Market Farming

[Richard Moyer <ramoyer AT gmail.com>]

How would you recommend helping students understand where food comes from?

Am teaching an online course this summer.  Including labs.  One lab goes along with class concepts of carbon cycles, foodsheds, watersheds, food webs, etc.  And with human microbiomes and how to nourish them (see Michael Pollan's article at NYT Magazine.) 

Here's the lab draft, please comment and help me improve:

1)  Visit one or more local farmers markets (this will be in July.)  Photodocument (with permission) the variety of foods available.  Compare prices with a local supermarket (excluding sale items).

2)  Goal is to buy, locally, all the primary ingredients for the complete meal, from the one(s) who grew the foods.  Take pics (with permission) of the foods and the growers.  Ask for recipes.  

3)  During purchase, ask farmer/grower if they could please share why they grow and why they sell direct to consumers.  If they are still willing to talk, ask farmer/grower where the crop nutrients (fertilizers, etc) come from, and what they depend on for water.

4)  Cook this locally purchased meal and share it with at least one other.  (Been doing this part for years, as an in class activity with a single food at a time.)

5)  Reflect, with writing, pics, narrative, etc, on the experience of sourcing a local meal.  Would you be willing to do this more often?  Explain reasons why/why not.

Suggest changes to any or all of the above.  Again, goal is to help students connect with the abstract concepts of foodsheds, watersheds, food webs, and to experience a single supply line: one grower to one eater.

Thanks for any and all feedback!

Richard Moyer

Castlewood, VA