Oakland's Phat Beets Prepares Launch of North Oakland Farmers Market
Farmstand at Oakland Children's Hospital Farmers Market. All photos courtesy of Phat Beets.
North Oaklanders looking for a community farmers market will have to go no further than the Arlington Farmers Market at 5715 Market St. in the Arlington Medical Center parking lot beginning Saturday, July 3.
Dr. Gary Bean, a pediatrician at the medical center, contacted Phat Beets of Oakland to put the market together based on what the group had accomplished with the Oakland Children’s Hospital Farmer’s Market.
Bean was not only born in Oakland, as a child, he was a patient at Arlington Medical Center. He reminisced that the center served “as a focal point for African-American physicians.”
About two years ago, one of the doctors Bean saw as a child retired and asked him to take over
his practice. Bean expanded his pediatric practice from his office in the Glenview district and became part of North Oakland Pediatrics at the Arlington Medical Center.
Bean said about 35 percent of his young patients are overweight, but it’s been difficult to find nutritional resources for them in the neighborhood. He acknowledged there are plenty of liquor stores, but no quality grocery stores in the area.
“Many kids don’t know what fresh food looks like,” Bean said, “A generation of people has not received information or resources for healthy eating.”
His goal is to “reinvigorate and re-empower people to make smart food choices” by providing a market with a large variety of fresh produce and plenty of educational resources.
People will be able to buy their fresh produce and learn how to prepare nutritious meals. They’ll have the opportunity to learn how to grow vegetables and herbs in their backyards or community gardens. The market will accept Women, Infants and Children - WIC - vouchers.
“I don’t think that people don’t care, I don’t think they don’t want to learn about improving their food choices. “ Bean said. “They’ve forgotten how easy it can be. We need to reestablish the fact that the farmer is not that far from your table.”
Brett Benner, Phat Beets co-founder, said smaller farmers are excited about a new thriving market. He said they typically like investing in a new market to gain traction with customers. He said as awareness of the new market grows with both customers and vendors, more vendors will want to be a part of it.
Benner said they plan to hold a meeting this month for the community residents to ensure the market meets their needs.
Phat Beets other co-founder Max Cadji confirmed several vendors are on board including J&P Organics; J and J Farms, a pesticide-free fruit farm near Modesto; Med Food, a Mediterranean market; Peoples Grocery Nursery; and the Bread Project, an organization that provides bakery training and job assistance to people with low incomes.
Cadji said they’re getting three or four more farmers and organic eggs and chickens for the market. There also will be a vendor from La Cocina - a San Francisco organization that develops low income food entrepreneurs, a social justice tent for free community workshops and non-food booths.
Benner said Phat Beets is seeing a path emerge as it successfully sets up markets, using its expertise with licenses, relationships with farmers, local vendors and partnerships with other Oakland food justice organizations like People’s Grocery and its fiscal sponsor Oakland Based Urban Gardens.
Benner added that Phat Beets wants to teach community members how to run the markets and then step back and take more of a supportive role and continue to fulfill more requests from clinics and hospitals for farmers markets on their properties.
In addition to the Oakland Children’s Hospital Farmer’s Market, held from 2 to 7 p.m. every Tuesday, Phat Beets runs the Phat Beets Community Produce Stand at St. Martin De Porres Catholic School's parking lot every Wednesday during the school year.
Benner said the produce stand at St. Martin De Porres is “an affirmation of what we do.” Phat Beets brings in the produce and works side-by-side with the elementary school kids. The students help set up the sampling station, chop vegetables and fruits, give out samples, sell, take money and participate in cooking demonstrations.
Students have graduated during the two and a half years Phat Beets has managed the stand. Benner said some of the kids, now in middle school, come back to help. He said this fulfills Phat Beets vision of developing leadership roles as older youth engage with younger kids. Phat Beets would like to eventually teach high school interns how to run the stand.
Bean sees a similar path for the North Oakland Farmers Market. He said community members and students will be trained on how to run the market. He’s launching “U Live Rite” - a project at the medical center aimed to be a nutrition hub for the community featuring cooking classes and nutrition consultations.
The significance of practicing at Arlington Medical Center, where he came as a child, in the north Oakland community he grew up in, and initiating this farmers market leads Bean to think of the physicians who practiced there before him and how they contributed to the community.
“Their mindset would have been to do something like this,” Bean said.
About Cynthia Joseph
