.png)
This past farmer's market season saw an opportunity for a region-wide collaboration between myself, Taste the Local Difference, the Fair Food Network, and three boots-on-the-ground, food-forward organizations in the Marquette area: the Marquette Farmer's Market, the Marquette Food Co-op, and Lakeshore Depot.
When I got the e-mail from TLD's Christina that some foodie shots were needed in MQT, I was already spending weekends in the area, working the counter and produce shelf at Lakeshore Depot and camping in between shifts, before making the 2-hour drive back home to the Keweenaw. I truly got to spend a few weekends doing what I love to do (and kind of what I do best): working produce, swimming in Lake Superior, building campfires, making new friends, and takin' pictures of veggies! Woohoo!
I even got to meet in-person some locally famous (at least to me) food heroes: Sara Monte, fierce food system advocate who welcomed me to the Marquette Food Co-op, Alison Stawara, farm manager extraordinaire at the radical Partridge Creek Farm, and Randy at Shady Grove Farm UP, who has championed legal battles in favor of small farms and helps other farms do the same through the Right to Farm Act.
The shoots represented fresh food access in action. The Marquette Farmer's Market facilitates several food access program: SNAP/EBT, Double Up Food Bucks, Fresh Food Access coupons, Senior Project Fresh coupons, and Food as Medicine vouchers. Accepting food access programs and other forms of payment makes fresh, locally grown, non-subsidized food accessible to consumers who may not typically be able to afford to eat healthy. The programs attract customers to the market, which is a win-win for local farms, too.
If you missed market hours, the Lakeshore Depot is open seven days a week year-round, providing the region's farms with additional support and offering SNAP users a killer deal: a weekly CSA full of local produce for only $7.50/week, which is also eligible for Double Up Food Bucks (a program where you get DOUBLE the dollars back on money spent on produce)! It is the most cost effective way to get fresh, local veggies in the area.
In addition to SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks, the farm stop accepts Fresh Food Access Program coupons, which are distributed by healthcare providers and redeemable for local meats, dairy, eggs, wild rice, and honey.
In the heart of downtown, the Marquette Food Co-op supports the region's food network in a number of crucial ways, including acting as feduciary for the UP Food Exchange, offering food education and cooking classes, and offering the Double Up Food Bucks program for produce, alongside their full grocery and deli.
Sometimes the star(fruit)s align and you get to do cool stuff with cool people. I'm already looking forward to next season and to meeting the photo/media needs of farmers and foodies across the Upper Peninsula.
¡Viva la Revolución! 🥕
Lily
Comments