My Story
Saturday mornings over school breaks and on weekends when I returned to Hastings from college pretty much looked the same in my house. I’d awake midmorning and walk downstairs (coffee!) to find my mom in the kitchen either singing along to WFUV or listening to an NPR broadcast while she washed her lettuces and greens at the sink. She’d motion for me to smell the rest of the produce, fruits, herbs, fresh breads—her gatherings from the Market which were sprawled across our countertops and which told me a story about her morning.
Fresh food was not new to our family, but the farmers’ market environment was. Over the years, Mom found her usual stops – Morgiewicz, Taliaferro, True Food (now Wild Radish), Concklins. She loved the bread at Panzanella and even more so the Italian wedding soup which she managed to incorporate into my own engagement celebration!
My mom has been volunteering for the Hastings Farmers Market for over twenty years. In 1998 she was part of a local CSA, alongside a couple of the founding Market members, and was quickly recruited as a helping hand in the Library Lot. Her stories from the “early days” are endless. Memories of summer sunrises against the backdrop of the Hudson River; an unexpected delivery, to the first shift crew, of fresh breakfast sandwiches and a thermos of hot coffee on a cold morning; a tent that would not behave; a traffic control or t-shirt sale mishap she experienced; a discovery of a new vendor or recipe; an interesting conversation under the market tent.
These small moments made my mom smile and are what drew me to volunteer for the market myself. When my son was born eleven years ago, I was living in Hastings, taking some time off work but in need of something. On my mom’s suggestion, that something became the Market. I started volunteering here and there on a Saturday morning, usually during the same shift as my mom or sometimes simply taking ten minutes to help her collect the A-frame signs. It was time spent on my own, time spent together with my mom, time spent learning about fresh food, time spent meeting incredible people, time spent in the community. I loved it.
Today, my mom and I continue to volunteer. We have our different roles. She manages the volunteers from afar and I am the current HFM Board President. We sometimes discuss the “then” and the “now”. But the moments we’ve experienced and the connections we’ve made – with each other, with others, with food - sustain us. I am thankful that she included me in her Market experience and in turn, I now include my own family.
Admittedly, my kids prefer croissants over carrots. But even so, there’s a ritual to our Saturday mornings which may include a shift, a shop, a check-in, or a delivery of apples and eggs to the Food Pantry. A bit of time spent together and in service, opportunities created by the market.
This Saturday is a third Saturday of the month which means that we'll be “gleaning” for the Hastings Food Pantry. Each month, we put out large baskets for our shoppers to fill with donated produce (in addition to the eggs and apples the HFM donates each and every week!). This year, we're trying to keep our donations to a couple of hyper seasonal items so that we can distribute the produce evenly among the forty plus families who rely on the pantry. This week, we are asking for donations of tomatoes and summer squash. Thanks in advance for your generosity.
See you at the market!
Lizzy Hyland,
Hastings Farmers Market Committee