The Urbana Farmer’s Market takes place every Saturday from June to November in a big parking lot next to a mall. Market has been taking place there for a long time - over 30 years. The vendors set up on the parking spaces, leaving the rest of the area for people to walk around. And that space gets filled up with people walking around and buying! This is one of the main ways that First Fruits Farm sells the produce and plants that are grown. I talked to a couple people that go to market regularly. Saturday, July 11, was the first time I have gone to market, other than as a customer. It was a very different perspective to stand behind the First Fruits’ table, sell produce, take money and give change and answer people’s questions. But before I went, I talked to Pavlina and Tim about their involvement with market and how it is for them.
Pavlina and Patty are regulars in going to market. I spoke with Pavlina and she gave me her perspective on market. She related that everything harvested on Friday gets loaded on the truck and the boys set it up in the parking lot. The City of Urbana sells each parking space for the season and we bought three spaces this year. She said, “The boys make the display look very nice and very neat. We found out many years ago that if the display is not nice, people don’t buy. We put plants for sale on one side and veggies on the other side. Check-out is in the middle.” She told me that as the season goes on, the plants sell out, and then vegetables or melons, maybe, go on the other side. However it is, I am sure that Wes and Tim will make it look attractive! Usually one person stands by the plants and another by the veggies to help answer questions and sell things. People actually start coming before 7AM, but it gets busiest around 9AM.
Pavlina said, “I love the fact that there are people you see every week and you build a relationship with them and get access to their lives. It really pays off. Sometimes I have these spiritual experiences - some Saturdays are so spiritual. Some are not! I tried to figure if it was me or not, but I believe God just brings people. I can talk about anything and the power of God comes through me to these people. Sometimes God speaks to me of things to pray for them. But then sometimes it is dry, like, ‘OK, you want two cucumbers? Here they are.’”The weather is a big issue at market. If the day is rainy and cold, there will be less customers. The July 4th Saturday was cool and constant rain. There weren’t many people out and Pavlina confessed, “The only thing on my mind was, ‘Can we go home yet?’” To make it worse, there was the convention going on at the church! But, she said she really does enjoy market most of the time. She likes the end of the day when we count the money and see the produce that is gone and it is rewarding to know it will help to pay off our debts!
She told me that there are people right next to them who sell homemade salsa. They are Christians and it is enjoyable to talk to them. They have God in their regular life, they talk of Him in their everyday talk, so she knows that they are real, not just a go-to-church-on-Sunday type Christian. So, it is nice to have neighbors like that!Tim and Wes are the ones who get up early, load the truck and set up our stand at market. I talked to Tim in the evening and he started by telling me, “I am on the edge of falling asleep right now, and that is how I feel at 4:30 in the morning when I get up to load the truck for market.” Yes, Tim and Wes get up very early to get to the farm and load up all the refrigerated produce on the truck. The evening before, everything that was not perishable had been loaded. Wes drives the 15 or so miles into town at 55 miles an hour, since that is only how fast the truck can go. Tim follows, trying to keep his eyes open. He says that sometimes he gets hungry and speeds past Wes to go buy doughnuts! Our spot at market is in the back, so it is necessary to get in there early, before the others come that are in front or someone may take our spot. Tim said, “By the time we get there, I am awake, but Wes is still waking up, so I am always talking loud and cracking jokes and stuff. But Wes does talk when I am not doing something I’m supposed to! I am happy to follow his lead in arranging the vegetables and setting up the tables.” Tim went on, “It really is a good male bonding experience. I have found that there is some type of spiritual bonding that happens. It is hard to explain, but when you’re both tired, you know, it works a brotherly love, when you both are doing things out of your comfort zone, it works a deeper relationship with the other person. You both would rather be in bed at home, but it builds an appreciation for the other person.”
They have everything set up by 7AM and soon after that the “cavalry,” as Tim calls it, comes in. This is basically the other people who come take over for Wes and Tim. He says that what is funny is that they come just waking up and yawning while Tim and Wes have been up for so long already that it does not feel early anymore! It all depends on your perspective. I was thinking when Tim was telling me this, how most of the time we are so fixed on our own feelings that it is almost impossible to grasp how it is for the other person. Then I thought about how God has such a different perspective on things and I sure want to get out of the realm of “me” so that I can experience His perspective.When Tim is done at market, he hurries off to other work, mainly plumbing jobs!
I asked him, then, why he does market and how he feels about doing this every week, since it didn’t sound like it was a very easy thing to be doing. He gave me a list of reasons. One is to do it because you know God wants you to do it, even if you don’t like it. The next reason is so that you learn to enjoy it, despite how you feel; sometimes it is because that is what his role is and other times it is an issue of feeling obligated to do it. Tim said, “For me, it is a mixture of all those. I had not done it for two years, but this year I began doing it again because no one else was doing it! I know that I benefit in the spirit from it, but I don’t really have an ultra holy reason. I want to please the Lord and I also feel a commitment to Wes, to the farm, to the people of God and even to those who have yet to come and join us in the work, so I am happy to do it. I am 100 percent supportive of Wes.”
It was busy when I arrived at market around 7:30AM, even though some rain began to sprinkle out of the sky. The rain didn’t last long and it sure didn’t keep the people away. It was a busy day! Tim and Wes had arranged the vegetables and plants very attractively on the tables, complete with price signs. By the way, Patty makes all of our signs and they look so nice. I think having the prices displayed helps things to sell well. Patty also comes to market almost every Saturday and takes money and records everything we sell. So she was there, as well as Pavlina and Mederana. We stood behind the tables and said many “Good Morning’s” to people, smiled a lot, helped people bag their items, replenished the stock of vegetables, answered people’s questions and engaged in pleasant conversation with them. More than a couple people asked what you do with kohlrabi. Well, I like to peel it, cut it in matchstick pieces, steam it and eat it with butter and parmesan cheese. Pavlina piped up behind me, “Or fry it with bacon!” I also eat it raw. Then they ask what it tastes like. It tastes somewhat like a broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage flavor, since it is in the same family. A lady asked how long you would roast beets for. We didn’t know! But they do take about as long as a potato to get soft when I boil them! Someone asked which beets are the ones that have the red and white rings when you slice them. So we showed her. We had jalapeno peppers this day, also, and the men bought those! Most of them were going to make salsa. Three different ladies asked about mint plants and we decided to dig some mint and pot it for next week, since people have been asking about it lately. We had pickling cucumbers and dill, so some people bought both to make dill pickles. One lady came and bought our three remaining bags of kale, even though we told her it was pretty strong, seeing it has been hot out. We sold all the swiss chard, also, which never happens! Pavlina told me it was because I was there! I don’t think so; I think people were just wanting their vegetables because it had been a holiday the weekend before (July 4th). People bought a lot of beets and the bunched carrots were gone before 10 o’clock.I really, really enjoyed going to market. I hope to go more often, if things work out for others to care for my children. It was very fulfilling to hear people comment on how nice something looked that I helped pick and package. It was wonderful to know they were happy with it. It was great, too, to work with the other ladies (and Wes). There really does come a bonding in the unity of the Spirit when you work together on something and accomplish it.
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