Hey collegiettes! This week, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you all to Keah Hansen, a U3 English Literature student, who is going to tell us all about the McGill Farmers’ Market you see every Thursday near the Y-intersection.
It’s 3:30PM on a surprisingly sunny Wednesday afternoon. The usual McConnell cafeteria traffic is beginning to die down and Keah has managed to snag us a seat near the window. We chat a little, talking about how midterms have caught us off guard, and discussing our plans for the future. Then we get back to business.
To kick off our interview, I ask Keah to explain what the farmers’ market is for those who don’t know, and she gives me a world-class answer. “The farmers’ market is a student-run initiative that aims to serve the student body and the Montreal community, and we have local vendors as well as student farmers, who provide the goods that we sell. We also run a CSA program, which is the Community-Supported Agriculture program, and through that we are able to connect students with the local food movement in an accessible fashion by providing the students with weekly baskets. It’s a service, but it’s also kind of an educational platform to engage students in the local food program.”
Keah explains that she ‘heard’ about the McGill Farmers’ Market in her first year because she would see it on Thursdays at McTavish. She never quite knew what it was about, but as she got more involved with sustainability organizations on campus, which shared a network with the McGill Farmers’ Market, she was able to get a better idea of – [laughs]
It should be noted that at this point, our interview was slightly interrupted because I gave up on typing and decided to rely solely on the revolutionary recording power of my iPhone.
And we’re back. Keah was able to learn more about the McGill Farmers’ Market through her sustainability networks and their work interested her. She was working for Organic Campus at that time, which was a service to the McGill Farmer’s Market, and she decided last year that she wanted to get fully involved, so she applied to be a market coordinator.
There are four market coordinators in total: Chelsea and Amila, the two co-coordinators, Monica, the promotional coordinator, and Keah, the finance coordinator. She helps manage the finances of the CSA program, as well as the other logistics and expenses of the McGill Farmers’ Market, and together the market coordinators “help run the market days, which run Thursdays for 12-5PM.”
The McGill Farmers’ Market also has a blog, which has interviews with the farmers and the vendors, as well as recipes and information on the CSA program, local vegetables, and seasonal agricultural tips. Keah doesn’t personally write for the blog, but she encourages you all to read the blog or write for the blog.
This semester, Keah has quite a few other commitments both on and off campus. She is the Safety Executive for the McGill Outdoors Club, so she helps ensure the safety of their events, organizes wilderness safety courses and events, and helps out with the general administration of the club. She also works for the Museum of Jewish Montreal and writes for Word and Colour.
She manages to juggle it all by making sure to find space for herself in small moments, rather than overwhelming herself by thinking of everything all the time. She makes sure to stay focused on a single task, and take breaks between tasks to keep herself grounded.
To get involved with the McGill Farmers’ Market as a volunteer at the market days (CSA pick-up and market set-up/take down) or a writer, e-mail them, and they’ll get back to you!
Photos provided by the interviewee.