by Jack Moffitt

Farmers Market Communications – Century 21, Decade 2

Until recently there was no need for much communications in the farmers market environment. Probably anyone you met in any small town, 100 years ago, could tell you what days and times perishables were sold at public market, in their town. Surely that person would be as amazed at the demise of the public market, as they would be the advent of the internet.

Now, email is old hat. The myriad of subject-matter, work demands, spam, phishing scams, etc. have reduced the effectiveness of email as a communication tool. People are more than likely to be reading electronic messages on a phone size appliance now, not a screen. I’m humbled to have lived through yet another demise of cutting edge technology. Eight tracks, VHS tapes, and now email.

Facebook is the now we face. I was skeptical until forced to use it by the organizers of another Farmers Market. It is the way to hook up with people who share an interest in a very specialized subject matter.

The Brownsville Farmers Market 9 to noon each Saturday at the 6th Street Linear Park. That is the only repetitive message to communicate. The bulk of our communication about the Market is not repetitive – who is coming ?, what they are bringing ?, what is a good way to prepare it ?, etc. The most efficient way to get that timely info to you, is to have it bypass as many middlemen as possible. Every repetition degrades the info. Accuracy is lost, the information is older and of less value.

So, this is a “heads up”. The weekly email is going to stop and the info is going to be posted to the FaceBook page for the Brownsville Farmers Market. The farmers and other vendors will be able to post their individual info directly, daily or weekly. More importantly, we can get some communication among ourselves about our now treasured Farmers Market.

You can create a profile that is very bare bones, with very little personal information, visit the FaceBook page of the Brownsville Farmers Market and become a “Fan”. Once you do that, any Brownsville Farmers Market Facebook posts will be on the opening page, each time you open FaceBook. Odds are, you won’t stop there. I keep up with everyone from my high school biology teacher to a cartoonist that specializes in Valley humor.

Go to FaceBook now and become a fan!

The Graybill Report

Hi Jack,

Well the Graybills have no report as we were not at the market last week (we’ll be back this week). But the sun is shining today, and we have had good rain, and I suspect there will be a fine harvest this weekend from our local stewards of the land. So I will re-post last week’s report, as it is probably similiar:

By Ruth had plenty of dill, cilantro, parsley, lemongrass, Mexican tarragon,Texas Ruby Reds, Texas large lemons, calamondins, turnip greens, mustard greens, collards, and aloe.

Nam had tong so, daikon, arulgula, cilantro dill, mustard greens, turnips, salad greens, bok choi, spinach, and New Zealand spinach.

Cal from Two Pines had his green cabbage, winter cabbage, leeks, lettuces (Romaine, black-seeded, and Simpson), the pretty Rainbow Swiss chard, Holland greens, spinach, New Zealand spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Yahweh Farms had turnips, broccoli, cilantro, radishes (red and white), mustard greens, turnip greens, and Romaine.

The Alaniz family had cabbage, baby cabbage, tomatos, dates, cilantro, and nopales.

Bayview Veggies had eggs, dill, parsley, baby letttuce, onions, mustard greens, salad mixes, and their usual assortment of nutrition-packed sprouts.

Speaking of bread, Alice of Alice’s Kountry Kitchen had her ukelele on hand, and was singing her own original bread jingle. No where else can you go and have your baker sing for your bread!!!!

Resaca Grove had their grapefruit and pecans.

The Gracia family had turnips, radishes, nopales, turnip greens, cilantro, spinach, kale, collard greens, and romaine. They also had eggs.

Art from Bella vista had grapefruit, oranges, and lemons.

Gorgas Society had their assorted citrus, as well.

Acacia Farm had Tsai Tai aka Chinese flowering cabbage, Swiss baby chard, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, carrots, bok choi, pac choi, cilantro, parsley, dill, oregano, rutabaga, greens, baby romaine, radish, watermelon radish, and cabbage.

Jam Makin’ Rose had her homemade jellies, jams, and salsas, Texas Gold Shrimp had their fresh, gulf-caught shrimp, and Letty and her family had their lush Fruit Cups and fruit drinks. Perrenial Favorites had their native plants for sale, and we (the Graybills) had our valley honey, eggs, and beeswax candles (thank you to everyone who brought us glass jars – we will be pouring more candles soon).

We were so very sorry to hear of the passing of Ron’s wife, Mrs. Dickerson. She was a cheerful and kind soul at the market; she will be missed.

We look forward to seeing everyone for what is surely the best way to spend a Saturday morning in Brownsville – surrounded by family, food, and friends at the Farmer’s Market!

Erin

Your humble correspondents
Jack Moffitt, Erin Graybill

–
The Brownsville Farmers’ Market

Saturdays from 9am – Noon
Linear Park
Harrison St. between E. 6th and E. 7th