A Thousand Thanks to Our Volunteers
– well, actually 1,050 thanks!
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Market Programs Manager Anna Griswold and dedicated volunteers Sue Cosman,
Debbie Taylor, Ann Lavine, Cheryl Johnson, and Emily Pacheco pause for a moment in front of the Railyard Water Tower.
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Santa Fe is blessed with an abundance of nonprofit organizations that fill many needs in the community. However, none of them would be able to fulfill their missions without the dedicated league of volunteers who give unstintingly of their time and talent. In New Mexico, nearly 440,000 generous volunteers commit to a total of 41.1 million hours of service annually.
At the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, volunteer contributions are appreciated in a number of areas of the Institute’s work: office support and special event production are just two. At the Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, specially-trained volunteers help serve our customers at the fast-paced Information Booth and assist farmers as docents. In 2021, the Institute benefitted from 1,050 volunteer hours that added the equivalent of $29,925 in labor to the organization.
In the spirit of National Volunteer Appreciation Month, we are taking a look at what motivates the Institute’s current corps of 30 volunteers and expressing our deep gratitude for their service.
Sue Cosman and Ann Lavine
Sue Cosman and Ann Lavine staff the busy Information Booth on alternate Saturdays. As part of their responsibilities, they process EBT card withdrawals by participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They also introduce folks to the Double Up Food Bucks Program (DUFB). Ann shared that back in the 1970s, she and her husband Kevin were on food stamps when they faced a stretch of financial hardship. She said, “Now I’m able to volunteer at the Information Booth helping others use their SNAP benefits.” Through the DUFB program, people can double their food buying power while supporting the farmers with their purchases. “I always thank the customers for spending their dollars at the Market – the farmers appreciate it, she said.” Sue added, “People are so excited when they learn about DUFB – their faces light up. I feel like I’m really helping someone. This is especially true for some of the older folks who need a little more assistance.” Ann also marveled at the sense of community at the Farmers’ Market. “We’re the nexus for lost items. You would be surprised at the stash of credit cards, glasses, and other items we have collected by the end of a Saturday Market. People find the lost items and turn them in to us. We meet a lot of good-hearted people through Lost and Found.”
In addition to their job-sharing at the Information Booth, Ann and Sue both come from a tradition of volunteering. Before moving to New Mexico, Ann served in several volunteer leadership roles. The first was on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Resource Center, an organization providing assistance to domestic abuse survivors in Minnesota. She then raised funds as a Board Member of the Great River Shakespeare Festival when the organization embarked on a million-dollar campaign. At the Community Foundation in Winona, she gifted other organizations with grants. Sue’s dad was always a blood donor. Before moving to Santa Fe from Dallas she “followed his example and organized blood drives.” (The Institute is following Sue’s lead and organizing a blood drive in May. Please see the article below.) In Santa Fe, Sue also uses her business experience as a volunteer to assist seniors with completing their tax returns. She shared, “With volunteering in general, I always get more than I give.”
Debbie Taylor
Debbie Taylor joined the volunteer team at the Institute just as it was launching Tuesday morning Market Tours. An artist who spends a lot of her time alone in her studio, greeting guests attending the Market tours was the perfect outlet for her engaging personality. Debbie shares her love of food and cooking with tour participants. She commented on “the reverence that tourists have for New Mexico’s farmers. They realize how hard it is to grow food here and are impressed that they’re doing it the right [with organic practices] way.” She overheard one visitor saying, “Your dirt doesn’t look like ours!”
Emily Pacheco and Cheryl Johnson
Las Vegas, NM native Emily Pacheco has been working for the community good for decades: first as an employee for the Department of Public Safety and then at the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. After a brief retirement, she took a part-time position at Big Brothers Big Sisters, and ended up staying for 17 years. During that time, she worked with information technology specialist Cheryl Johnson. Emily and Cheryl share their extensive office experience and skill with data bases as volunteers in the Institute’s offices. Emily says that she volunteers because “it is a good program. I am very impressed with the SNAP and DUFB programs as administered by the Institute. They provide access to fresh food for people in the community.” She also enjoys volunteering at special events, especially when they are “very well-organized as was the December 8th Seed The Future celebration – it was fun!”
Anna Griswold
Time is a nonrenewable resource. Anna Griswold, the Institute’s Market Programs Manager, oversees volunteer activities. She effectively manages volunteer assignments and time. Ann Lavine shared that she was “impressed from day one with Anna for the way she treats volunteers. She wouldn’t ask me to squander one hour. We’re doing meaningful work from the minute we arrive until the minute we end our shift.” Anna Griswold expressed her gratitude to the volunteers, stating “we simply couldn’t do the work that we do, without volunteers!”
Asked if she had anything else to share, volunteer Ann Lavine issued an invitation. “If you are a supporter of the Market, I strongly suggest that you consider donating your time to the Institute!”
