Farmers' Markets of the Heartland

INDIANA

Indiana Indiana’s local food community is so deep, there’s an entire book to describe it. Home Grown Indiana: A Food Lover’s Guide to Good Eating in the Hoosier State is written by university professors Christine Barbour of Indiana University (Bloomington) and Scott Hutchinson of Purdue. The authors remind us that every county in Indiana holds local treasures waiting to be tasted, and that one should look beyond the corn alongside the interstate highway to seek out flavorful foods. Yet as with other heartland states, or any state with rich soil that has been planted with monoculture crops, the goal of localizing Indiana’s food system is not without its challenges. One forward-thinking producer suggests that the state is in a commodity rut and has not been active in helping growers break into new markets. But producers and eaters are clearly leading a charge for small-scale, diverse food production. Indiana’s food culture is deep and rich. It has its own state pie, for instance, and lives up to its reputation as the crossroads of America. Many farmers in southern Indiana count Louisville, Kentucky, as the nearest metropolis, and growers in the northwest part of the state make almost daily treks to Chicago to deliver their food. 96 indiana Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market Bloomington, home to Indiana University, has an outdoor market with a distinctly festival-like flair and a mix of official and impromptu entertainment. There is a covered stage with a full schedule of performers every Saturday, and improvised performance spaces crop up in different areas around the market. One young man sits on a stone wall playing guitar. Step dancers clomp on wooden pallets , with a band rocking out behind them and children dancing along in front. Across the way a violinist plays classical music. Somehow the performers do not interfere with each other, and all contribute to the sense of occasion. A portion of the market is devoted to prepared foods, and a dozen or more shoppers relax along a kneehigh wall with a pastry or fresh tamale from Feast, catching up and soaking up the atmosphere. The current location of the market is next to the city building and features permanent awnings that shelter the farmers. Farmers pull right up to their stalls and sell directly from their trucks. Forty eager shoppers wait, canvas bags in hand, to buy corn from the back of a particularly popular truck. The line did not diminish over several hours. Although it seems that most farmers’ market shoppers are environmentally aware, this was the one where I spotted no plastic bags. Apparently these shoppers never forget the canvas bags at home or in the trunk of the car. Some shoppers carry big bags of popcorn tucked under their arms. The fragrance is prominent, a reminder of Indiana’s popcorn heritage: indeed, Indiana native and Purdue graduate Orville Redenbacher launched the nation’s most popular popcorn brand from Valparaiso in the 1970s. Founded 1975 95 Vendors Saturdays, April through November Showers Common, 401 North Morton Street, next to Bloomington City Hall Tuesdays, June through September 6th and Madison Streets indiana   97 Farmers of the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market»Jeff Hartenfeld of Hart Farm has been selling at the Bloomington Market for more than thirty years and also wrote a book with his wife Jennifer Meta Robinson, The Farmers’ Market Book: Growing Food, Cultivating Community. Not surprisingly, Robinson thinks of community first when thinking about her farmers’ market. “I find that people want a social supplement in addition to a nutrition supplement ,” she says. “Going to the farmers’ market is more difficult than driving to the supermarket, so people are coming for more than the food.” It’s clear that people are enjoying the social experience as they linger, canvas bags full. “Every day people live in their own worlds. The market is a place where their worlds intersect with others,” says Robinson. The Bloomington market is in a university town, and Robinson is not the only faculty member who sells there. Robinson lists her fellow faculty: “We have a biologist selling honey and a geologist selling wild gathered things.” Others sell beef and vegetables. Robinson and her husband sell fresh-cut flowers and nursery plants such as raspberries, horseradish, and rhubarb. She has had her students conduct ethnography projects wherein they observe how people interact at the market. These new visitors to the market...