Mobile farmers market grows in Wilmington
WILMINGTON – Nataysha Williams was up bright and early Wednesday. There were peppers to pick, tools to clean and other chores to do at Bright Spot Urban Farm.
And there would be customers for every bit of produce she harvested. The 18-year-old Wilmington resident is part of a small team of teens and young adults – almost all of whom have been in or still are in the foster care system – working the farm, loading up a truck and taking fresh vegetables and other produce to the streets of Wilmington.
"Watching things grow – when you started it from seed – I created this," she said. "I love it. I love it here."
And all summer long, a growing line of customers has been loving this project, too. From Cool Spring – where the Thursday night farmers' market is turning into a community tradition – the project has mobilized, now using a small refrigerated box truck to take the market to city senior centers, Rodney Square, Hercules Plaza and JP Morgan Chase Courtyard.
Nataysha loves that, too.
"It's so fun," she said. "We dance, we get live with the customers. And now most of the customers are regulars. They come all the time."
Marie Blake of Elsmere is among the regulars. She loves the squash, the corn, the peaches, the tomatoes, the watermelons – all of it.
"I love that there are fresh vegetables right from the garden – and not forced to grow with chemicals," Blake said. "I love it around here."
So does Felice "Phil" DiSabatino, 87, of Oak Hill. "It beats going to the Acme."
Debby Hamons of Wilmington was buying green peppers in the parking lot behind the Clarence Fraim Center on S. Union Street, where the Bright Spot truck stops every Wednesday morning. She planned to make shish kabobs.
"Best thing that ever happened to me," she said. "I can come out here before yoga class.... I've been very, very, very happy. And they're very courteous, polite, and very helpful."
They have that customer service piece pretty much mastered. And that is one of the goals of the program, which was launched as part of West End Neighborhood House's Bright Ventures entrepreneurship venture for kids transitioning out of foster care.
One frail, elderly man pulled up and rolled down the window. Tevin Beatty, 22 of Wilmington, brought him the things he wanted, which meant the man didn't even have to park.
Beatty has a winsome smile and a marketer's gift of gab – chatting up passers-by who might not know what they would miss if they didn't stop to check out the day's offerings.
Those offerings don't last long. Mike McCafferty, program manager, said staff member Sindhu Siva harvested 175 to 190 pounds of tomatoes one day last week, and all of them sold that day.
"Our hardest thing right now is that the people have been so supportive of our truck that we can hardly keep up with our produce," he said. "We know next year we've got to grow a lot more."
Most of the produce is grown on ground provided by the state at the Department of Health & Social Service's Herman Holloway Campus, where renovations are under way at twin greenhouses that soon will be in service. Some produce comes from other area farms.
Nataysha said she loves the work – and the vegetables.
"Most people in my community do not eat vegetables," she said. "They don't even believe in eating vegetables. But I brought them to people who live around me. You want to make sure it reaches people you know as well as the people who come to the markets."
Contact Beth Miller at (302) 324-2784 or bmiller@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @BMiller57.
Bright Spot's mobile schedule
Tuesdays: Noon to 2 p.m., Wilmington Senior Center
Wednesdays: 8 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., Fraim Center, 669 S. Union St.; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Rodney Square Farmers' Market
Thursdays: Noon to 2 p.m., Hercules Plaza; 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Cool Springs Farmers' Market
Fridays: 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Claymore Senior Center; 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., JP Morgan Chase Courtyard; 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Woodside Creamery, 1310 Little Baltimore Road, Hockessin.