Farewell

Before my head and my heart could accept that the end of a decade might be a good transition time, my body made a point of telling me that the chapter as Farmers’ Market Manager was coming to an end. In June, my back refused to be comfortable in my ‘69 Ford Market Truck, and I had a big epiphany after Epiphanio Juarez offered to purchase the truck. When I handed him the keys a few weeks later, I realized it was not that difficult to let go. And so began a summer and fall of small letting gos, until finally, after the market on Oct. 12, my back just stopped working. Fortunately, the market was beginning to wind down, and we had two well-trained assistants, Carl Hubbell and Teo Tomerlin, to work at the market. Thank you Greta Mesics, David and Sally Hubbell, Leslie Kelley Byrnes, Steve and Cheryl Caletti, and Zack Schwa for your help. And thank you to Ann Carranza for cheerfully managing the Pumpkin Fest and the Arts and Crafts Fair.
While my back was recovering, the Farmers’ Market Board of Directors stepped up to keep things running smoothly after the injury. This team effort allowed a good transition over the last two months. Thank you to Emmett Hopkins, Horace Criswell, Ed Miller, Scott Knippelmeir and Russ Messing for helping to run the final Wednesday and Saturday markets of 2014.
When I returned to the market as a customer in early November, Joe Norton greeted me with, “Aren’t we lucky to live in a town where the local paper reports a change of management at the Farmers’ Market as headline news.” To which Janet Norton added, “And above the fold!” Yes, we are fortunate in many ways, and so I can begin this farewell by saying thank you to Ray Holley for allowing me to write “on any topic” beginning in October of 2004. Thanks to Sarah Bradbury, Rollie Atkinson, Barry Dugan and Kerrie Lindecker, not only for giving me a place to have my words and ideas printed, but also for their support of the market and local agriculture.
So many people encouraged me to keep up the writing. It is a risk to bear one’s soul and passion in public, and I am so grateful to the kindness of, and inspiration from: De Andersen and Kate Denault, Dick Hafner, Marty Griffin, Joe and Janet Norton, Cynthia DeMartini, Carolyn Harrison, Russ Messing, Renee Kiff, Kent Mitchell, Carla Howell, Joanne Derbort, Sandy Reynolds, Barbara Wollner, Arnold Santucci, John and Debbie Cravelli, Bob and Pat Myers, Ed Wilson, Charles and Lindsey Shere, Marcia Fosberg, Sue Witter, Marie Salerno, Marie Butler, Bob and Sharon Sarquis, Janis Grattan, Warren Watkins, Ann Carranza, Pam and Hallie Swan, Sally Hubbell, Mike Hillis (reading his Tribune in Lincoln, Neb.), Mom (reading hers in Coronado). Thank you to Mom, Nancy Skall, Patty Ford and Barbara Wollner for their New York Times clippings or emails. And thank you to Susan Rose for reading, suggesting corrections and rereading one draft after another until the final draft was ready to email to Ray or Kerrie.
There are so many to thank, but I must begin by acknowledging that the real work for our Farmers’ Market was done by Tom Peterson and Doug Stout, may they rest in peace, Paul Bernier, Wayne and Lee James, Karen Tavoni and Granger Brown, when they started a Farmers’ Market in Healdsburg in 1978. Our market history files show the support for fundraising that came from civic leaders and local businesses, most of them gone, but including two wineries that are still in business, have expanded their market gardens, and brought their diverse crops to the Farmers’ Market: Preston Farm and Winery, and Alexander Valley Vineyards. And then it took the young farmers like Renee Kiff and customers like Harvey Brody and so many others in the community who have been loyal ever since, to build the market to the success that it was when I became manager in 2004.
Then there were the farmers and vendors, and especially those making up a board of directors, who hired me, and trusted me with something held so dear to themselves and the community. We are fortunate to live at the confluence of three watersheds, where the soils and climate and good farmers come together. And I was fortunate to follow in the footsteps of Renee Kiff, who had managed the market with help from Joel and family so competently for 14 years. I loved the mom and pop organization that the market was then. It was a shock to me when wave after wave began to crash against my colleagues at other markets, and from some of those experiences we learned to stay steady in the turbulence that came with the success and growing pains of farmers’ markets.
Support to keep the boat afloat came from many sources, but one time the wind was knocked out of our sails; just when Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” was on the New York Times Best Sellers List, events began to piggyback on the success of the Tuesday Farmers’ Market. Our loyal customers who had found fresh produce and parking spaces at our midweek market could not compete with the crowds on the Plaza, which necessitated a change of day and location. The Wednesday market at the Purity lot is just beginning to regain traction after moving days and locations, but it endures and I know it will be successful once it has a permanent home.
Sometimes the support came from strangers. I will never forget taking the risk of accepting Franco Dunn’s application to sell at the market. A customer, who I later learned was Marilyn Farnsworth, went out of her way to assure me that she liked the changes. Such kindness is never forgotten. Later, her husband, John, asked if he could paint a scene of the market for me, to which I responded, “Can you please paint the Purity building before it disappears.” And he did. And the building still stands. Many thanks to all who saw the potential for the old prune shed, including Dd and Jon Worden, Alan Cohen, David Anderson (whose letter to the Tribune first brought my attention to the building), Eric Zeidrich, Tom Chambers, Shaun McCaffery, Mike McGuire, Davis Bynum, Nancy Skall, Eric Smith, Jim Love, Jerry Wunderlich, Barbara Tuscany and Holly Hoods.
