A Mobile Farmer’s Market Brings Produce to the North End

When you want to find something compelling to read on the net, go to theatlantic.com and just browse. Here’s where I found out about an inspiring idea…a mobile vegetable farmer’s market stand, that prowls old neighborhoods in Burlington Vermont, with hot peppers, carrots, leeks, tomatoes, watermelon, sweet corn and herbs to peddle.

Brillant!

The former postal truck is owned by Digger’s Mirth, a collective farm that she operates in Intervale VT with four partners. In Burlington’s Old North End, people are poor…an average income of only $27,500 a year, and there are no supermarkets there.

But the intention for the growers wasn’t just to profit from boffo sales of lettuce. They lowered the prices in the truck, trying to build up interest, but now it’s working.

To sound the alarm that the tomatoes and lettuce are on their way, they play disco music from a speaker lashed to the front of the truck. They’ll keep selling their wares until late fall when the truck will disappear, until next July when the tomatoes are ripe.