JCC opens call for local farmers

By Lori Szepelak

Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD Wanted: farmers to provide fresh produce on Fridays at the Jewish Community Center.

City resident Belle Rita Novak is hoping to create a small farmers' market beginning in mid-June at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) on Dickinson Street if there is enough interest on the part of local farmers to participate.

"Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein is very interested in having our community as connected to the environment as possible," said Novak during an interview with Reminder Publications. "He is a regular customer at our farmers' market at the X and his suggestion was that the JCC would be a good location for a market."

Novak manages the Farmers' Market at the X which begins its 11th year of operation on May 6. The Farmers' Market is conducted in the parking lot of Trinity United Methodist Church on Sumner Avenue, and runs on Tuesdays from 12:30 to 6 p.m. through October.

"I have shopped at farmers' markets since 1961," she said, adding, "it is important to support local agriculture because once a farm is developed for housing or some use other than a farm, it is lost."

Novak emphasized that since no more land is being created, preservation is key.

"People who farm work very hard," she said. "They are willing to do the hard work necessary to bring us fresh, nourishing food and we have to support them."

Novak added that the quality of life we enjoy in Western Massachusetts is "contributed to by having a good percentage of rural land."

"That is part of what makes living here so special," she added. "We must preserve what we have. In addition to the intrinsic value of non-developed land, local agriculture adds millions of dollars each year to our economy."

Novak noted that farmers' markets are "retail markets" since wholesale markets are not lucrative for small farmers.

"Farmers' markets bring good food and other products directly to where the customers are," she said. "We don't have to go to the farm to enjoy what is available. In the case of markets that are in cities, the farm comes to the city."

Persons interested in the JCC initiative can contact Novak at 737-1724 or via e-mail at bellerita@verizon.net. Novak noted that no stall fees are anticipated.