Pay-What-You-Can Urban Farmers' Market - Troy, NY

Deep in the heart of South Troy, NY, the 2nd Street Farm grows in solidarity against the tides of a brutally exclusive food system. We are rooted in the beliefs that access to health food is a human right and that reconnecting with the Earth and her natural cycles can instigate profound healing and interconnectedness among our diverse neighborhoods and communities. In our 3rd growing season, we are committing to the cultivation of an anti-capitalist marketplace by featuring a community-supported Pay-What-You-Can market at our main garden site on 2nd Street.  Through our work, we hope to unite a racially and economically diverse neighborhood along its collective interest for environmental and food justice through regenerative agricultural practice and non-profiteering food distribution. Our long-term goals will leverage the growing network of collaborators to provide employment and cooperative ownership opportunities for our whole community through providing access to land, infrastructure and farmer-owned markets. 

This fundraiser will make it possible for our farmer to commit her time, energy, resources, skills and love to community food and environmental justice work by providing her an income floor for the work she will do in the 2020 growing season. If we hit our winter fundraising and volunteer coordination goals, we will commit to operating Pay-What-You-Can markets 3x weekly at the 2nd Street Farm in South Troy (492 2nd Street) from the end of May through September of 2020. As often as you like, you'll be able to visit the farm on 2nd Street and select the produce you want. Our market model will be more interactive than the others around town with Pick-Your-Own options, and I will teach marketgoers best practices for harvesting throughout the growing season so that everyone has the opportunity to know the joys eating one's own harvest. 

As a contributor to this work, you will ensure that this marketplace exists not just for those families that can afford healthy eating but for all our neighbors, regardless of their class status. There aren't many spaces in our privatized world where every human being can participate meaningfully without discrimination between rich and poor, so lean into the opportunity to be a part of something revolutionary.