As a young teenager living in Los Angeles I would look forward to my Sunday morning outings with my older sister. The reason for such excitement had to do with going to the farmers' market. We would go to the Hollywood Farmers' Market and get all our goodies for the weeks. There was live music playing, and the crowds were busting with people from each direction. It was a great learning experience because it allowed me to explore new things and to interact with people in the city. My youth experience is what motivated me to look into different farmers markets and to seek the impact that it has on the people and the community. I have two main objectives that I was aiming for, one was to understand why certain crowds of people are more inclined to go to one location over another. The second was to interpret the relationship between the vendors and the customers. My field site locations were Panorama City ( at Kaiser Permanente) Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Burbank’s Farmers’ Market on Saturdays. In the beginning of my fieldwork I was unclear on how I would grasp the dynamics of the relationship established within the farmers market. I found that the different anthropological methods that Setha Low used in her ethnography on public space helpful. I used certain aspects of the book as a guide line to obtain information, this was extremely beneficial to me because it helped keep me organize and it also I kept me focus on what I was observing.
I would like to give a brief description of the techniques I used and then go into length on how these techniques tied into my experience as an ethnographer. On my first visit to the farmers' market (in Panorama City) I wanted to track the movement of the people. I found a blue metal bench to sit at and was able to observe the overall movement of the entire famers’ market quite well. I also used this technique at the Burbank's Farmers' Market. The second method I employed was behavioral inventories. I wanted to determine which demographic of gender was more likely to attend the farmers’ market. I created a rough sketch of data with four categories: 1) Female, 2) Male, 3) People in pairs, and 4) three or more people. I entered the last two categories to see if people in pairs were more likely to be female-female, female-male, or male-male. The three or more people category was to see how often bigger groups visited the market. I had different results for each farmers market. My third method of gathering information was by interviewing a few people at the farmers' markets. I was able to get two key informants, one was a consumer by the name of Heather and the other was a vendor by the name of Jason. These interviews were informative because it gave me perspective from the buyer and the seller point of view. In both interviews I found that establishing a rapport was an important factor to the farmers' market environment. Lastly and most importantly I spent my time doing participant observation, by observing the crowd and being apart of the crowd. This last method really helped me capture the true vibe of the market.
Now before I go into my analysis of the time spent at the both Farmers' Market, I would like to share with you the historical content I came across. During my fieldwork I became interested in the history of farmers' markets in Los Angeles. According to a 2006 article that I read in the Los Angeles Times, the farmers' market was intended to bring fresh produce to consumers who wanted an alternative to commercial grocery stores and to help small farmers stay a float in the competitive world of commercial agriculture. The idea came about in the 1970s, when four farmers decided to sell their fruits and vegetables in a church parking lot. They were well received by shoppers. At the time it was against the law to sell produce outside of commercial markets. In 1977 the law was overturned owing to the fact that farmers had vast quantities of produce going to waste. The farmers in return protested by dumping their excess waste on the state capitol lawn. This method was very effective. The governor at the time was Jerry Brown, and he decided to exempt farmers from the restriction only if they sold their fruits and vegetable at a farmers' market. Thus, the movement of farmers market was birthed. Since then, farmers’ markets have branched out all over Los Angeles offering local communities fresh food, lower prices and cutting out the middleman. Farmers' markets have become a social setting allowing strangers to interact in the city. This is a space where people feel comfortable and safe.
