LFS:UBC Farm Audio Tour Markets
<flashmp3>http://wiki.ubc.ca/images/a/ac/15_Station_11a_Markets.mp3</flashmp3>
Hi, my name is Kayla. I am the market manager at the UBC Farm.
The UBC Farm is a beautiful agrarian gem in Vancouver and as the last working farm in the city, it is an unparalleled place to host a Farm Market. Imagine coming out to the farm on a sunny Saturday morning and hearing pleasant folk music as you enter the market space filled with vendors offering produce, baked goods, honey, crafts and more. After purchasing local produce and products, you are welcome to take a walk on the pathways around the fields to see where the Farm’s produce is grown.
The UBC Farm hosts a farm market on site every Saturday, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm from June through October. The market provides an opportunity for the surrounding community to purchase local food, and it attracts community members to come experience our model sustainable farm. We grow more than 150 varieties of produce and this – combined with a wide array of other local vendors – offers the community a large variety of local produce and products. We also host a number of market festivals throughout the summer. These often draw large crowds and feature bee tours, blackberry picking and fun activities for kids and families. The UBC Farm Market has been consistently expanding since it started in 2001. We are a small but growing market with enthusiastic customers and growing demand from vendors who want to sell at our market.
We also sell produce at our weekly campus market. On Wednesdays, we sell our vegetables and fruit to staff and students over the lunch hour in front of the University Bookstore. The campus sales increase the accessibility of our produce to the surrounding community by bringing produce to the centre of the campus during the workweek.
The markets provide the largest source of revenue for the Farm. This funding is crucial to effectively run the Farm’s academic research, teaching and community outreach programs. We hope you will come out and visit us at one of the markets sometime soon!