SJA's 1st Farmer's Market!!
Sunday, September 30th, 2001
...an ecospirituality statement!

The leaves turning beautiful colors and the brisk refreshing air are sure signs of the fall season. But the best gifts this time of year are the fresh fruits and vegetables that are available at farmer's markets.

St. Joan’s was taking part in this bountiful season by hosting their own farmer's market on Sunday September 30th. The location was appropriately on the north lawn of the church next to the new flower garden.

Kala and Niki Ryan stopped by to purchase a few veggies. "I love to support the local people and I love how fresh everything tastes.", Kala says. She asked Farmer Rick how many years they've been doing the farmer's market. He responded, "This is our first time. We want to encourage people to become closer to the earth."

Chris Oppegard(right) was also helping out Sunday morning. She is a member of the garden group that keeps up the flower garden at St. Joan's. They call their group "Left Field". She was picking Zinnias while I was talking to her. She said they were the flowers that she liked to give to people as a way to say "welcome to our garden". She also added, "When we first started the group people said that it wouldn't work. But it has, we haven't had any vandalism. In fact, some of the children from the neighborhood come out to help us take care of the flowers."

The farmer's market not only gave people a chance to stock up on fruits and vegetables, but it also helped out those less fortunate. All the proceeds will go to the local food shelf and those proceeds totalled $1250. So with the help of St. Joan's, more people will experience the bountiful harvest of the season this year.

The members of The Left Field Garden Project would like to thank their fellow SJA parishoners for the wonderful support of the Farmer's Market on September 30th. Thanks to your product donations and purchases, we were able to raise $1250 for the Second Harvest Food Bank, besides have a great deal of fun. We hope some of you will consider joining us next year, and will be holding at least two planning meetings during the winter. Watch the Ecospirituality Web section for meeting news! Your input would be appreciated, as your kind words and support this past growing season have been appreciated. ("Farmer Dan", "Farmer Rick", and all) The winners of the Giant Pumpkin raffle were Chelanga Langason and Tom Cole. Congratulations!!

Marcene Stetz has attended mass at St. Joan’s for the past two years, though she just became an “official” member last Fall. Marcene works at Periscope, an advertising agency in Minneapolis where she is in charge of getting projects printed. She is looking forward to putting her hobby of writing to good use for the web team, as well as meeting more people at St. Joan’s.