Hints of a market in Northside’s future
I’ve been waiting to hear back from the powers-that-be about a possible additional market in Northside — this one across the Henrico-Richmond line from the Lakeside Farmer’s Market. But there was a hint of the future in a recent Richmond.com article quoting Karen Atkinson, manager of the incredibly popular South of the James market:
“What we’re looking at doing is starting the same type of market on a Tuesday night in the Bellvue and Ginter Park area, maybe in Bryan Park,” Atkinson said.
Do I understand this correctly? A second farmers’ market in northside? The one on Lakeside on Wednesdays isn’t enough? The local farmers can barely keep up with the demand for produce as it is. They have CSAs which come first because people pay in advance, then established markets, grocery stores, restaurants and… not to mention that they don’t have the resources to work all of these markets and have people to harvest, too. I think it’s wonderful that farmers’ markets have become so popular, but we don’t need one on every street corner. It was just one for years and years and now there are more markets that farmers to support them.
Please remember/consider how hard farmers work to supply us with food – it’s a labor of love and it has it’s limits.
If you want more local, fresh produce and markets from which to buy it – recruit farmers! If they don’t have land, refer them to the Va Dept of Agriculture’s website for the Farm Link program.