My first visit to the Panorama City Farmers' Market was on Wednesday February 22, 2012. The air was warmed by the sun, people were walking around enjoying the weather. I sat on a bench under the shade of a tree and began to survey the spatial area of the market. I wanted to get a sense of the movement of the people, observe the flow of people coming and going. I did a rough sketch of the layout and took fifteen minutes to watch the flow. At the end of the time I uncovered that the majority of the people arriving around the area would make a beeline to the hospital entrance acknowledging the market but not stopping to shop. I found that most of the shoppers at the farmers market were exiting the hospital and decided to check it out on their way to the parking structure. This simple observation made me think that people coming into this space were just on their way to the hospital and not really with the intent of shopping. After doing my movement map, I went ahead and did some behavioral inventories. I did two sets of inventories, one was to determine which gender shops the farmers' market more often and the other inventories was to observe if people were making an effort in bringing their own bags. During my observations I noticed that the majority of the shoppers were females and that females were also more likely to shop in pairs. The three or more people category was a mixture of female-female-male and all females. For my second inventories I was surprised to see that out of the nineteen people I observed only one person had brought their own bag. I thought this an interesting find, so I made a note to myself to conduct the same behavioral inventory at the same location on a different Wednesday. After collecting data, I decided to walk around the market to get a feel for the environment, and to exchange words with the others. Most of the vendors were very attentive and wanted to know if I needed any help looking for something. It wasn’t until I went to the dried fruits and nuts booth that I discovered that in all that time watching others, someone had been watching me. He was selling all types of delicious dried fruits and nuts and had been watching me taking notes from a far. When I reached his booth, he called me “writer”, at first I thought he said if I had ride over here. He had an accent I’m thinking French, when I replied I said “no I did not ride here”, then it clicked that he saw me writing. He then inquired what I was I doing. This moment lead into a light conversation about this farmers' market. He told me that business is good when more people have to see the doctor, and that means people are more likely to be sick. At that moment I realized that the Panorama City Farmers' Market is completely obscured from the busy street of Roscoe, making it difficult for public to know of its existence. It seems the majority of the attendees are patients or employees. We talk a bit more and at the conclusion of our conversation I found it sweet that he gave me a full bag of unshelled walnuts. After leaving his booth I started thinking about other factors that make this farmers’ market smaller in size and in crowd. I came up with a few conclusions. The first as mentioned is the location of this space, the market is hidden from the view of the streets, and not very accessible from the road. Another factor may be the actual day and time. This market operates on Wednesdays from 9a.m.-1:30p.m. which is on a school day. Also more people tend to work throughout the week making it difficult to attend this market. And lastly the weather plays a role at the farmers’ market, something I observed on my later visits.
I returned to the same location a few weeks later. This was what I discovered on March 21, 2012. The weather was chiller than before, the clouds were gloomy and the crowds were slimmer than my last visit. I sat down at the same bench that I did my first inventories. Before I started taking some data, I noticed a small placard that read open rain or shine. It made it think just how important the market must be if the vendors are willing to sell on a cold or rainy day, knowing that a lot less people are likely to show. It is a true commitment to the community. After my little contemplation I conducted my data. Once again females were more likely to frequent the market and when a pair was spotted the chances were more probable that they were two females strolling around together. The three and more people category consisted of two parents and a child this time around. When it came down to observing the bags I only saw one person out of eleven with their bag. This leads me to believe that the people coming to this market are by happenstance because they are on their way to the hospital.
After conducting my second inventories at this location. I started observing the few shoppers that were there. That was when I noticed Heather Jones (alias she asked to keep her name confidential). Heather was approximately in her fifties, she was about 5 feet 5 inches tall, and she wore brown leggings that made her look lengthier. She had on a white long sleeve shirt with a light pink scarf wrapped around her neck. I noticed her talking to a vendor about some fruit and I approached her and asked if I could interview her. And she accepted. In my interview with Heather I was able to sense the significance the market had on her life. When she spoke about the market her eyes had a certain sparkle to them, you can tell that she was happy that the farmers’ market were around. She expressed to me that the farmers market provides fresh quality food and it cuts out the middle man from the equation. She likes buying from the source. This is a social playground where she can interact with people and vendors and discuss anything, in this case it's usually the quality of the food. I would like share an excerpt from my interview with her seen below:
(GS=Gretel Sevilla, HJ=Heather Jones)
GS: What is it about the farmers' market that you like?
HJ: The food is fresh, fresh produce.When I get home and I put those produce away in the fridge they last two to three weeks. The produce I get at the grocery store last a few days.Hello!… I am so disappointed with the produce at the grocery store, it's better to spend a little bit more at the Farmers' Market and have some real quality.
GS: So do you think the prices are more than the grocery store?
HJ: Somethings are and some other things tend to be cheaper. You just never know.
GS: What's your spending budget like at the Farmers' Market?
HJ: If they take cash it's usually like $25. But if they accept checks well it's a bit more.
GS: How do you select your produce?
HJ: I touch it or smell it. For example, Grapefruits, I pick them up and look for the weight to see if they are juicy. I touch tomatoes to see if they're ripe, I smell pears to see if they're sweet and I lightly grip avocados to see if it has that certain ripeness.
GS: Do you like to talk to other shoppers?
