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| Jon and Miriam Haas of Community Markets. |
Photo Credits: Miriam Haas; Jill Nelson
“We’re about creating clusters of people who are passionate about getting good food,” says Miriam Haas, founder and manager of Community Markets, the small consulting company behind about twenty of the farmers’ markets in the New York City region. Six of these markets occur within the City's five boroughs, including a popular array of weekly stands in Dumbo and Park Slope. The company, which Miriam runs with her husband Jon, helps organize locations for regional farmers and bakers to pedal their locally-grown produce and locally-made products to the urbanites that want them. Though Haas’ largely focuses on increasing access to organic, local food, she believes these establishments bring communities together and helps them thrive.
Building a Market
Her endeavor in food organizing began in 1991 in Ossining, New York. Haas and fifteen other famlies started a co-op to satisfy their increasing concerns about chemicals like Alar tainting their produce. “It came out of a need to find organic produce for our young children,” Haas explains. Quickly, however, ordering for and operating the co-op became too time consuming and overbearing. Haas wondered if, " it would be easier if I started a farmer's market and got the farmers to come into my town to sell produce." What began with two farmers in the first year, expanded to three in the second, and eighteen years later, Community Markets manages approximately twenty markets in the region.
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But growing Community Markets wasn't as easy as it sounds. “I went to my local town meeting in Ossining and asked if I could start a Farmer’s market. They had some questions. They were afraid people might hurt themselves, slip and fall, or get sick from the food,” Haas explains. She persisted, however, and finally persuaded her community to try a market in a part of town largely vacated by local businesses. "By the fifth year," Haas says proudly, "we had a little market going and the Chamber of Commerce gave us an award for what we had done to bring people back into a part of town that nobody came to anymore."
Based on her success in Ossining, Haas expanded to other local communities interested in sustaining their own weekly markets, or places in the suburbs that she suspected might be able to make a market work. "Green Market had started in the seventies, and here we were in the nineties without many markets," Haas explains. " The biggest challenge was to stop people from going down to the City."
Watching Food Trends
"I've seen a lot of trends," Haas says. Among these, she's witnessed the rise in popularity of organic farming. "At the time when I was first looking, there weren't that many organic farmers in the Northeast. It took me four years to find an organic farmer." Then, when she had the resources to supply each of her markets with an organic farmer, along came the CSA movement. "The CSAs created a different selling opportunity for organic farmers," Haas reflects. Eventually, the CSAs pulled some of the farmers from Community Markets. "Slowly, I started gathering organic farmers to come back. I think we're on sort of a level field now . . . Some of the farmers really enjoy relating to people and finding out what the people want them to grow. It's feedback for them."
And Haas is always looking for new opportunties. Though the farmers' typically sell their produce at Community Markets from June to November, Haas and her team forged two indoor markets last year. Plans to expand this winter, including a potential indoor market in Brooklyn, are already in the works. "Indoor markets attract less people because they're a new phenomenon, but I do think they're the next big thing."
Seasonal Treats
Haas, who tried her own hand at farming with her husband Jon when he was in school, has always had a garden. "I'm constantly planting things, and putting things into the ground. To me it's a been a lifelong love." So what's on Haas' plate this winter? Chopped brussel sprouts tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper then baked in the oven. Also some butternut squash soup. And don't forget the apples. For more recipes and a list of seasonal vegetables, check out www.communitymarkets.biz.
About the Author
Erin Harte -- Editor, The Leaflet NYC
Erin is a freelance writer, editor, and educator living in Brooklyn, New York.
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