A Community Farmers’ Market: Parson’s Green

The case for starting a farm or a smallholding, and in some way making a living selling at a market
is covered pretty well in many books, articles and online discussion forums. Very little though is
written about farmers’ markets themselves, and so most people today are unaware of the potential such
marketplaces have to enrich our lives and the life of our community, and support small-scale organic
and local artisan industries.

This book is all about a healthy sustainable community, one which will enable it’s members to live
a healthy sustainable life. The real London community of Parson’s Green, and the ambition to create
there a Community Farmer’s Market, discussed in the first part of the book, is one example of a project
which can empower people to get involved in shaping such a community and life. If you live outside
central London, you can skip the sections “specific” to Parson’s Green, which make up a very small part
of the document, the majority applies to any community and hopefully might inspire, and be of some help
in the creation of such marketplaces.

I started out writing a piece of pure advocacy, to attract people’s involvement with, aswell as shopping
at, a community farmers’ market. To do justice to the issues raised however, i felt i had to include a brief
outline of ‘life outside the marketplace’. These issues which impact all our lives, and are of concern to
most people today, are in fact what motivate many people to attend a farmers’ market in the first place.
Most of the book directly concerns a community market, one which might work for any community
(maybe your own?). The last four chapters are all about living a sustainable life, the last focusing on our
wider world.

I hope you enjoy reading what i have written as much as i have enjoyed writing it.