A Day in the Life of a Market Manager

Market Twinsies!

One of my jobs, the one I could even say I love the most, is my position as the Market Manager at the University Farmers Market. When I was looking at schools for my undergraduate degree, one of the pulls to the University of Northern British Columbia was access to a farmers market on campus that I had a goal to be involved with in one way or another. In my first year I volunteered every week setting up tables and helping vendors load their goods and became the volunteer coordinator. In year two I was voted in as the chair of the committee and helped with everything from events to wearing a carrot suit when needed. Now in my 3rd and final year I have taken over as the manager and am putting my experience and passion to use every week.

Though the UFM runs Tuesdays from 11-3pm during the school year there are still lots of things happening before market day from organizing special events, to coordinating layouts and finding new vendors. The main event for me is market day. Here is a look at a day in the life of a market manager on a typical market day:

Harvesting in the PGPIRG Garden

7:00- The mad dash begins as I catch the first bus up to the University to begin my day. My first order of business is to get to Campus in time for a quick shot of coffee from Degrees Coffee Co to get me through the busy day ahead.

8:00- As I was also the gardener for the summer, harvest time is still in progress. I arrive at the PGPIRG Garden as early as possible to pick and wash the weeks ripe vegetables to bring to sell at the UFM.

9:00- Set up begins in the NUSC event space that houses our weekly market. I arrive before volunteers and prepare the space for vendors to arrive. Set up may seem similar every week but behind the scenes a complicated game of Tetris is happening with vendors preferred spaces, last minute cancellations and purposeful placement of each type of goods fighting it out with weekly special events for the ideal space.

The Market Before Vendors Arrive

10:00- As volunteers arrives to help we meet vendors at the loading docks and load their goods onto carts. Volunteers then head to the market and I assign them their table for the day.
As I learnt from our first market we need to carefully map out who is using which outlet to make sure we don't lose power, which happens more often then you'd think.

11:00- The Market opens to the public! As eager customers begin to trickle in last minute set up is still going on. There are always a few late arriver's that need a bit of help getting going and I rush around the room to ensure vendors have every thing they need to get through their day, be it small change, an extra chair or even a coffee.

Market Time 

12:00- The rush hour is on and we see a few hundred people through the market during the busy lunch hour. I make sure there is enough change for jams and kale and answer questions to people coming through. As it is my third year at the market there are a lot of familiar faces and I always try to say hello to everyone.

13:00- As the peak traffic time ends a slower paced market atmosphere emerges and more people lounge in the chairs and chat with vendors. I take this opportunity to visit each vendor to collect weekly table fees and do my personal shopping at the same time.

14:00- If it is quiet enough and everything seems to be running smoothly I indulge in a 10 minute back rub from Kathy at Relax-in-chair. A guilty pleasure, which I have never regretted.

15:00- The second the clock strikes three the mad dash for carts to leave begins. Unlike the morning as vendors trickle in over an hour the exit is much more instantaneous. Volunteers struggle to get carts fast enough to meet vendor itching to get back to the farm or pick up their kids.

Crunchette the UFM Mascot

Oh no! We find a cooler with sausages left behind by a vendor and call them straight away to let them know we have them and arranging pick up for the next morning. Sometimes if we are lucky someone leaves a sweet treat for volunteers to thank them for their much needed hard work that day. Other times I buy cookies to show them how much we love having them around!

16:00- Accounting is finished and we deposit revenues for the day at finance before they close at 16:30. Clean up finishes and we make it so it looks like the market had never happened.

17:00- At the end of a busy day I am always thankful the Thirsty Moose Pub is our neighbour (and another job of mine). Once everything is tidied and the last of the tables are taken down I grab a chair at the bar and sip a local brew to finish out the day.


As you can see it is a busy day full of challenges and there is never a dull moment. It is a happy place to work, a place full of good food, homemade crafts and lovely people. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

See you on Tuesday,

Melanie

"What makes the farmers market such a special place is that you're actually creating community around food." -Bryant Terry

What I Learned from A Year of Living Locally

Can you believe it has been an entire year since I switched to local? That is a year of supporting local businesses, eating delicious local food and discovering hidden gems close to home.

Ryerson University

In one year I...

