Municipal Farmers' Market

I have been visiting my mother in Bloomington Indiana, where I grew up. Bloomington is home to Indiana University and like most college towns is a rather progressive place.

This week I attended the local farmers' market in Bloomington, which is spectacular. It is run by the Parks and Recreation Department of the municipality, and they have a spot for it downtown with a plaza and roofs to cover the stalls that the farmers put up. There is plenty of on-street parking plus downtown parking lots. In addition there are nearby sidewalks, municipal bus routes, and a newly-paved and landscaped off-road bike and pedestrian pathway next to the market. The farmers range from Amish to hippies with everything in between. At the peak of the season there are up to 115 vendors! The produce includes everything I have ever seen at a Farmer's market, plus Asian bitter melons, nursery plants, peacock feathers, beeswax candles, homemade jellies and condiments, maple syrup, and yarn. There are also cheese tastings and musicians. I spoke to one farmer, who told me that there are farms in the area ranging in size from 600 to 6 acres, and he said that even some of the small ones are self-supporting. The local market and probably other farmers' markets in nearby towns are important to the success of these farms. It seems to me that Bloomington's farmers' market would not have become so successful, and include so many farmers, without the support of the city of Bloomington, which provides the perfect venue for the market. I wish Montgomery would do something like this!

My husband and daughter took a tour of Indiana University, and they came back and told me something I didn't know. The family that sold the land to the University (maybe 150 years ago) made three conditions. The first was to preserve the family burial grounds, which has been done. The second was that for every tree cut down, another must be planted. The late, great Herman Wells, longtime president and chancellor of the University, changed that to a policy of planting two trees for every one cut down. As a result, IU has a beautiful tree-covered campus.

The third condition was to preserve a tree on which many family members over the years had carved their initials, with the initials of their sweethearts. When the university planners wanted to build a classroom building on the spot where the tree stood they approached the family for permission to move it, but the family said no. The building was built around the tree! I don't recommend carving initials in trees because it damages the bark, which is very important to the health of the tree. Still, this is one example of the importance of trees to people: sentimental value. Some of the other reasons we need trees are for shade; to reduce energy costs, air pollution, water pollution, flooding and global warming; for tree products (wood and food); to protect against wind; and to support native wildlife. Why don't our Montgomery Township Schools have a long-term tree-planting policy, so that someday their grounds will be covered with beautiful, mature trees? Montgomery Township has a Shade Tree Committee and a long-term tree-planting policy. In fact, it is to the township's Shade Tree Committee that we owe some of the mature trees growing at our Upper Middle School. The schools also should have a policy against planting non-native invasive trees and shrubs, such as Bradford pear, which spreads in the wild and takes habitat from native plants while failing to provide native birds with the nutrients they need to store energy to migrate.

Naturally, I am proud of my hometown. I am also proud of Montgomery Township, and I report these observations and opinions in the hope that we might be inspired by Bloomington's good ideas. I am sure that Bloomington could learn a lot from Montgomery Township, too.