May 21, 2014
by Maryam Funmilayo
I had the opportunity to take some women and children from the Islamic Association of Raleigh (IAR), on a farmer’s market tour on Saturday, April 19, 2014. Along with the group was Lindsey Schwartz, a graduate student in Public Health at Campbell University. We are working on piloting a Farmer’s Market Tour for Faithful Families – and it was so fun to get to test this out with the women from the IAR!
Before the tour, I met with the women and children on the IAR’s second floor. Everyone seemed excited and ready to explore the market, especially the children. We carpooled together to the farmer’s market at 2:10 pm and arrived there around 2:25 pm. Being my very first weekend at the farmer’s market, (I shop at the farmer’s market during the week only) I was shocked to see such a large crowd. It was really jam packed!
We toured mainly the fruits and vegetable aisles and some of the vendors were kind enough to let us taste some of their samples. After touring few more aisles and asking questions from the vendors, we decided to head back to the IAR for the main fresh foods’ feast with some items we purchased!
This was where the real action was. The children and women were eager and happy to help with the food preparation. The women sliced and mixed the fruits and the children enjoyed putting the pieces of fruits on skewers. They also enjoyed filling up whole grain tortilla wraps with hummus, shredded cheese, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and carrots.
The feast ended at 4:45 pm. The women filled out the evaluation forms while expressing their gratitude for the opportunity to tour the farmer’s market and see what was in season. They also expressed their interest in attending more tours in the near future. We can’t wait to continue tours like this with Faithful Families. Look for more information from us regarding this program in the fall!
