It’s been a few months since I’ve made a soapbox post — like this one about Kiva, or this one about Creative Commons.
This post, I would say, falls somewhere between that, an impromptu pictorial, and free advertising for a Philadelphia business that I admire quite a bit, and that I patronize as often as I possibly can.
Philadelphia’s Fair Food Farmstand, at the Reading Terminal Market, feels like an institution, despite the fact that it’s relatively new. The farmstand is part of Fair Food Philly — an organization that was founded in 2001 by the folks from the White Dog Cafe. It’s now independent, with a mission, in their own words, to promote the importance of family farms and create a year-round marketplace for fresh, local and humane food products in the Greater Philadelphia region. To provide an assortment of programs and services that contribute to a strong and sustainable local food system. To support farmers, educate the public, and celebrate the joys of local food.
The Farmstand carries a wide variety of fresh produce, meats, poultry, dairy, cheese, eggs and value-added products from more than 90 sustainable farms and food producers in southeast Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, including urban farms within the city of Philadelphia. It is, they say, unique in the United States in the degree to which it offers the experience and product mix of the best farmers’ market, married to the convenience and accessibility of a grocery store.
Unique might be an overstatement. But shopping at the farmstand — with its local produce, its excellent local cheese counter, and its super-knowledgeable clerks — is very compelling, indeed.
I know that unless one works in Center City, or has some other reason to be there on a regular basis, getting in and out of the Reading Terminal Market can be a hassle. But — dear Philly readers! — to get to the Fair Food Farmstand, it really is an effort worth making.
The Farmstand, as I said above, is located in Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, on the corner of 12th and Arch St. If you can’t get down there, but still want to support an organization that provides good food and public service, you can make a donation, from the front page of their website, here.
(The photos — as always — are best viewed large. Please do click to get the full experience!)