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The Nitty Gritty of Farming at
Hoy Recovery Program
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Spacious fields alongside the Rio Grande |
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Fresh Hoy eggs at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market |
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If you are a regular shopper at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Saturday Railyard Market, you have undoubtedly spotted the distinctive green eggs sold by the Hoy Recovery Program. Hoy maintains more than 40 acres alongside the Rio Grande in Velarde, of which two fenced-in acres are devoted to raising as many as 700 chickens, depending on the season. In Hoy’s brood, their Ameraucana chickens lay the popular green eggs, while their Buff Orpington chickens (named for their buff or cream-colored feathers) lay brown and tan eggs. The eggs are sold exclusively at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market.
Are you wondering whether the chickens’ diet determines the color of the eggs? Farm Manager Justin Fitzgerald confirms that the chickens are all on the same diet. They’re fed pellets with oyster shell to make the egg shells strong in the winter, but the rest of the year the chickens “mostly cruise around and munch on the natural vegetation and garden scraps such as spinach and squash.” Justin reports that collecting the eggs provides a natural rhythm to each day for the farmers at Hoy, a program that takes its name from the Spanish word for “today.”
With hundreds of chickens to tend, as well as sheep and pigs to raise, you might think that farming is at the core of the Hoy Program. Founded in 1974, the Hoy Recovery Program’s focus is actually providing addiction and substance abuse services which are “approached in a manner that is culturally relevant to our community, so that the the individuals served, as well as their loved ones, come away with an enhanced and strengthened outlook and a new lease on life,” Justin said. He added that that “recovery is hard work, not just the hard work that you’re willing to put in to stay sober, but also dealing with the internal struggles that led to the addiction. The hard work of farming, or in the kitchen, is a reflection of the hard work that you’re doing inside yourself.”
After the first 30 days in the residential program, where detoxification and intensive classes focus on the “nitty-gritty,” residents move to a transitional wing, where developing vocational skills is part of the program. Relapse prevention skill classes are given to support the healing process. In addition to the agricultural program for those who enjoy the open sky, individuals may acquire skills in the culinary arena and receive their commercial food handler’s license. If they are more interested in maintenance or carpentry, they are trained in facility upkeep and build picnic tables and dog houses, which are sold with proceeds reinvested in the program. The vocational skills developed at Hoy help to facilitate an individual’s successful community reintegration.
Justin shared that as he worked through the program himself, he found solace in the spacious fields with the grazing sheep. Recently named the Farm Manger, he says “I hope to offer more people the opportunity that I got.”
For now, Justin and his team continue to farm the land one day at a time, and bring their eggs, lamb, and pork to the Saturday Railyard Market each week. Take home a dozen eggs and enjoy Eggs Benedict for Sunday Brunch! Create the perfect Eggs Benedict with is classic recipe for Hollandaise Sauce.
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Opening of the Tuesday Railyard Market |
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On Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at 9:30am, a New Mexico School for the Arts septet performs a brass fanfare to herald the opening of the Tuesday morning Railyard Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. Enjoy this free pop-up concert under the water tower.
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With Your Help, the Institute Responds to an Essential Community Need |
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Did you know that every two seconds in America, someone needs a blood transfusion? Right now, one third of the communities in the US have less than a one-day supply of blood available. This is a critical situation.
Responding to this acute shortage of available blood supply, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute is hosting a blood drive during the Railyard Saturday morning market, on May 7, 2020 from 9am to 1pm. The drive is planned in cooperation with Vitalant, one of the nation’s network of nonprofit blood banks. To schedule an appointment click here, or call Laura at (505)246-1490. Walk-ups at the blood mobile, which will be located in the loading zone on Chili Line Lane, are encouraged and can be accommodated on a space-available basis. Masks required.
Please join us in addressing this essential community need!
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Tour the Santa Fe Farmers Market
Like an Insider!
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Tour leader Mary Dixon (far left) introduces a recent tour to her farmers from Green Tractor Farm. Naturalist, birder, and award-winning writer and tour attendee Priyanka Kumar(far right) illuminates the gift of the land as she takes readers on journeys to “historic and wild fruit orchards, to ancient forests, and along pollinator corridors,” in her forthcoming book |
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FREE Seed The Future Market Tours begin again on Tuesday morning, May 17, 2022 and continue every first and third Tuesday of the month through November 22, 2022. The one-hour tours begin at 9am in the Market Pavilion.
Over coffee and breakfast sweets, learn how the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute supports local small-scale farmers through impactful programs, and assists neighbors by providing reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Join a knowledgeable Guide on a Tuesday morning stroll through the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. See the wide variety of what’s growing locally, and talk with farmers about their crops and experiences.
Each tour will be limited to ten guests, so register early at eventbrite:
The free tours will end on Tuesday, November 22, 2021.
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The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute’s mission is to advocate for farmers, ranchers and other land-based producers; provide equitable access to fresh, local food; own and operate a year-round venue for the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market; and manage programs to help sustain a profitable, locally-based agricultural community. |
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THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS! |
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These lead sponsors help ensure the sustainability of the northern New Mexico food system as well as nurture the agricultural community and the customers that make the Santa Fe Farmers' Market so successful.
Support the businesses that support your community!
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