An oasis of healthy food

Ward 8 of the District of Columbia is a food dessert.  Physically separated from The Capitol by the Anacostia river, it seems forgotten by the rest of the city.  Only two grocery stores supply wholesome food to the 70,000 people who live in the ~4,000 acres.  (The remaining food establishments are predominantly fast food restaurants and convenience stores).  And two groceries is something to celebrate; twelve years ago there were NO grocery stores in ward 8!


But there is hope for the future.  Yesterday, I attended the Ward 8 Farmer's Market!



The market is open twice a week: Tuesdays 3pm-7pm and Saturdays 9am-2pm.  There are five vendors: three farmers selling fruits and vegetables, one woman selling plants, and one stand with meats and baked items.  All vendors accept EBT (food stamps) and "Get Fresh Checks" (for seniors and WIC participants).


Panoramic view of Ward 8 Farmer's Market at ~10am (Saturday hours: 9am-2pm).



James, from UDC, talking with a patron.

In addition, a nutrition demonstrator from the University of the District of Columbia(UDC) Cooperative Extension Services (CES) attends every martket.  As a land-grant university, UDC fulfill's its mission, in part, by providing food demonstrations (read: free food samples) and nutrition education at farmer's markets.  This is where I come in.

I was recently hired by UDC CES as a Contract Dietitian within the Center for Diet, Nutrition, and Health.  I attended my first Ward 8 Farmer's Market as a trainee on Saturday, September 25th.

I went, I observed and, I have to admit, I was kinda disappointed.

Aside from the fact that it is a very small market (5 total vendors), it was very poorly attended.  In the five hours we were open for business, only 20, maybe 30, people showed up.  That is only six people per hour!  In comparison, when I visited the Falls Church Farmer's Market over the summer, I could barely walk because there were so many people!  Obviously this is an opportunity for new and creative marketing.

The members of the Ward 8 Farmer's Market Cooperative Board try very hard to provide and improve the healthy food options for the residents of Ward 8, but somehow their message isn't reaching the community.  Do you have any ideas on how to encourage community participation at this bi-weekly market?  If so, I would love to hear them!

This is a wonderful little market, just look at all the beautiful, fresh vegetables.  Please, help me spread the word!

Farmer Oberon DeFreitas.  Born and raised in Ward 8, Oberon really gives back to his community.



Carl Purvenas-Smith (right) of Terrapin Station Herb Far, LLC



Terrapin Station Herb Farm sells 117 different varieties of jams and jellis, all of which are free of HFCS!

Vanilla extract made with heavenly Madagascar vanilla beans

  

Lettuce

Today I took a trip to the local grocery, Superfresh, to pick up a few items in preparation for an upcoming camping / rock climbing trip.  Although I prefer to shop at other stores, Superfresh is within walking distance of my house and I did not want to drive for such a short shopping list: whole wheat flour (for cookies), ground beef, taco shells, taco seasoning, tomato and lettuce.

I easily found the tomato, beef, taco shells and seasoning mix.  Unfortunatly, they did not have an affordable whole wheat flour (only a 2 lb bag of organic flour for $3.49), so I will have to settle for reduced fiber cookies (using all purpose white) this camping trip.  The section of the store where I deliberated the most was the lettuce section.  Superfresh is a small store and do not carry a great variety.  Today they had the following options: red leaf lettuce @ $2.49, green leaf lettuce @ $1.99, or Boston lettuce @ $1.69.  Being on a budget, I chose the least expensive of three.  I selected the smallest head of Boston lettuce and tore off several of the outside leafs and put them in a plastic bag.  Four leafs was all I wanted for my camping trip (lettuce doesn't last long in a cooler).  Then I went to check out.

The lady at the counter helped me to obtain a Superfresh card (to get the deals).  As I was filling out the information, she said something along the lines of "I will check out your items while you are doing that, to not keep the line waiting."  The store was not busy.  I looked behind me.  There was no one else in line.  Odd.

So I paid for my items, placed them in my resuable bag, and walked out the door.  As I headed back home, I checked my reciept, as I usually do.  I paused when I got to the lettuce.  I was confused that it said $1.69 instead of a smaller fraction (per pound) of that price.  If it was not per pound, I wanted to go back and retreive the rest of the head.  If it was per pound, I wanted to double check the weight.

I re-approached my cashier and asked her if the Boston lettuce was sold per pound or per each.  She said, "per pound."  I asked why the "per pound" information was not on the receipt (since it very clearly said 0.59 lb @ 1.99 / lb -- Wt tomatoes 1.17" below the lettuce) and wondered if she thought my four leafs of lettuce actually weighed a pound.  In response, she repeated that the lettuce was per pound.

Perhaps motivated by the urgency in my voice, she followed me back to the lettuce section and pointed to the Boston lettuce sign, reaffirming that $1.69 refered to "per pound."  I looked at my 4 skimpy leafs and decided to take matters into my own hands.  I found a scale and set my lettuce upon it.  It was less than 1/4 pound!  I turned to tell the lady, but she was already walking back down the aisle, toward her "busy" cash register.

So I recruited the help of the produce guy, who confirmed that, although the red and green leaf lettuces were sold per pound, I had unfortunately choosen the only lettuce sold as "per each."  Trying to salvage the situation, I asked if I could take the remainder of the head I tore leafs from earlier.  Thankfully, the produce guy said yes.

Out of curiosity, I re-weighed the complete head of Boston lettuce and was slightly irritated that the whole thing weighed less than 1/2 pound.  Which means, I paid $3.38 / lb!  Ridiculous!

I wanted to approach the cashier once more and ask for a refund (and then purchase the other, less expensive variety), but I did not.  You can't return fresh food.

So in order to "let go" of this frustrating experience, I decided to write about it here, and let you know that lables at the Superfresh are not always clear and the cashiers do not always give the best customer service.

Ok, I feel better now.