Big Green Vegetable Machine
Mobile food market brings the farm to you
“Where’s the kale??”
It’s just about noon at Interfaith Towers senior living community in Poughkeepsie, where Dutchess Outreach’s mobile food market sets up shop every Thursday. From the sound of one woman’s words as she approaches the truck, they’re about to get a customer.
Each week, the truck visits four Poughkeepsie locations, delivering fresh fruits and vegetables for a discount price. They did in fact have the kale the lady was asking for — priced at just $1 per bushel. She also ended up walking away with apples and onions.
She was just one of the many eager customers that visited the Poughkeepsie Plenty Fresh Market from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m that day while it was stationed at the towers. From the moment the truck pulled up, there were people gathered outside. Most of the patrons were residents, and they came prepared.
As volunteer Kristen Semple explains, many low-income senior citizens receive a weekly $4 coupon that can be redeemed at farmers’ markets. This is done through the federal Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. However, for obvious reasons it can be difficult for the elderly to get to these markets. That is where Poughkeepsie Plenty comes in.
“We show up right to their doorstep,” says Semple, a senior at Marist College who has volunteered with Duchess Outreach since the summer. The truck also accepts SNAP, the federal food assistance program, and thanks to their new iPad gadget they accept credit cards now too.
Customers who possessed the $4 coupons took full advantage, making sure they got every penny’s worth of fruits and vegetables. And with low prices (potatoes were being sold at $2 per quart, and a small squash cost just $1), everyone got plenty of bang for their buck.
Even better, most of the produce is donated by farms where it would have otherwise gone to waste. These farms include Maple Ridge in Ulster County, Hops Hollow, and Brookview Farm. In addition, the Poughkeepsie Food Project grows some veggies themselves.
“I like seeing how much support there is with our farm partners,” says Cloud Bartoli, farm marketing manager for Dutchess Outreach. She added that their current goal is to obtain a permit that will allow the truck to stop anywhere and sell the food. For now, they have a specific permit to stop at Interfaith Towers as well as on the corner of Eastern and Bixby each Thursday near low-income housing. On Wednesdays, they visit the Family Partnership Center and Maplewood Apartments, all in Poughkeepsie.
Semple volunteers at the truck on Thursdays, with a Dutchess Outreach intern — a student at Vassar College — assisting on Wednesdays. After a while, Semple has started to notice the regulars, like the man who buys a singular apple every week. While browsing this week’s selection, one woman recalled her previous purchase. “I made applesauce last time,” she said with a smile. “It was so good.”
In addition to enabling customers to be healthier, the truck encourages them to be environmentally friendly. Signs ask patrons to use as few plastic bags as possible to collect their produce, and reusable canvas bags can be purchased for $1.
Many of the customers that attend the market while it is parked outside Interfaith Towers are residents, but not all. One woman, Cassandra, works at nearby City Hall, and “rushed over” once she noticed that the truck was set up. “I try to tell my co-workers about it,” she said while purchasing that week’s haul.
Bartoli enjoys seeing the produce go straight from the farm to the townspeople. She loves being a part of that process from start to finish. “I like seeing things grow in an urban setting,” she remarked.
This is the second year that the market is in operation, although Bartoli says that volunteers initiated a coalition to start it several years ago. After two rounds of grant requests, they were accepted and given the resources they needed to purchase the trailer and keep the market going.
Now, the market runs from June to November, depending on how the season goes. Semple says they load the truck around 10 a.m. on both days, sorting through all the produce available to sell that week. This, she says, is when they need the most volunteers.
While the truck now gets many regular customers, Semple says they still get individuals visiting for the first time, thinking it may be a one time thing. In fact, if Semple and Bartoli get their way, Poughkeepsie may be seeing a lot more of the mobile market in the future.
