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In the surreal world of New Mexico sunshine where hot air balloons meet snow-capped mountains, there exists a perfect place — adorned with adobe architecture and fine art — where a 100-day growing season has created a beautiful, bountiful community meeting palace of fresh greens and community spirit. It's called the Santa Fe Farmers' Market.
"If they can grow it in the Midwest, we can grow it in New Mexico," says
Matt Romero , former executive chef and 8-year farming veteran from Dixon in Northern New Mexico. On his 8-acre farm he grows 75 different varieties of scrumptious garden greens and vegetables over the season to sell at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market every Tuesday and Saturday. "One thing we're blessed with here in Dixon is abundant sunshine, cool evenings, cool mornings and very hot days. So it's perfect for just about anything
you want to grow."
Dave Fresques also sells at the market after careers in private industry and the government. He comes to farming both as a hobbyist and nurturer of nature's wonders, learning one lesson every year and passing it on to his youthful students who look to him for guidance as they pursue budding careers on the land. Dave reveals that the market has been good to him. "They tip me a lot you know. People just give me a dollar or two extra for just growing it and being there for them."
The Santa Fe Farmers' Market is where rich establishment residents meet the hard-working farmers to collaborate in harmony among the richness of the farm harvests. Sarah Noss , Executive Director of the Santa Fe Institute explains, "As a cultural community gathering place, this market really serves as the heart and soul of Santa Fe. It's where urban people can meet the rural people and interact with them on a weekly basis. It's where people can come every week and have a cup of coffee and check in with each other."
And it's an economic engine, says Tim Vos , Executive Director of the Santa Fe Farmers' Market. "The dollars exchanged here feed the local economy. These farmers are from the 15 counties of Northern New Mexico, and these dollars are feeding the countryside and keeping the rural culture and agricultural communities alive. When we're open and doing business, the people come here, and they also go to the restaurants and stores that are our neighbors and do business in the neighborhood. So the influx of population here,
the activity, it spreads out to the whole downtown area. The economic benefits have a ripple effect out across town."
Up until Fall of 2008, this 43-year-old market had no permanent home. Moving from parking lot to city facility made customer loyalty and market policy hard to sustain. But then something wonderful happened — the city decided to set aside an unused portion of the downtown area close to the rail yard — appropriately the former site of truck farms in the early 60s — and create a permanent structure on acres of warehouse and rail yard that could not only house the year-round farmers' market, but provide space for fund raising and the non-profit arm of the Santa Fe market — the Santa Fe Farmers' Market Institute.
The dollars exchanged here feed the local economy. These farmers are from the 15 counties of Northern New Mexico, and these dollars are feeding the countryside and keeping the rural culture and agricultural communities alive.
"The city ultimately bought the rail yard district," explains Sarah Vos, "and it took them about 13 maybe 14 years to actually finish it. So everybody's kind of amazed now. Like wow, we actually did it!"
Lisa Fox , vendor and Institute board member, is proud of the market too. "People from all over the world come to this market, and it's also a market where you're going to have a multi-cultural experience. What is so rich here is our agricultural history. And so you're going to find a variety here of produce and wild (things) like people will bring caletays and just wild herbs and things that you wouldn't necessarily see somewhere else or know about."
But the produce is only part of the story. For Matt Romero, vendor from Dixon, NM, "It's the people that make it special. At a farmers' market everybody's appreciative. They're happy that you're growing, and they thank you every day that you're there. Farmers' markets are kind of like we wish the rest of society would act — responsibly. They recycle their own bags. They bring back the same bag you gave them the week before. They care that you are successful, and they want to know how your family is doing. They want to meet your kids. In other words they want to know about you. They want you to be important in their life, and therefore, you become important to them and they become important to you. And the depth of that relationship is really the real payoff."
Executive Director of the market, Tim Vos adds his perspective. "It's one of the oldest markets in the state. It's also the largest and the only year around market in the state of New Mexico. At this market you find represented some highly skilled farmers who bring excellent, 'A #1' quality produce and a diverse range of products. Additionally, there's a lot of innovation with cutting edge farming going on — younger growers pushing the sustainability envelope and trying new things and really making a living here."
There are real people here who have their hands in the soil every day and convey that ethos — that spiritual content — to the society. I think people get a hit of that, and they like it.
Sarah Noss adds, "We want to have a local focus. We allow vendors from 15 northern New Mexico counties to come to the market. We want it to be direct sales from the person who grew it, so there's a rule that the farmer has to be here selling it. And over the years they've been really good about enforcing those rules, and I think it's kept the market really strong and kept its focus as a food market."
For the community, the market is a destination where people come to shop, get the freshest food possible, and also have a social experience. Customer James McGrath explains, "This is really like the social event of the week for me because I live out in the country. I can meet some friends and do all my shopping here."
Oklahoma City visitor Keith Daniel exclaims, "There's a lot more for sale here (than Oklahoma). I mean the scale of this is much larger. There's a lot more different types of items for sale here."
And Bridget Green comes to the market because "supporting the local food chain is extremely, extremely important because the food is good, but in it being good you're also not doing harm to the environment, to the economy, and to everything else by eating locally."
Tim Vos is more philosophical about the reasons people come to the market. "Only two percent of the population is farming in this country. People are cut off from the land. And whether they know that or not consciously, they feel a draw to the farmers' market to connect with that part of the world, that part of the universe. And it's meaningful
in the sense that people learn little by little where their food comes from and how it's grown and what it takes to produce that food rather than the traditional way of life since World War II where people were cut off from their sources of food not knowing where it came from as in a grocery store type of experience. This (farmers' market) is a much more textured reality, and there are real people here who have their hands in the soil every day and convey that ethos — that spiritual content — to the society. I think people get a hit of that, and they like it. And then they taste the food and the food is fresh and it tastes great and you feel it in your body."
To a person, the word that most regularly expressed the customer experience at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market was "great." Shama Beach summed it up well when she told us, "I believe in growing locally and eating locally and just the feeling of camaraderie and sense of trust about what the farmers are trying to do."
Her friend James becomes nostalgic. "I was kind of raised on a farm, and so this to me is like coming home."
Chef Kim Muller , who just opened her new Santa Fe restaurant Real Food Nation, is a realist and a food artist. "We'll never be like California because we have a 100-day growing season here, so there's limits to just how much we can do. But it's kind of amazing. I mean I've been in Santa Fe for 15 years and shopped the farmers' market through all its different locations, and it's cool to see that people are growing new things every year. As a chef it's really fun to come to market and 'wow, what can I do with this?' And you just kind of buy stuff and hope that you can think of something fun to do with it. Sometimes it's just a matter of not doing anything to it — just putting it out on the plate."
Whether you are a tourist or full time resident, you owe it to yourself to shop at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market, opened two days a week — Tuesdays and Saturdays from 7 to noon. If you can't make it, you can listen to the live radio broadcast direct from the market on KSFR 101.9 FM, hosted by Bob Ross, Jr., President of the Santa Fe Farmers' Market Institure. But you'll be missing one of the most attractive bright spots in all of downtown Santa Fe. Your impression of farmers' markets will change forever. This is one you shouldn't miss.
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