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The Shortest 3 Hours of my Life

Posted at 9:36 AM on August 18, 2008 by Donna McClurkan

I returned home late one recent Friday night to a voice message from Rose Scobey. Rose and her husband, Bill, run four tables at the Kalamazoo Farmers' Market, and she was looking for help to cover the inevitable bustling Saturday crowd. "Could you work the market tomorrow starting at 7:00 a.m.? No need to call me back. Just show up if you can."

I arrived at 6:55 a.m. to a flurry of activity between and behind the Scobey's two large produce trailers. After brief introductions - to Eva, Jake, Aaron, Linda and Bill - I was shown how to unload large (and heavy) black plastic crates. The amount and variety of produce in the trailers - arranged from stem to stern, floor to ceiling - was staggering. We unloaded and stacked seemingly endless crates of beets, several kinds of eggplant, cucumbers and huge cardboard boxes of green, yellow wax and Kentucky Wonder beans. We filled a large table with a variety of cut flowers bursting with color: yellow snapdragons, gorgeous blooms of orange, red, pink and white zinnias. All seven of us, it seemed, were under the direction of an invisible choreographer, and we fell into a rhythm. It was a blur: sort the beets by size don't stack that crate there am I doing this right? put the lettuce tubs on that table fill this bushel could you move the scale over there? sort the cucumbers all the corn is bi-color hang the large plastic bags on this hook and small bags go on the other side ....

Julie Stanley, Executive Chef/Owner of the Food Dance Café stopped by with sous chef, Scott Marsh and Purchasing Manager, Elle Dirlam to pick up their order for the week, including beets, swiss chard, 10 lbs. (!) of basil for pesto, and yellow wax beans. Whew - I was glad for a few seconds to stand in one spot for introductions, "good morning" exchanges, and then it was back to work.

At 7:25, Rose announced my next assignment: "Start waiting on customers. You'll figure it out. Linda will help you." And she did - even when the customers were lined up, three deep, patiently waiting for one of us behind the table to make eye contact and help pick out and bag produce. Most everyone, it seemed, wanted some of the Scobey's famous green and yellow beans. Thanks to Jake, I quickly learned the appropriate answer to this FAQ: "what's the difference between the green beans and the Kentucky Wonders?" which is "the Kentucky Wonders are meatier and sweetier!" Samples were given and beans were dispensed by the handful and by the pound. Bushels and baskets were filled, and refilled. Mounds of beans got smaller, were replenished, and got smaller again.

In a flash it was 10:00 a.m. and time for my shift to end. My feet hurt. My mind was reeling from figuring change without a calculator. I loved it.

As I was leaving, I told Rose how much I enjoyed the morning. "This is the fun part," she said. "You should come out to the farm, do some real work and see what it takes to get all this stuff to market!" I accepted her invitation (challenge) and look forward to sharing that experience in a future post.