Dining Services Hosts First Farmers’ Market in Two Years

Fresh vegetables and herbs from Neighborgoods. Photo by Andrew Mark ‘22

For the first time in two years, Marist Dining had the chance to host a farmers’ market on Oct. 7 in the outdoor dining tent. The event, entitled Neighborgoods Farmers’ Market, was filled with seasonal goods and attracted almost 300 students. 

Neighborgoods started at 2 p.m., and 10 minutes before the event started, students had already formed a line that ran from the tent all the way back inside to the Student Center. Students were clearly eager to purchase the market’s goods.

The farmers’ market was created to bring fresh produce to students while supporting local and regional farms. 

Along with produce, hot food items were freshly prepared by the dining hall. Smoked chicken, braised lentils, squash soup, vegetable chili and roasted vegetables were all available for students to enjoy. In addition, seasonal goods such as apple cider donuts and pumpkin loaves were freshly baked and served. 

The chefs created the menu specifically for the farmers’ market. They took into account the seasonality of the produce and what Marist students would enjoy the most.

The market is a great way to bring fresh goods to campus, but it is also a part of the dining hall’s sustainability initiatives. “Marist Dining Services prides itself in sourcing over 50% of ingredients locally and regionally within a 200-mile radius,” said Kate Cole, Marketing Specialist for Marist Dining. “Neighborgoods Farmers’ Market is a concept that was developed two years ago to showcase some of the local farms and suppliers that we source from,” said Cole.

Neighborgoods is aimed to be as low waste as possible by encouraging students to use reusable bags for the products and ensuring that compostable materials are used for packaged items and hot food containers.

Additionally, extra produce was used within the dining hall, and extra prepared food that met donation standards was donated to FeedHV, a community food relief network that Marist provides food to every week. In total, the dining hall donated about 40 lbs of food. Any food that did not meet the standards was composted through Greenway, a local composting company that receives all of Marist Dining’s food waste and transports it to their site to be made into usable soil. 

Several Marist organizations that aim to promote environmental efforts attended the event to showcase the campus’ sustainability as a whole. The Marist Community Garden had a table that showcased its history, its new produce, and ways to get involved with the garden. The Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee (CSAC) had an informational table about the club, composting and ways to get involved in the campus’ composting initiatives. Marist’s Campus Closet, a sector of the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), set up its own mini thrift store that allowed students to “thrift” the clothes of other Marist students and become a part of the ongoing clothing exchange. 

While the dining hall had plans to do just one farmers market this semester, based on the market’s success and positive student feedback, the dining hall is already discussing the possibility of another Neighborgoods.