Please follow and comment if you'd like to be part of this community-building venture to promote healthy living. We are excited to bring back the Seeds in the Middle Parkside Plaza Market if we raise funding by the spring. Let us know if you'd like to volunteer or support a new farm stand/flea at the plaza on the corner of Parkside and Ocean Avenues. This venture will be completely run by the comm
unity, paying a local person to be market manager and featuring local craft and more as vendors. History: Our first Parkside Plaza Farmers Market was opened by Seeds in the Middle in July 2014 on Fridays in response to the community. It was incredibly successful for the farmers, selling out every Friday. The problem was that the City Council nor any funders would support Seeds in the Middle, which opened the market as a means to provide local jobs and affordable access to fresh fruits and vegetables in a neighborhood with high obesity, diabetes and heart disease rates. Seeds in the Middle is a small not for profit which seeks to empower communities to create their own healthy environments. The market was opened because Seeds in the Middle believed there would be government and foundation support to cover overhead to keep the market open. Before Seeds in the Middle opened the market, no farmers would come to the area. RH Farms and Jamaica Farms by Rodrick Brown were the only farmers willing to come to the neighborhood. Seeds in the Middle volunteers called hundreds of farmers, begging for them to come, but they were afraid they would not make enough money or could not fit the zone in their schedules. So Seeds in the Middle is grateful to RH Farms and Jamaica Farms and Minnie Says for coming the first year. Seeds in the Middle is gratified that it was able to create an atmosphere for a thriving market and residents now have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and also farmers have another market to sell at. We are just sad that we had to lose money and close our market, and that RH Farms had to lose business, because we were not able to get the public funding necessary to stay open. We are happy to be the organization which paved the way for a farmers market in an underserved neighborhood of NYC, and brought this area to the attention to an entity much larger, and better-funded. Please support Seeds in the Middle's efforts to create affordable access to fresh fruits and vegetables for all, in every neighborhood, no matter what their income or ethnicity. The website is at seedsinthemiddle.org.
