June 22, 2012
At Tuesday’s market, we had groups of kids from summer camp coming through again. There were a lot more children than last week, partly because only half of them made it to the market last week. The second group was on its way to the market when a child had a seizure on the bus. He was okay in the end but the teacher cancelled the trip in order to rush him to the hospital. So those kids are coming next week instead.
June 20, 2012
On Monday I earned my farmer’s tan the most authentic way possible. I got up at 4:56am in order to drive the 40 minutes to the Perilloux farm by 6am, which is when they start working every morning. I spent the next six hours helping harvest their crops for the Tuesday market. We picked okra, bell peppers, snap beans, tomatoes, kale, eggplants, cucumbers, cantaloupes, watermelons, and more. It was really cool learning what to look for with each crop, like size and color and firmness.
June 16, 2012
I spent this morning involved in an activity I never would have seen myself doing. One of the vendors got sick today—I don’t even know what was wrong with him but he felt terrible, apparently—and asked for one of the interns to help him. Although my work selling drinks under the welcome booth is obviously crucial, the market staff was generous enough to spare me for a couple hours. So I found myself standing between the knife-sharpener guy and the praline guy, selling ribeyes and link sausage instead of coffee and tea. The sick vendor just happened to raise cows, pigs, and chickens for meat— something I haven’t eaten in ten months and don’t plan to anytime soon. I used to eat meat quite happily but today I found myself digging through coolers of frozen dead animals with mild disgust.
June 15, 2012
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| my tomato salad: tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, salt, pepper |
June 14, 2012
Yesterday was a fantastic day, one of my favorites so far. It started off with a school visit on the West Bank that took all morning. We visited a different school last Friday, and both visits were short but fun breaks in office-day routine. CCFM arranges for these K-8th summer camp groups to visit the Tuesday market on a field trip, and we visit the schools a few days before to prep them. We explain how the market works, administer a three-question survey for research purposes (to see what the kids know before and what they learn), and we field their questions. Some of the questions are pretty funny, like asking if 21-year-old Tatiana is the daughter of 32-year-old Elisa, or if we ourselves are farmers. I love the kids’ interest and enthusiasm.