• Lost 20 lbs 
• Paid off all my credit cards (How I Paid off my Credit Cards by Going Local)
• Learned how to make cheese
• Learned about the food system
• Discovered local business's
• Became a gardener
• Went on the local radio and news
• Learned about myself
• And spread the word of local

There were times when being a Locavore felt socially isolating but what I learned from this experience far exceeded any of the personal struggles I faced. I learned that eating local is just the tip of the iceberg of things we can do to live more sustainably. My eyes were opened to the flaws in the food system that became more obvious when I took the time to learn about my food and what I was consuming. And once you have been wisened to the ills of the world, it is difficult to ever go back.

"Live simply so others can simply live."- Mahatma Gandhi

Un-Local Night

I learned that I have changed, even if the world around me has not. I recently visited Toronto for the National Student Food Summit and was disillusioned with a city that used to feel like home, instead it felt like an urban sink hole where all the problems of society seemed to flourish. I know now that I can carve out the kind of life I want by making decisions every day that will benefit me as well as others.

My first week of un-local-ness culminated with a blow out un-local night at Earl's Prince George with friends. When the cloud in my head lifted the next morning I understood that though it felt good to be bad I still had a guilty feeling left over, a feeling I could be free from as an ethical consumer.

I am a Locavore, I am a Freegan, I am a Change Maker.

Cheers to the end of a great year, and the beginning of a lifetime of local living.

XX Melanie

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

3 Typical Locavore Dinners

You only eat local? Wow you must be starving, how can you find enough to eat! Well here is a taste of what I eat for dinner and where it comes from. Being local is more delicious than you can imagine!

Dinner 1: When it's too hot to cook

Homemade Vanilla Maple Sun Tea (Check my Recipe page!)

• Green Tea, from the free shelf at UNBC
• Vanilla, from the free shelf
• Maple Syrup, I brought back from the ByWard Market in Ottawa last summer

Prince George version of Caprese salad with:

• Basil, from my garden
• Cherrie Tomatoes from HSH Grocery
• Avalon Sharp Cheddar from Ave Maria's
• Balsamic vinegar & Olive oil, found on the free shelf
• Bread from the Farmers Market with Avalon Butter from Ave Maria's

Dessert

• Northern Haskap Ice Cream! From Frozen Paddle Ice Creamery a new vendor at the Prince George Farmers Market
• Orange, left behind by Couchsurfers

Dinner 2: When friends are coming over

This meal was created by the ingredients from the Hope Farm CSA box.

• Balsamic roast vegetables (made with Kale stems, beats & leaves, kohlrabi leaves), 
• Pizza with carrot & radish top pesto (Recipe), Pizza crust from the farmers market. 
• Potato salad
• Radish & Kohlrabi carpaccio (Recipe) 
• Fresh salad rolls with an Avocado left behind from more Couchsurfers

We used everything from root to tip! Thank you Hope Farm!

Dinner 3: When you harvest from your garden

This year I have a plot up at the PGPIRG Sustainable Learning garden at UNBC.  So sometimes dinner is what I bring home from the garden and make delicious! 
Garden Salad:

• Lettuce
• Kale
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Basil
• Salted Sunflower seeds from Wilson Square Market 
• Balsamic vinegar from the free shelf for dressing

Cheers to great dinners and even greater company!
XX Melanie 

"Nobody trusts the industrial food system to give them good food." - Joel Salatin 

The Half Way Mark!

It is hard to believe I have made it a full six months already without shopping in a grocery store or buying new things. March 1st represented the halfway point to my year long challenge of eating and living locally. In 6 months I have learned a lot about the local food movement and have gained valuable information about how I want to live after this challenge is completed. Things to take away already:

• I will continue abstaining from grocery stores and sticking with local suppliers. 
• I will expand my garden and preserve more so that my garden can feed me into the winter. 
• I will buy used cloths and on consignment where I have found better quality cloths this year and saved heaps of money. 
• I will cook with friends, share food and pass on recipes, building community through food. 

Sure my strict regime may seem a little unreasonable at times but I feel that it is important to make the difficult decisions in order to understand how each choice we make is apart of a ledger system. But after such a time when I no longer feel the struggle but am comfortable in my lifestyle I constantly think am I doing enough? Can I possibly get more local? Is it possible in other parts of the country more so then Prince George? I feel like there is much more I could be doing, cutting out take out and only cooking what I can buy here will help control where my food is doing from but at what cost, to my social life, to the small business I eat at, to my sanity? I don't have all the answers but I do know that so far my life has been possible and delightfully local and the next 6 months have only delicious things in store!

Cheers to the rest of the year,

Melanie 

"Believe you can and you are halfway there." -Theodore Roosevelt