Athens Farmer's Market
Monica Bledsoe is the farm Rx coordinator at the Athens Farmer’s Market and runs all their programming. The former high school math and science teacher from Atlanta has a passion for helping others lead healthy lifestyles and serving her community. Despite starting this position in February 2020 right before the onset of the pandemic, she said it has been an “absolutely incredible experience.”
When Bledsoe moved to Athens at the end of 2019, she was looking for a hands-on position that would benefit the community. She has a passion for local produce and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle, so when she saw the job listing for the farm Rx coordinator, she knew it was a perfect fit. Through this position, she works directly with farmers and hospitals to gather food and prescriptions for the food-insecure residents in Athens-Clarke County.
A large change from her prior role as a teacher, Bledsoe now finds herself pitching ideas and creating data analytics to encourage healthier eating in Athens at a sustainable cost. A day in her life is spent attending strategy meetings in the morning and contacting potential business partners in the afternoon.
During Covid-19, the Athens Farmer’s Market paired with the Athens Council on Aging to form Athens Eats Together. Athens Eats Together provided food to anyone struggling with food insecurity due to Covid-19. As part of this program, the ACCA gave participants vouchers to attend the farmer’s market. Bledsoe said in just two months of this program, the farmer’s market provided $50,000 of food to participants. Bledsoe said, “it was awesome, the people were happy, and the vendors and farmers were selling out, so it was great.”
One of Bledsoe’s personal goals is to ensure money is not a deterrent to coming to the market. She explained that the market doubles SNAP benefits to encourage these residents to attend. This makes the prices for organic food the same as Walmart’s, but people get “richer, more calorie-dense and fresher produce,” said Bledsoe.
Bledsoe heard about the Athens Farmer’s Market while living in Atlanta from friends through a trivia team she was on. She said one couple “took off work every Wednesday to go to the Creature Comfort farmer’s market.” She was so impressed with her friend’s findings so when she finally moved to Athens, she was excited to try the market out, but “didn’t expect to fall in love,” as she put it.
The farmer’s market has made Athens truly feel like her home and she “can’t imagine her life without it.” She loves how the market is an extension of all the different people and personalities in Athens. She noted, “everyone in Athens is a really cool person and is very diverse.”
When asked about her favorite day since starting this role, she immediately knew the answer and gets excited to tell a story about a typical Saturday at the market. She tells a lighthearted story about one of the farmers bringing a “big puffy flower” to the market and being memorized by it. She later learned it was elephant garlic which is about six feet tall. She took one home, and it almost reaches the ceiling when placed on her counter. She gave one to her mother as well and neither has been able to part with the beautiful flower.
Bledsoe said this story shows the camaraderie between the people she works with. She said, “most of the farmers have been here forever and everyone feels like family.”
Bledsoe and the farmer’s market inspired students to start a farmer’s market on The University of Georgia’s campus.
Asha Noorullah, who serves as the external communications chair for the UGA campus farmer’s market, said the idea came about through volunteering at the Saturday market and interacting with Bledsoe. “She’s been a really great resource,” said Norrullah in helping with the structure of the campus farmer’s market.
Norrullah said teamwork was a big takeaway from the Athens Farmer’s Market that carried over to the campus market. She said the way the volunteers on Saturday all come together despite having “their own stuff to do” encouraged her group of friends to start the market despite being busy students.
Virginia Cason, a UGA student who has attended both farmer’s markets, noted how helpful the staff and volunteers were at each market. “Everyone was no nice, it’s a very welcoming and friendly environment, she said.
As for what is next for Bledsoe, she is excited for the market to “be a place for families to hang out” and see the market continue to grow once Covid-19 is over. She also wants to spread more awareness about their SNAP benefit programs because “20 million dollars of SNAP and WIC benefits go unused in Athens,” she said.
And she cannot wait to bring back the Creature Comfort farmer’s market, so she can finally see what her friends from trivia were talking about.