HJ: I love to talk to people. I strike up a conversation about the produce, if something smells good. My dad was that way too, he was very friendly and chatty, always striking a conversation with strangers. I guess I have that quality too.
GS: Do you ever see produce that's unfamiliar to you?
HJ: Yeah, one day I asked the vendor "what's that?", he told that it was mexican squash. And he went ahead to tell me the different ways in preparing it.
GS: Do you find the farmer's market educational?
HJ: Definitely. I'm always learning about all sorts of things.
I used this excerpt to illustrate Heather's experience as one in the social setting of the market. This expresses her reason for attending the market which is to buy fresh produce and it also points out the importance of interacting with others in the community. After the interview, she had to take offer for work. She gave me an apple from her bag. I thanked her and we both departed the market around the same time.
My second field site was at the Burbank's Farmers' Market on the corner of Third Street and Orange Grove, the location is very visible from the streets. People can enter this market from various points, granting more accessibility to the public. I took advantage of the parking structure adjacent to the market to collect data. I walked up to the second floor and had a bird eye’s view of the market. I attempted to do a fifteen minute movement map of the space. I was having trouble mapping the entire market because this space was much larger than the Panorama market and there were far more vendors. Since keeping track of the people's movements was very challenging, I decided to do a movement map of a small portion of the market. This made it much easier to manage. My map revealed that although there were multiple entry points, most people entering the market were coming from the parking lot that I was observing from. It may be due to the free parking offered to the public, making it more inviting to the masses. Before heading down to the market I wanted to conduct some behavioral inventories. My findings were radically different from my previous locale. During this visit, I noticed that the majority of people were in pairs, usually female and male. I also discovered more children and teens with their parents lumping them into the three people or more category. When I did the bag inventories I was pleasantly surprised to note that out of the thirty people I observed, twenty of them had brought their own bags. A significant difference compared to the Panorama City Farmers Market. It seemed to me that the people entering the general vicinity where heading to the market. My reason to this is that I noticed a lot more people with their own bags, an indicator that they were planning to shop. After collecting some good data, I went to the farmers’ market to see what they had to offer. I entered through the popular entry way and from a short distanced I noticed an older women with a young child around two years old. One of the vendors were giving out samples of strawberries, the little girl looked at the crimson fruit and extended her little hand to get a piece of it. She put the strawberry in her mouth and her eyes widely opened like she had never tasted anything as yummy as that. I smiled at her reaction, the woman and the child thank the lady who offered the fruit and continued their journey into the market. I think this an excellent example of a child's experience with food in a social setting. By offering samples people get to explore new options and learn about new foods. I also noticed that when customers were unfamiliar with an item they would ask the vendors, and they would gladly tell them what it was and many times give recipes. On the same occasion I saw a young women in her twenties inquiring about a brown dried up fruit that sort of looked like a date. The man selling the fruit told her it was called jujube and that it can be used to make tea. He went on to describe the details of brewing the tea and told her that jujubes are beneficial for the digestive aid and the liver. Pleased with his help the women purchased a bag of jujube. These two situations reminded me of the article The Public Realm by Richard Sennett, in which he explains the role of the city. Sennett states that in the"public, people can access unfamiliar knowledge, expanding the horizons of their information" (261). I like this idea of the city being a grounds for knowledge. I definitely feel that Farmers' market are informative and friendly social grounds that express this beneficial tool of providing new knowledge to the customers in the community. By going out of the private sector of your home and exploring the urban space of the Farmers' Market you have an opportunity to encounter much diversity and learn from others.
