UPLIFT CHRONICLES: July 2024
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By Shannon Yvonne Moreau With last year’s closing of the Walmart on San Mateo Blvd. and Zuni Rd., access to fresh, affordable foods has become even sparser in the neighborhood. The old John Brooks Food Town and farmers’ markets at Caravan East (now a library!) are remnants of a bygone era. Albuquerque’s International District is becoming a food desert. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines a food desert as a low-income community lacking stores that sell healthy and affordable food. A significant chunk of the International District (Zuni from Louisiana to Wyoming) was categorized as a food desert by the USDA in 2019. With recent supermarket closings, this condition is spreading and worsening. The loss of sources for healthy food is a blow to a neighborhood already plagued by challenges such as lack of housing and access to medical care. The need for fresh food is why farmers’ market manager Carlos Flores decided to bring his farm-grown produce to the neighborhood. Flores and his partner, Cesar Gonzalez, started the Mesa Verde Community Growers Market in the International District. Located at the Mesa Verde Community Center park on Marquette Ave. and Tennessee St. (nearest major cross streets Copper and Fill your shopping bags with farm Lomas), the market enters its third year of operation this summer. fresh produce at the Mesa Verde mar“The key to health is good nutrition,” says Flores. “Fresh fruit ket starting in August. and vegetables are a huge part of that.” MESA VERDE COMMUNITY The Mesa Verde market is a small operation, running from AuGROWERS MARKET gust to the beginning of October. Flores and Gonzalez are farm7900 Marquette Ave. SE, 87108 ers, co-managers of the growers market, members of the New Parking lot of Mesa Verde Community Mexico Farmers Market Association, and both have other lines of Center and Park work. Flores is a musician in Latin folk music band Mezcla Latina Saturday, August 24 through Saturday, and a counselor and Gonzalez is a Community Health Worker at October 5, 2024 • 11am to 2pm Payment methods accepted: SNAP, EBT, Double Up Bucks, WIC, cash, debit card, credit card If you’re interested in being a vendor at the market, contact Carlos • CARLOS FLORES • Flores at carlosmezcla@gmail.com or 505-804-1411. UNM. Between the two of them, they bring fresh, pesticide-free, and reasonably priced garden vegetables and fruits to market. A OTHER FARMERS MARKETS third vendor, Rommy Joyce, sells fresh-baked bread and pastries IN ALBUQUERQUE as well as eggs from the family poultry farm. (There’s nothing like Rail Yards Market: 777 1st St. SW farm-fresh eggs!) Albuquerque 87102 Flores and Gonzalez have future plans for the Mesa Verde market. They’d like to bring in more farmers and vendors, which has Downtown Growers Market: 810 Copper Ave. NW Albuquerque 87102 proved to be a challenge. “A lot of the farmers are established and they have one market. And being a farmer, I understand how much Los Ranchos Growers’ Market: 6718 Rio work it is to try it at another market space,” Flores says. They’d also Grande Blvd. NW Los Ranchos 87107 like to set up a space where seniors can get help applying for food South Valley Growers’ Market: 3907 Isleta Blvd. SW Albuquerque 87105 assistance programs on site.
THE KEY TO HEALTH IS GOOD NUTRITION. FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES ARE A HUGE PART OF THAT.
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