From farmers to students

A volunteer sells fruits at one of the market’s three booths (photo by Chris Parent)

A student-run farmers market is now being held every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Student Union Building.

The Farmer’s Market Collective is run by Hilary Thomson, a third year sustainability and environmental science student, and Laurelle Birk, a fourth year student, along with student volunteers and support from the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU). It focuses on locally-grown and made goods. Although it’s small, its mission is big.

“We wanted to make local produce accessible for students who may not be able to get down to the market on Saturdays,” says Thomson. “We felt like this was a really good venue for bringing food from Nova Scotia to students here at prices that are really affordable and accessible to people.”

Only in its second week, the market had three tables in the SUB lobby, selling locally grown-produce and baked goods. Student volunteers assisted customers with their purchases. Along with other events during Dal’s Green Week, the market was busting with activity.

The market also aims to support small, local farmers in Nova Scotia. “We have a distributor who picks up food from farmers that don’t often come into Halifax themselves,” says Thomson.

“These are all made by two girls in Halifax,” explains Thomson, showing a table of truffles, cinnamon buns, and bread. “We wanted this to be a space where students and others locals could sell their own stuff on a pretty small scale. To me, that’s a pretty empowering thing to be able to do, so we wanted to provide that space for people in kind of a low-risk setting.”

When asked about hopes for expansion, Thomson added that students are welcome to sell their own goods at the market. “I would love to expand the market in terms of having more student vendors and a wider variety of products available. Not necessarily food, but art and crafts as well. I would also like to provide more information on our produce. You can already see exactly which farm most of our produce comes from and how far away it is from Halifax… we want to create a direct connection to the farmer.”