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July 27, 2009 by Al McLaughlin

Carlos and Rosas Garden

The large banner across the top of the stall read “Carlos and Rosa’s Garden”. It was a small stand. A few greens. Some squash. Maybe a few flowers. I would have moved along, passing it without a thought. But barker-like Sarah Saheb’s (sa-HEEB) voice caught my ear.

 “All the produce at this stand was grown a block and a half from here, in an urban garden.” Saheb’s voice rang out.  Now the “here” she referred to was a Cincinnati inner-city market named Findlay Market. The stand, manned by a Guatemalan contingent was in an outdoor area called the farmer’s market. The people selling the produce live in Price Hill, a City of Cincinnati neighborhood not far from the market. What is most interesting is the fact that the produce was grown a block and a half from Findlay Market. It was grown in one of the most densely populated areas of the city. The “farmers” literally walked their produce to the market.

 For several years I worked for one of the largest food store chains in the country. They developed a distribution system that could provide consumers all the produce they wanted, anywhere in the country, all year round. Their planes, their trains, their trucks brought me strawberries in December. It was a huge point of company pride. Carbon awareness was almost non-existent. They were giving the consumer what they wanted, when they wanted it. That was there job. While I worked there, they decided to open floral shops in their stores. Over night they became the biggest florist in America. It was they way they did, and still do, business.

 But there’s a new wind, or at least a small breeze, blowin’ across the land. Farmer’s markets are growing in number and in size. A place where you can go eyeball to eyeball with the growers, and hold them accountable if everything isn’t as it should be. Huge planes, trains and trucks are being replaced by ½ ton pick-ups. Michelle Obama is growing vegetables on the White House grounds, and there’s a “victory” garden in front of San Francisco’s City Hall.

 In one little area of Cincinnati, this conscious awareness of carbon-foot printing, of community involvement, continues. Thanks to the Findlay Market Project, a group of people who don’t need mansions or fast cars are stepping up to make a difference in their own lives, and ours.

Read this story, along with great Findlay Market photos, at McLaughlinCreative.com »