Beating High Organic Produce Prices

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 09:47PM
Michael Chacko Daniels

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Organic Fruit for a

Dollar a Pound in the

Heart of the City

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By Michael Chacko Daniels

Wednesday is Market Day  in the Heart of San Francisco.

Under the watchful eyes of ancient heroes and law givers, in one of the most cosmopolitan small cities in the United States, you can purchase some of the best priced, tastiest organic fruit and vegetables from my favorite market--The San Francisco Heart of the City Farmers' Market.

Getting to the Heart of the City Farmer's

Market, traversing sidewalks and streets

that contribute to San Francisco's

21st Century sobriquet--

Litterland-by-the-Bay,

can be a challenge.


Getting to it, through the vibrant,

immigrant-enriched Tenderloin,

which continues to be oppressed

by an invasion of drug
 
dealing and other crime,

can be depressing.


But the prices are very good for

organic and pesticide-free produce;

always a healthy antidote to the

other stuff, you know the stuff

hawked through supermarkets,

guaranteed to make addicts of

us, or their not-so-distant

relatives, you know the stuff

palmed-off at urine-feces-phlegm-

painted street corners, whose final

promise  is chemical hell.



Today, the Tenderloin-dysfunction

invaded the Farmers' Market:

I am at Larkin and Edddy with T.,

when I discover the police have

blocked off Eddy going East.


What happened? I inquire of a

young man who is leaning against

a wall, observing the police activity.


A man knocked down a woman

crossing the street, and drove away.

They took her to the hospital . . .

They have caught the driver at the

Civic Center Bart station, he says,

sadness buried in his eyes.


T. says a prayer for the fallen woman.


[Jaxon Van Derbeken reports in the San Francisco Chronicle, August 18: "An auto theft suspect who sped off after being spotted by San Francisco police struck and critically injured a 62-year-0ld woman Wednesday as she was crossing a street in the Tenderloin, authorities said."]


At the farmers' market, the vendors

are certain the driver was arrested

at the nearby Bart station.


A 2005 Mitsubishi car wears a garland

of yellow crime-scene tape at

the market's western end.


Well, what can one do in a city that frequently doesn't know how, despite having some of the brainiest people in the world?


Pray for the fallen and caution

oneself that San Francisco,

the Most Beautiful City in the World,

is a very dangerous place for

pedestrians, both on its sidewalks

and its streets.


According to published statistics, San Francisco is among the 50 most dangerous cities in the U. S. for pedestrians. And, as we know, no city can do well without its pedestrians.

Heart of the City Farmers' Market Information:

"Produce grown by farmers on their own land is sold directly to consumers at a Certified Farmers' Market. Because there are no middlemen involved, farmers control their own prices. This means that costs are lower for the consumer and profits are greater for the farmer . . . .

"All farmers who sell at the Certified Farmers' Market must be certified by their local county agricultural commissioner to sell only what they grow themselves. Every week there is a wide variety of produce to choose from . . . many at 35% below supermarket costs.

"The San Francisco Heart of the City Farmers' Market operates every Wednesday from 7:00 to 5:30 and Sunday from 7:00 to 5:00 in United Nations Plaza near the Civic Center. Easy access to public transportation. For more information call: 415-558-9455." 

--Heart of the City Farmers' Market Flyer

Article originally appeared on New River Free Press International: Visions of Survival & Improvement by People Remaking Our Small Planet (https://indiawritingstation.com/).