Greetings Steemians,
Food, especially local food, is one of my passions. Not just because of my support for entrepreneurship, but also because I see many similarities in our shared struggles. What do I mean by shared struggle? As proponents of blockchain technology, whatever our level of knowledge, we often are the target of skepticism and ridicule. Not only from friends and family but the legacy media as well. Especially if we haven't earned our first Lambo. I kid, sort of. Most of my family think I am insane when I tell them how much I have invested in various cryptos. Am I alone in this? I think not!
Organic food producers, practitioners of holistic medicine and similar-minded folks are often the targets of such attacks. I won't link the numerous articles that can be found dealing with the many mysterious deaths of holistic doctors over the years. A topic for another entry. For a recent example of weaponized science taking aim at our food supply, have a look at this article from the semi-Right leaning Washington Examiner. The author shamelessly bashes the #nongmoproject and is clearly gatekeeping for big Aggrokulture:
Truth is attacked. No matter if it comes from the Left or Right...a tired paradigm. Counter the official narrative and be attacked, no matter your ideology.
Now with that rant and introduction out of the way, let's delve into the topic of the post. It is of course the South Pearl Street Farmer's Market located in Denver, #Colorado. This market was started in 2001 and is in its sixteenth season. Among the markets I have visited in the Denver area it is the most diverse, and has some pretty good deals. Those deals tend to get better over time as your relationships grow stronger. We will see if this holds true in future posts. Today I walked the entire market and had several off-camera conversations. It is usually best to develop a rapport before approaching a stranger with a camera. Several vendors I spoke to today are willing to go on camera. I am buttering them up!
The bulk of my budget was spent on some amazing eye cream for the wife from Taspen's Organics. I had a brief, but insightful, discussion with Paula and Bolivar from Taspen about their products in my video. I also bought some amazing peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from ELA Family Farms.
In the future, I'll be interviewing one vendor per week and reporting back to you. Check out the vendor list on the market's website (and a few I link below from the video) and give me suggestions for future interviews. I'd love to hear from you all and will act on your suggestions. There's so much to cover I'm not sure I could do it in a lifetime. One week at a time! Happily, some of the work is already done. Check out this video from ELA Family Farms:
In the video Steve Ela and family relate some of the history of the farm. It is quite fascinating and demonstrates so clearly why we should all be seeking and supporting people such as the Ela's. Some quotes from Steve and Shirley Ela in the video:
on the commodities market, nobody cares (about quality) ....you are really looking at maximizing profits....when you are selling direct to consumer....you have to look them in the eye
what you get in the market is different than what you get from somebody who doesn't care.
Are we seeing a pattern here? Something about lack of care. A famous #GeorgeCarlin skit comes to mind. That's right Uncle George, they don't care about us. At all. RIP George.
Speaking of care, while watching my video I noticed a few vendors with the same conventional produce that I deal with in my part-time job at a local grocer. You have to talk to people and do research. Make sure you learn who the good producers are and who is just reselling the exact same items you could get cheaper at the grocery store. This happens more often than you might suspect.
Markets are a great place to network and meet like-minded people.
As a side note, my voice was very low when I spoke to the performer in the video. Only the camera, her, you and I heard! Just me being myself with my often too loud voice and Southern drawl. Write more, speak less. This is my motto.
Evolving practice finding community support ....pound this narrative!
Wag's World Orchard is another vendor I spoke with off-camera. As you can see by visiting their site, linked again for redundancy, is another fantastic operation. The header of this paragraph is actually from my draft, but I left it in because that is really what I am trying to get across. We get a shitstorm of propaganda everyday from big pharma, agriculture, government and on and on. It must be countered!
Excerpt from Wag's site
We combine safe growing practices to create a stewardship that is both solicitous of our environment and affordable for the end consumer. Our homes are right in our orchard, so we care deeply about the trees, the land and all the animals, birds and bees within. We are a food safety farm and are USDA approved for the HARMONIZED GAP AUDIT with GLOBAL GAP ADDENDUM. This is a requirement under the new Food Safety and Modernization Act for farms. We are also FSMA trained and have started our transition to be USDA certified organic.
We live with numerous kinds of birds, fox, raccoons, skunks, porcupines and do our best to keep out the bears and the deer although they know where to get a good piece of fruit! It is a beautiful place overlooking Tongue Creek Valley and we never forget our responsibility to treat all with care because we live here, too! We follow all local, state and federal regulations and take great care to lessen our carbon footprint.
Notice the word care comes up yet again. That is the difference between folks like this and the Globalists, Cabal, Deep State, New World Order or Vicious Misanthropes as I like to call them. The masters and the minions, including the Presstitute Legacy Media. Am I ranting again! My apologies.
Regulations are often little more than a mechanism to shut out the little guy.
Speaking of that excerpt, I could go into all the regulations; how the USDA #Organic certification has become more dependent on having the money to file the paperwork than anything else and how it is really just a big obstacle to small farms who have been practicing organic farming for generations. It is incredibly difficult for small farms to get through that sea of red tape and expense. I remind you of the pro-GMO article from the Washington Examiner. This is one reason why I like to visit the farms and ask questions. I like knowing who grows my food. Don't you?
My wife and I moved from #Houston to Colorado a little over a year ago, and we're just now getting involved in the local food scene. A local meat producer and vendor I have been buying from is Neil Fischer over at Farm 2 Table Meat. Neil works with sustainble practice ranchers, farmers and producers, and he brings the product directly to the consumer. He also raises #bison. My friend Patrick in Houston at Katerra Exotics also raises these ornery beasts, and talking about Neil makes me think of him and his awesome family. So a shout out to them! Neil is working on a storefront down on his property south of Denver. Be looking for videos on him and his crowd soon. I am also getting ready to approach the local Slow Food branch for volunteer opportunities.
What can we do to change food culture?
Speaking of the USA, market culture often isn't as vibrant here as in say ... most of the Old World. I'd like to see that change. I often wonder how a crypto project could help people such as these. Is there such a thing currently? At any rate, see the brief list of vendors that caught my eye below. If there are any of particular interest to you, let me know, and I will prioritize interviewing them at the market. The thought of having a list generated from your input excites me! I am interested in finding your stories about local food in your area. Please support and promote local entrepreneurship of all kinds, where ever you may be!
Thank you for spending the time to look at my post.
I am a photographic educator and my goal is to bring you insight to my process in hopes of helping you along in your photographic journey. I earned my MFA in Photography from the University of Houston in 2015.
The Vendors that stood out to me in my walk through: