Farmers' Feelings

I got the feedback on my dark post that I seemed to be bitter about farmers and I think that is somewhat true and not what I intended. I have a long and complex history with the farmers that goes all the way back to my start at Saturday Market in 1975.

I will likely never be able to tell or even write that history, because some of it is shameful and most of it is speculation and opinion with lots of untellable facts. So while I wish I could, I can't explain my complicated feelings about their organization.

I sell with them at Tuesday Market, and I shop there and at Saturdays every single week. I remember participating in a survey way back that asked how much I spend...it was a shocking amount really. My food purchases are not frugal; that's one area where I seldom look at prices and buy whatever I think I need or want and I try to always eat organic and healthy food with as much effort as I can put into it. So I am deeply grateful for the LCFM and all they bring to me, personally.

As Park Blocks neighbors they are vital to us. Our Market was always based on the availability of healthy food grown and made locally and that won't change. We as a community feel that they are a part of us and we generally wish for their success and prosperity.

That is, whenever it is not at the expense of ours. The history that I won't articulate includes times when our love has been tested, and we have tried hard to hold off judgement and wait and see how things play out, and in most cases things are fine. The beer garden turned out to be no problem as soon as they figured out that a local small producer was better than a local giant, and right now it seems perfect. I have never witnessed a drunk patron causing a problem for our Market and now that artisan alcohols are very popular I can see their wisdom in opening a space for that. They sell all kinds of wines and other alcoholic agricultural products over there and it isn't a problem at all.

That's one idea we were hesitant about and didn't publicly object to, and things went well. There have been lots of those directions that LCFM chose and some had good results and some did not. I objected strongly to the rewriting of history to wipe out the fact that Saturday Market started with the farmers in our midst in 1970 and there is no direct connection from this farmers market to the one started in 1915 and in no sense at all is LCFM 101 years old. But that was just a marketing idea that was badly conceived and very effective and doesn't change the identity of Saturday Market except when people use it to establish us as the little sister to the big brother when it is the other way around. For the record, I still object to rewriting history and will always counter that claim, which they word carefully now but still try to make. Farmers are millenia old but so are artisans so whatever. Always tell the truth.

That big sister role isn't too helpful so we don't brag about it much but it's there in our institutional memory. There are things that happened that were sort of because of that...spreading of wings kind of things and there were times when insulting things were said and done, but it isn't useful to go back and dissect that stuff. What does carry forward is that we remember them and the trust relationship is still strained. The most recent of those were serious and could have been damaging (I'm talking about the 8th St. closure idea) but people held to the higher ground of not getting offended and working together to make things better and organizationally that has always been our position and is today. We want mutual success and cooperation and we want a close relationship.

There are many ways we can help each other and many of those are in place. Tuesday Market is just one successful example when craft booths move in and help the market look full in the transition seasons. LCFM manages their members and SM manages ours. There are issues, but not big ones, and those of us who sell there generally like it. But there are culture clashes between the two organizations, and we usually hold our tongues and defer, or ask our manager to work it out diplomatically when the opportunity arises. A past Board chair and manager realized the essential practice of quarterly meetings between the two and happily that has continued effectively. So we do work together and we can.

So when I say co-managing a space is not possible there are caveats to that. Cooperating is certainly possible and desirable. We could probably explore quite a few areas where expenses could be shared and other things aligned to mutual benefit. The differences in culture are significant though, and are unlikely to change. We've adjusted to the different hours and their choices about HM days and they affect us, but we're still strong enough to succeed within that framework. Their promotions of their market benefit us for the most part, but lately their blurring of our identities is problematic. They've gone from wanting an identity that doesn't include us to one that co-opts us, and I'm not just making that up. Take a look at this video and tell me if you don't see someone holding up photos of my product trying to use it to promote theirs. In what marketing plan is that not unkind at best? We don't operate like that. I'm trying to take the high ground that any publicity is good publicity and remind myself that we show photos of their vegetables in our promotions...but really? They're recruiting our vendors when we are trying to book our own show. This does not appear to be cooperation to me.

But do I call KVAL and bitch? Do I storm over to this guy, whom I see most Tuesdays and complain? Probably not. I write it here in my semi-public soapbox to let a tiny slice of the public decide for themselves. I did mention to him that we viewed their use of "Saturday Farmers Market" as a banner headline for their ads as infringement on our brand...but it's a hard argument to make and I don't argue much. I made my point but I didn't call my lawyer. I feel the same about Holiday Farmers Market, but what can I do? Let's keep going with any publicity is good publicity.

