For the past month we have been looking for a farmers market that we can attend as vendors. Our services have so far been exclusively for the Eastside of Kauai (Wailua and Kapaa), so we wanted to find a market where we can possibly offer a drop off site, sell our compost and have more face to face interactions with the community. We checked in with a few markets and the responses we received included,
“Sorry, that’s not the direction our market is going,”
“Well, our market attracts more visitors than locals,”
“Oh we’ll have to check with our lawyers,”
And finally,
“It’s not the direction we envision for our market. If we let you in, there might be others who will also want to get in.”
These responses really had us reflect on our own ideas of a farmers market, what a sustainable food system is and who we are and want to be as community composting advocates.
we felt left out :(
When we say we want to close the loop in the food system, what does that mean? To us, a closed loop food system might look something like the image below.
We understood a closed loop food system is one that can create a sustainable community food system. There are those who produce, process, distribute, consume and collect/recover and return. Returning the materials from the end of the system’s loop is important to closing the loop and is also key to beginning the cycle again. The network of people and their actions in the system enhances Kauai’s environmental, economic and social health as well as builds community resilience.
This was our plea to the markets!
We want to be at the markets to give our community the option to close the loop all in one place. We want to educate those who have questions, interact with those who are passionate about resource recovery, and support those who want to close the loop in their home, at work or at events.
Finally, the day came when we got the phone call back that we were accepted into a market and given a three month trial period!
We are happy to announce that we will be at the Saturday Grove Farm market in Puhi starting October 8, 2022.
We can’t wait to spread the word about this new opportunity! Here are some of the things we will be bringing to the (market) table:
Trying a drop off site for our Lihue members
Compost for sale
Sign-ups for new members on the Eastside
Educational materials and advice about compost
Mini waste station for the market
Compost Kauai stickers
And more!
Please stop by and see us this Saturday from 9:30am-1pm in Puhi, and every Saturday until the end of 2022.
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