Farmers Market manager speaks out
Reader opinion by Hilda Swartz
At the Sonoma City Council meeting (10/21) it became apparent there is a misinformation and misunderstanding on the council and the community about the operation of a Farmers Market.
Farmers Markets are a legal entity created by the state of California to serve farmers. For many, many years, Farmers Markets were comprised of farmers only. Over time, the state permitted farmers to invite crafters, prepared food vendors, etc., as “special guests” with the proviso that these special guests are in a separate section of the market and do not take precedence over the farmers in the vendor selection process.
The Sonoma Valley Certified Farmers Market provides a service for our farmers, and for you, the community. It is certified to protect you, the customer. A Growers’ Certificate assures you that the items for sale are produced in a certain location and by the person listed on the certificate. Certification means a safe food source. It also means it must be produced in California.
The Sonoma Farmers Market has added some processed food items which enhance the market, however not junk food. The widely-praised corn dogs are made with chicken and cooked in canola oil, chocolate is good for your heart and smoothies have calcium, fruit and protein. A few crafts (which must be created/made by local individuals) are added to the mix of vendors.
It is the responsibility of the manager and the board, directed by the rules and regulations of the market, to limit vendor participation in many ways, in order to serve the entire demographic of the community who attend the market. Growers are selected, first, from the Sonoma area; secondly from Sonoma County, and then from out of the county.
It is fair to be faithful to the people that made our Farmers Market so very successful. We do have turn-over – at least 20 over the last 20 years; we lost five in one year due to health reasons. So, we can and do replace vendors through attrition.
Many of our growers attend other markets within Sonoma County as well as other counties. They travel to many areas of the state so they may continue farming. The farmers need all the support we can give them. Farmers Markets were established so the grower may provide food direct from the farm without going through a middle-man. The farmer has many state and county rules which must be followed, and many rules and regulations are also placed on a Farmers Market.
Hilda Swartz is the manager of Sonoma Valley Certified Farmers Market, which operates the Tuesday evening market on the Plaza (May-October) and the year-round Friday morning market in Depot Park.
Empty promise
Editor: I looked forward with anticipation to your story on Mike Thompson. I thought how timely when I have been trying to find out how as a representative from Northern California he could possibly be against the health care bill. I was a stanch supporter of Rep. Thompson for many years, when he represented our area in the California Legislature. It seemed we could trust him to consider the needs of the citizens first. Instead of finding out anything about his positions, we readers were treated to a fluff piece. I think as a community newspaper, you could and should do better. I still don’t know if Rep. Thompson has joined the big interest groups, the republicans, and the blue dog democrats, in being against health care, as rumored.
It would be nice if instead of the gossip, one could use your newspaper for factual reporting.
Peggy Yiakis
Sonoma
Keep market as is
Editor: Someone much wiser than me once said, and I quote: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I personally love the Farmer’s Market just the way it is. Why else would the market be voted “the best in Sonoma County?”
How could an accolade such as this come about if it were not a reflection of Hilda Schwartz’s leadership and management of the board and the market. I say leave her and her board alone and leave the existing vendors in place. There is great variety as there is a lot of produce that cannot be grown in this Valley.
Also a plus, most of the children in this Valley who attend the market love the corn dogs, which by the way, are made with chicken.
In closing, are you aware how popular this market is with the whole Valley plus all its visitors? Are you aware it is, to some, the high point of their summer and they look so forward to these nights in the Plaza? You want to fix something – why not go after the people who use our quiet residential streets as freeways and have no regard for speed limits or give a thought to safe driving – there is something that really needs your attention!
Paula Gentry
Sonoma
Objects to social promotion
Editor: I applaud your several editorials concerning the very long-standing and devastating, in my opinion, policy of promoting students who have not mastered the basic subjects at their grade level. As a former upper-elementary school teacher with some 30 years experience, I was successful in retaining students – usually not more than one a year – who could not read, write, spell or do arithmetic at their grade level.
After working with those same students for a second year, I can attest that, except in two cases which had circumstances that were beyond my control, each student became confident of his or her ability to learn and did, indeed, master the basic subjects. In several cases when I discussed retention with the child’s parents, they could not understand why the child had been promoted in the first place. I should point out that I was not teaching in California.
Retaining students can be done without the stigma that goes with it when both parents and students understand doing so is in the best interest of the child. I would hope your questioning this policy of “social promotion” is something that could change if indeed that policy exists in our Sonoma Valley schools.
Mary Logasa
Sonoma