Dear Deb - January 2024
Dear Deb: I’ve been enjoying the “Beyond the Market” Cooking Demo and Farm Tour videos you’ve been posting on your website and email newsletters. How did these come about and are there going to be more? –James D., San Mateo
James: We’re so glad you’re enjoying the videos. We enjoyed making them! For many years we have wanted to develop and produce educational videos about various farmers’ market topics but did not have the resources to follow through. But thanks to the hard work of our staff in obtaining a grant to provide us with these resources, we have been able to fulfill our dream of making informative and entertaining videos highlighting California’s hard-working farmers, the amazing produce they grow, and delicious recipes made from their produce.
The goal of these videos is to benefit both the farmers and customers at farmers’ markets by increasing farmer sales introducing customers to eating seasonally and emphasizing the health benefits of cooking at home. Cooking good food is easy when you start with the best ingredients!
Grant funding for this video series was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP). The FMPP invests in farmers’ markets nationwide to help strengthen direct-to-consumer sales from local farmers to hungry families. In addition to supporting farmers’ markets, FMPP also supports community-supported agriculture (CSAs), roadside stands, agritourism, and more. FMPP is part of the USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) which is authorized and funded through the federal Farm Bill.*
We have titled our series of videos “Beyond the Market,” because we wanted viewers to see what a working farm looks like and how farmers keep their farms running. Then we take the farm-fresh produce they grow to our kitchen and create recipes, giving visual step-by-step directions to prepare them.
Through this valuable grant, we have completed 15 cooking demonstration videos and 9 farm tour videos in the last two years, with many more to come in 2024! They are available for viewing on our website and on our “Beyond the Market” YouTube channel.
The most watched cooking demo videos include the homemade sriracha and the egg scramble recipes, while the Sunrise Nursery and Super Duper Microgreens farm videos were the most popular.
Be sure to check out all the videos on YouTube and our website. We look forward to providing more enticing viewing next year!
