By Eleanor Boudreau
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-913900.mp3
Memphis, TN –
A farmers market has cropped up in a "food desert" in South Memphis. The market is located on a flat L of concrete at the intersection of Mississippi Blvd. and South Parkway East. The day the market opened up the heat index was 107. The faces of vendors and customers were blurred by sweat. But Brenda Turner found something cool and crisp peaches.
Turner walked to the market from where she lives across the street. Turner is one of the area's more than 30,000 residents. The nearest grocery store is more than two miles away. A lot of the residents don't have cars, and don't have reliable access to a car. So going to the Kroger on South 3rd Street, shopping, and lugging groceries back in the Memphis heat is, in effect, impossible.
The neighborhood is scattered with "markets" and there are two right down the street. They carry a lot of chips and beer, but nothing fresh.
The farmers market is a stop-gap measure the organizers hope will be joined by a permanent grocery store open seven days a week, and in winter.
It's unclear when and if that will happen. Despite being reasonably densely populated, the community is poor. The median household income is less than $20,000 a year that's $16,000 less than the median income for the city as a whole. Convincing retail developers to open grocery stores in areas like this has proved difficult in community after community across the country.
Still, Turner says she tried a vegetable today she'd never tried before. She turned to her sister-in-law for the name of the mystery vegetable.
It was a zucchini.
Michelle Obama is pouring her efforts as First Lady into ending childhood obesity, in part by getting more fresh vegetables into poorer communities like South Memphis.
The South Memphis Farmers Market will be open every Thursday from 2pm to 6pm until September 30th.