I absolutely love many of the farmers and people I work with on Tuesdays and don't want to ever mess anything up with them. I like that little marginally-lucrative link with them and the public that doesn't find me on Saturdays and I am well aware that I might at any time say the wrong thing and get frozen out. I try not to criticize or bite the hand. I'm cheerful and cooperative and make the best of things. But culturally, time and time again I feel out of my element with them. Go read their handbook and read ours. Even our mission statements are different, and about half of our practices. Lots of our policies are radically different. I support their right to make policies and practices that serve their members and it's none of my business, and I merely observe these things and sometimes reflect on them.

Because you can tell a lot about an organization by the words in the public record. You can research these and it's all there to compare and think about. I trust that the city and county and the people who worked on the CPW study and the PSP placemaking have done that research and made those connections. These are two different animals, these markets that seem so continuous and so much the same. We are decidedly not the same. And that is by design, and has grown from the organizational direction each one has chosen.

And I do not think these should be blurred or combined into a hybrid that serves neither of us. I do not think that it would be a fantastic idea to put us together in any kind of blended space. While that is indeed my opinion it is based on research, experience, and forty years of history. This is now, but it does not cancel out the past. Looking forward, I prefer to stay in reality and not go for attractive concept.

What we have is working now. They need a better space and have asked for it, and if all goes well they will get it. We could use a few infrastructure improvements but nothing needs to change about the Oldest Continuous Weekly Handcrafted Market of its kind. We're pretty proud of that and no one else can claim it. Ever, as long as we keep going.

We also completely love our home in the Park Blocks and while some may dream of space somewhere else like EWEB plaza or wherever, we don't want to move. I can speak confidently for my membership organization on that. We wouldn't mind if the FSP "market" moved, but we don't want the farmers to move either. We sometimes resent how much of our resources go to supporting them with our greater expense for bathrooms, garbage sorting, etc., but their increased outreach for customers and community support hasn't hurt us too much so far. I'd like them to be more sensitive to our needs, but mostly that includes our responsibility to articulate them.

Someone suggested that I could toughen up and start competing like they do and using tactics to match...yeah, but no. When I sat at their Board meetings and took minutes for them, I tried to be a neutral observer and just record, but sometimes I just had to point things out. When they got rid of the percentage and gutted their budget so each one of them could pay less, most particularly the ones who earned a lot, I pointed out a couple of reasons why the percentage was a good thing. It helps you track income, for one, and it fosters ownership. When you are paying a big fee, you care more about how the money is spent and how organizational policies will help you continue to earn on that level. And the flat fee hurts those at the low end and benefits those at the high end. When you pay a small flat fee and pocket more profits, you have less investment in the market. It's another market for you, instead of something you are an integral part of. I personally am always happy to pay a high fee when it is my turn to, and enjoy that I am making it possible for others to build their businesses using our collective fees to help us all prosper. But then I am not making a fraction of what the big booths do at LCFM. And if I call them millionaire farmers, that probably does sound bitter, but I have no wish to be a millionaire and I am not envious in the least. I know how it feels to go from a maker to a manager and it didn't suit me. But everyone gets to set their own life path.

So, bitter? No, I'm not. I'm realistic about who we are on the south side and who they are on the north side. I enjoy them every minute and am always sorry when they close at three, although I kind of enjoy the quiet aftermath that we call "the vendor's hour." I love the farmers (except maybe a couple who don't particularly like me either) and I would say I have a bit of conditional love for LCFM. I certainly appreciate them, and want them close. I do not wish them any lack of success. But I am a bit mindful of their big boots. History still matters. Moving forward into the future is all well and good and we may not be able to escape it, but as I said before, I'm not following them down their road. It's a different branch than the one I'm on. Hopefully we continue to travel in parallel with some nice meeting places along the way.

I do wish I'd been brave enough to go to their dinner a few weeks ago. I'm kind of shy about calling myself one of their community. In addition to getting stronger I could get a bit braver and find a more comfortable place with the farmers. I'll try. Building trust starts over every minute and I'll keep working at it. I hope we all do.