By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The Mobile Community Food Markets held in Grafton over January and February continue strong, organizers say, and more dates have been added – March 24, April 7 and 21, and May 5 and 19.
From 2 to 3 pm on these days, visitors to St. Andrew’s United Church will find the basement stocked with locally-sourced and -prepared produce and some prepared foods. It’s similar to an initiative they have run at the Community Health Centres of Northumberland Port Hope location, Food Market Co-ordinator Joelle Pegg said during one recent visit. And a United Way Northumberland grant enabled them to see if a mobile market might be sustainable.
The initial dates were so well received, that additional dates were arranged.
“And hopefully keep going – that’s our intention,” Pegg said – “as long as there’s interest and people are coming.”
There is also the intention to open a second location in Colborne, or possibly Alderville, when the right site can be found. And beyond that, if the funding can be found, there’s the hope to establish more locations.
Locations are chosen on the basis of serving what Pegg termed a food desert – a community without a supermarket, where it is necessary to drive elsewhere to stock a pantry.
And they are an opportunity to provide locally-sourced and -prepared foods that are not prepackaged in quantities that lead to waste. What a shopper will find is a table of individual carrots, apples, turnips, parsnips and other produce, as well as coolers containing small packages of meat and individual frozen soups and meat pies.
“In most cases, our customers are seniors living by themselves or with a partner,” Pegg pointed out.
“No senior wants to buy a whole bag of something when you are going to eat, at most, half of it.”
Even cabbages are sold precut into prewrapped sectors.
“Instead of buying one cabbage and eating cabbage day after day, it’s nice to have a rainbow of fruits and vegetables instead,” she said.
“And it’s a way of encouraging people eating fruits and vegetables.
“Besides helping people who are food-insecure, it’s good for environmental purposes to shop local and not have food transported all over the world to get here,” she continued.
“It helps the local economy and local farmers, and highlights food sovereignty. We can grow our own food. It’s nice to have pineapples and bananas but, if we had to, Ontario grows enough food to feed us.”
St. Andrew’s is located at 137 Old Danforth Rd. in Grafton. There is elevator access to the basement, and the Keurig will be ready if you’d like a warm-up before you leave with your finds.