A few weeks later I returned to the Burbank Farmers' Market in hopes to interview someone. I went to up to the second floor of the parking structure to briefly watch the people moving about. The temperature was relatively low, and I moved about to keep warm. The crowd was smaller than my last visit. I also noticed that the majority of the customers were much older, I think this had to do with the time, it was about 9:45 a.m. While observing the market I noticed a man with his coworker trying to pass time. They were working at one of the booths by the main entrance. They were selling produce and eggs. I went down the stairs and asked if I could interview him. And gladly accepted my offer. He become my second key informant, his name was Jason. The interview was about 35 minutes long. Jason was a little shorter than me perhaps 5 feet 4 inches. He was bald and had on a black hoodie sweater and dark denim jeans. He was very friendly and smiley and had this calm vibe to him.We began our discussion by him expressing that all the produce and eggs comes from his family's farm located in Bakersfield, California. He has been selling at various farmers' market location since the age of seventeen but he started coming way before that. His first experience at the market was when he was a little kid. He would help his parents out on the weekend.When he was younger school wasn't his only focus. Upon arriving home from school he had to help out in the farm. On the weekends he would help his parent with the selling. He mention to me that at the time he didn't like all the hard work but now he is appreciative, his experience made him independent at much younger age. He expressed that by seventeen, he had his own money and job allowing him to get what he wanted. From there, we proceed to discuss the goodies that he was selling. I inquired if his produce were organic. He replied by telling me that they grow everything organically and that the farm was certified organic up until a few years ago the certification cost got too expensive. He goes on to share that they use chicken fertilizer for the produce. So I asked what they feed the chicken, he tells me the left over vegetables, bird seed and pellets. He tells me that the frequently asked questions from consumers are: if it's organically grown, if they used pesticide, when was the fruit picked and gathered, they would ask about the different seasons for fruits and vegetables. At this point I see that he is selling eggs, sweet potatoes, onions, and garlic . He tells me that they sell eggs and potato year round to help keep business flowing. Their best selling crops are the red flame and purple grapes only in season around July. He said that they sell out pretty quickly. (I make a note to myself to come back in July for the grapes.) I ask him about what his schedule is like on a saturday morning. Jason states that he gets up at 4.a.m. and hits the road with his coworker by 4:30a.m. to arrive at the market around 6:30a.m. to set up. They stay at the market until 12:30p.m. and start dismantling the tents and loading the leftover produce into the truck. They arrive back to the farm around 3:30p.m., and load up the truck for the next day. It's usually about a 13 hour long shift. (I never realized the long hours vendors endure, I respect them that much more). As far as the pricing goes, he tells me that a few factors go into considering the price such as the cost of gas, competitor prices etc. They try to keep the same prices for as long as they can. He goes on to say that the customer at this market are usually are older and that he doesn't see as much youth like at other locations. We try to figure out why. We noticed that this market does not have any music, warm food to sell or artisans crafts perhaps this the reason why there is such little youth present. I go on to ask what he thinks the vibe is at this farmers market is. Jason tells me that he thinks its nice. That he gets a lot of the same customers each week, and the neighboring vendors have a friendly relationship amongst each other. He likes the rapport of the market and providing people with good quality food. From this interview I was able to get the perspective from the seller, and I gain an even greater respect for the farmers who sell at the market. A lot of work goes into providing fresh quality produce for the consumers, the work day is long but I sense the outcome is rewarding. At the end of the interview, I take a photo of him. He smiles proudly behind his stand. I pick out some sweet potato and garlic to purchase. He ends up giving me a discount on all things that I selected. I think this was a very sweet act, we definitely established a new pleasant relationship. I found that his actions strengthens the perception of the farmers market as being an urban space that stands to help and benefit the members of the community.He helped me gain knowledge and perspective from a farmers' point of view. I would like to point out an important factor that I encounter in all my visits, which was the vibe. I feel that this urban space provided me with a sense of security. The vibe that I felt can be interpreted as people looking out for each other. I believe that Jane Jacobs article on sidewalk safety is so spot on. She mentions to effects that creating safety in the public realm heightens the possibility for more people to gather in an urban space because they are not fearful of crime or danger. I definitely felt that this was the case in all my visit, even though people were strangers to me their friendliness gave me a sense of belonging to the community and made me feel safe to be there.
I would like to culminate this ethnography by saying that farmers' market are good for the youth and the adults of the community for these following reasons. They help eliminate the middleman between the farmers and consumers, offering fresh quality produce usually at a cheaper cost because farmers can set their own prices. Members can find more specialty items such as jujubes and persimmons, this also gives people an opportunity to try new things and to expand their knowledge. The farmers' market helps build the community because it provides a space for community members to interact. You become more aware and conscious about your food and where it comes from. The relationship of the farmers and the customer are mutually beneficial, to which helps reaffirm the significance of this urban space and the importance of the human interaction.
References
Jacobs, Jane, 1961 “The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety” in The Death and Life of Great American Cities New York: Jonathan Cape, 39-51
Parsons, Russ "The idea that shook the world"
Sennett, Richard, The Public Realm
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