“A Visit to Austin’s HOPE Farmers Market and a Farmer Shares a Fable”

2009 October 28

by Ari Guerrero

Evan on the prowl for his Daily Juice

Sunday marked the grand opening of the HOPE Farmers Market at the Fader Fort on the East Side at 414 Waller St at E. 5th. They’re open from 11-3, every Sunday, giving you plenty of time to recover from Saturday night to make your weekly grocery run.

At the market, we scored some delicious veggies, rejuvenating Daily Juice, listened to some sweet tunes AND discovered the fountain of youth. Yea, that’s right… THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH!

While stopping to look at his beautiful veggies, we got a chance to chat with Edgar Chaves, founder of Finca Pura Vida, over life in Costa Rica. We agreed that we missed the food most of all. Good food is so accessible there.

Edgar noted a very interesting dichotomy between the US and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica it is customary for low-income families to grow their own food and eat organically, whereas the rich buy into corporate foods and eat out. Here, low-income families feel they have have no choice but to buy into corporate foods while the rich and middle classes eat organically.

Edgar offered the parable of his rich aunt who lived in the city. He told me that she would always ridicule him for eating like a “chancho” (Tico Spanish for pig). His aunt liked to eat out in the city, and boasted of the delicious, western food companies that were quickly flooding the nation. “That aunt died of cancer”, Edgar bluntly stated.

The Great Edgar Chaves and his "Organic Heirlooms"

He continued, “And as for me? Never better. I was in a terrible accident with a wild bull in which I broke my shoulder blade and collarbone in four places. The doctors said I would have to spend 4 weeks in a hospital. In two days I was back on my farm working. I didn’t need medicine or doctors. It’s all in my diet.” His food is like Samson’s hair; it’s his fountain of youth. Alright, so maybe it’s not a “fountain”, but rather a cornucopia of youth.

I brought home Edgar’s veggies and words of wisdom and shared them with my visiting parents over dinner. They both said they used to grow and harvest their own food as children. But with money comes the ability to buy in to convenience, so those values and lessons got left behind on the farm; no room for them in the city. So it’s up to us to get it back the “good ole days” our parents lived through.

So how do we get back to the way things were?

1. Eat well. You’re smart, you know what that means. If McDonalds says that their McRib sandwich is now “organic” you should know better than to skip over and eat it.

2. Eat mostly Veggies and shop LOCALLY and organically if possible. Visit the HOPE Farmers Market! It’s a great way to do both!

3. Grow a Veggie garden this fall. Don’t have space? Do you know someone who does? Start a community garden at someone else’s house! SHARE WHAT YOU GROW!

It starts with you folks.

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