There have been so many hard-working board members over the years, but I am especially grateful for the wisdom, kindness, and support of Russ Messing, Sharon Vyborny, Heidi Snowden, Nancy Skall, David Legro, and Pam Kaiser. The market and I enjoyed great support from Community Representatives Jan Mettler, Taya Levine, Judy Biondolillo, Heidi Snowden and Katie Murphy.
The tech-savvy folks behind the scenes — Wendy Dayton of Nerdz, I.T., Vickie Norris of Webistree and The Norris Group, Steve Young of AVISP — allowed us to broaden outreach and education via the first website and Facebook presence among farmers’ markets in Sonoma County, and more importantly, they consistently maintained our connections. Today we have nearly 2,500 Facebook friends. We were just beginning to gain momentum with vertical response emails, thanks to Dawn Dolan. The key to outreach for farmers’ markets is education, and I hope to continue to work with the newly formed Friends of the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market in this capacity. My goddaughters deserve the credit for helping me grasp social media, and for assuring me that amplifying messages about sustainable, traditional, local agriculture is important work.
It has been a joy working with our bookkeeper Reta Wasson Munselle, so we were prepared for the transparency and accountability that is expected of nonprofits in these times of great scrutiny upon nonprofit organizations. It was a huge load off my back to have assurances that our business records were in order, thanks to good advice from Tom Rackerby, Gary Wilson, Janice Bald, Sandy Wilson and Chen Souksavath. We also benefited from internal audits by Horace Criswell and Renee Kiff, and external audits by Chris Baldenhofer and Rotary hero Jim Kline.
The market and I have benefited from the generosity of Susan Rose, who carved out a place in her garage for a farmers’ market office space, maintained high speed internet service, long distance phone service and so much more. Our portable market office was built by the late Paul Perez, who salvaged a trailer and custom designed the wagon for our needs. The wagon fenders were welded on by Martin Kiff, the wagon was painted by Heidi Snowden and Kate Barrett helped me build the wooden display board. The many muscles which helped to hitch and unhitch the wagon to my vehicles and then set up an office on the banks of Foss Creek belonged to Francisco, Gustavo and Mario Garcia, Ben Marchand, Shelby Manoukian, Maclane Fiori, a young Raffanelli, Dayton Hiles, Hanna, Will, and Camden Inman, John Dalton Ballard, Brendan Swift, Chris O’Connor, Gus Morris, Sam Naujokas, Ivan Thorpe, Manuel Reyes, Carl Hubbel, Mary Hillis, Whitney Perry, Rupert Holden and Teo Tomerlin and their families. Cindy Daniel and Doug Lipton donated funds to begin to pay these young people as market assistants, and Pat Hegerhorst found a way to honor those who help with the market by creating the Carl Hegerhorst Memorial Scholarship.
Thank you to anyone who helped me lift those heavy and awkward “No Parking” barricades, especially Cheryl and Steve Caletti and their son Zach Scha. Thank you to Chief Kevin Burke for protecting the market space. Nothing makes a market manager’s day more than the sight of peace officers such as Sgt. Nick Castenada and Officer Ian Benner in the hour before the farmers begin to arrive. Many thanks to city councils, parks and recreation commissioners, and staff, and the Community Services Department for their support of the market. It has been especially wonderful working with Elizabeth Haskell.
So many more people and businesses to thank … Donna del Rey, the musicians, Denny Murphy, Darryl Miller, Vanessa, Barry, Seana, and Miele Maclure, Bruce Selfridge, Alan Foppiano, Rhonda Bellmer, Kip Miller, Erika McGuire, Barbara Stewart, Stu Harrison, Dr. Bill Harris, Jon Wright Feed, Exchange Bank, Amoruso Printing and the Jimtown Store.  If I forgot to mention you, please forgive me, but the final word of thanks must go to the kindest and most loyal friend to the market and me, Susan Rose.
Susan’s Hawaiiana gardening projects as a third grade teacher somehow transferred beautifully to an appreciation of a small farm and a farmers’ market in Healdsburg. My father passed away the same year I met Susan, and in her I see the same gentleness of the farmer and poet, and also so many of the qualities of my grandfather, the farmer, produce packing shed manager, and beloved mayor of the small, agricultural community of Brawley, Calif. Like them, she has the same love of the weather, of the early mornings, of farming, of cooking with fresh food and of the dignity in every human being, especially those whose lives are lived close to the land.
Susan and I have had more than ten years of returning home from the Farmers’ Market with many things to unload, but first, always, her treasures of perishable fresh produce were delivered to the refrigerator and pantry. As she unpacked, she began her version of brain exercises that her friends find in Sudoku or Bridge; she compiled a list of each item and the farmer from whom it was purchased. So at our meals, when I would ask for the source, she could answer. “Where did you find the beets? Sharon. Lettuce? Renee. Corn? Hank. Berries? Nancy. Cilantro? Mario.” It is a version of Grace in our home. With gratitude in my heart, we will continue to shop and then unpack after the markets, and to make that list each Saturday and Wednesday while our backs stay strong (mine is about 90 percent recovered), our spirit and respiration continue, and our minds stay focused on supporting local, traditional farming.
Mary Kelley was the manager of the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market for 10 years.