Dream it, Plan it, Promote it, Integrate it, Build it and They Will Come

Synopsis: We need land and a small investment to begin building a farmers market that has a sense of space.
_________________________________________________________________________

Roll up your sleeves, this is no easy task. Building a sense of place takes sweat, hard work and the joy of community building. This project is starting with an effort to develop a more mature farmers market than what the area currently has. This is perfect starting point because a farmers market, more so than any other aspect of this larger project, contains the requisite components of direct connection, not just to place, but to the actual land. It also invites a recognition that we are connected to the land because it nourishes us, mind body and soul. This is an endeavor that will require manifold functional bonds of community.

Amazingly there is a farmers market here that has survived for years despite little support, few suppliers and the disrespect of having been shoved into a dirty and crowded parking lot. The Brazos Valley can do better than this. We have tremendous resources from the university and beyond. We have a wealth of consumers from across the Brazos Valley who, when informed, will embrace our local produce, the people who bring them to market and the community that grows out of this endeavor. The fact that we all eat, makes a community farmers market ultimately inclusive.

A farmers market provides us with a strong sense of place, but it needs a sense of space to do that. So, what is the difference between a sense of space and a sense of place, you might ask. It is scale. A sense of space is contained by the space what you sensually experience where you are in the moment. A sense of place is a composite that includes the various spaces and the social and environmental constructs that link those spaces. So, for example, you might have a nice sense of space sitting under a water oak, but your sense of place would have included everything as you walked to that nice location and everything in the Post Oak Savanna biosphere. Sitting in front to the old Carnegie Library in downtown Bryan looking across at the Howell Building one has a wonderful sense of space. That space is contained in, and largely defined by, a sense of place that is the Brazos Valley which includes our identity in history, culture and environment.

It is connection of space to cultural and environmental history that creates profound meaning and context. This is why tomatoes on the back of a tailgate in a hot and dirty parking lot on a Saturday morning does not a farmers market make. A farmers market must be composed of the identity of our area and it must be nurtured in a space that highlights the connections that build a sense of place. It is for this reason that the city of College Station in conjunction with the county, the city of Bryan and the university should dedicate land and resources to began design on a campus setting that would include community gardens, an arboretum, a farmers market, a sustainability center, and a community resources center.

Such a campus would help educate farmers and consumers on a wide range of information including food production, landscaping, rain water harvesting, green building and much more. This center would not just serve the city of College Station, it would serve all of the Brazos Valley and even draw from across the state as we provide a unique setting and information that can not be acquired anywhere else. In a center like this our local farmers could learn about intensive production methods and how to better recognize and serve their market. Our residents would grow into an appreciation for our natural and rural settings that would motivate preservation.

Such a community master plan could be built in pases. The first phase might be a community garden and a section of built space for a farmers market that could be expanded on over time. A farmers market is dependent on exposure and accessibility. Exposure can come from being on a busy street where real estate is pricey and parking is dicey. A better approach is to create exposure by connecting the facility in community, which we do by providing nice space, classes in sustainability and local crafts, community gardens and by the cities making it the sort of priority that gets promoted at every level.