mg.
Submitted by Andrea Fisher Maril, Interim Executive Director
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The Institute is pleased to share with you a new online calendar hosted on our website! We are gathering information about interesting, educational and innovative events, classes and experiences centered around local food, farming and environmental topics that may be of interest to our market community members.
Please check out the calendar here, and share it with your friends!
Have an event to submit, click here to let us know!
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About the Institute
The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute was founded in 2002 to raise funds for an affordable space where farmers could sell their goods year round. After the Farmers’ Market Pavilion opened in 2008, the Institute expanded its mission to include developing economic resources for farmers and growing access to healthy, locally grown food for northern New Mexicans.
We deeply appreciate your support for our efforts to connect families with local food, to provide economic services to our farmers, as well as an affordable space where farmers can sell their goods year round. Want to get to know the Institute better? We’d love to take you on a socially-distanced tour of the market and talk to you about the programs we provide. Just email janice@farmersmarketinstitute.org to get more information or to set up an appointment.
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The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute’s mission is to advocate for farmers, ranchers and other land-based producers; provide equitable access to fresh, local food; own and operate a year-round venue for the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market; and manage programs to help sustain a profitable, locally-based agricultural community. |
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THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS! |
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These lead sponsors help ensure the sustainability of the northern New Mexico food system as well as nurture the agricultural community and the customers that make the Santa Fe Farmers' Market so successful.
Support the businesses that support your community!
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