Survey Tests the Water for Weekday Venue for Local Farmers at Eastern Market

Photo by María Helena Carey

Today I had the pleasure of buying plums from a gentleman who had just gathered them from his yard not two miles away. They’re juicy and green, the size of small garlic bulbs, and called sineguelas. Granted, I’m presently in rural Spain, but this very fresh, very local food for cash pleasure could be coming to the Hill soon. Get ready to line up people, the fig bounty on Capitol Hill promises to be enormous this year.

Ok, that might be a bit premature, but in his blog, Brian Pate, ANC 6B05 chair, updates us about new efforts to gauge interest among the community and local farmers to have a weekday line at the market to sell goods grown nearby. And he does mean nearby. Say, the Virginia Avenue Community gardens. Pate says the produce from local plots would highlight the hyperlocal foodshed, highlight healthy food and community involvement, and hopefully raise some funds to support the infrastructure of local community garden plots. It’s an ad-hoc group of Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC) doing the asking. Contact Pate on his blog for more info.

Along with your thoughts and leads on local growers and their delicious harvests, take the time to give your input about your likes and dislikes at the market in a new survey. Market management team published this poll last week to gather feedback on how locals use the market and what they’re still looking for in the experience. Be ready to give specifics, and dream big on the ‘what you’d like to see’ part.