The Gray Street Farmers Market, Knob Hill Farms CSA subscriptions and UofL’s Community Gardens, all in collaboration with UofL’s Sustainability Council, can help campus neighbors and Cardinals supplement grocery store produce. These options can provide healthy alternatives, reduced costs and decreased individual environmental impact.

“Nothing is more indicative of unsustainable living than our widespread disconnection from the most fundamental thing that sustains us, where and how our food is grown,” said UofL’s Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability Initiatives Justin Mog. “These initiatives represent the university’s best efforts to reconnect us to the land, the ecology, the local economies and the people that we cannot live without.”

Each program below is open to the public:

• 
  Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
  June – September

• 
  Pickups Tuesday at UofL 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
  CSA Subscriptions

• 
  Alternating Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• 
  Summer Garden Gatherings: Urban & Public Affairs Garden 7 p.m., Mondays;
  Garden Commons 12 p.m., Thursdays

Knob Hill Farms and Community Supported Agriculture

Since 2004, Keith McKenzie and his family have managed Knob Hill Farm’s 26 acres, including two acres of USDA-certified organic farmland, to share healthy and locally grown produce with Louisville’s residents. When McKenzie moved with his wife to Louisville to work on his master’s degree in social work, the pair rented plots to garden while living in the city. The community they found in Louisville and their love of gardening were the beginning sprout of Knob Hill Farms. The connections made through gardening encouraged McKenzie to expand his gift for gardening and community building to Knob Hill Farms and, ultimately, community-supported agriculture (CSA).

“What we want to do is share what it’s like to grow produce, what it’s like to farm, what it’s like to encounter nature on multiple fronts,” McKenzie said.

Knob Hill Farms is able to operate thanks to their CSA subscriptions, which allow customers to buy a share in the farm for the season by supporting the work and reaping the harvest through weekly in-season provisions. Each week, McKenzie meets subscribers at one of his pickup locations, including a stop at UofL’s Belknap Campus. At these pickups, McKenzie hears directly from customers about their upcoming needs from Knob Hill Farms which allows him to adapt crop choices. Farmers Markets and CSA create mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and their customers without additional cost or damage from a third-party grocery store.

“There’s been a move to modernize and to embrace technology. At what cost and at what expense? I believe in the exchange for convenience and in pursuit of, ultimately, the American Dream. We gave up power. We gave up control of how we prepare food and what is in the food that’s prepared for us,” McKenzie said. “And for my wife and me, this – I believe – is an opportunity for us to gain some control, some power, some sense of liberation.”

Gray Street Farmers Market     

Begun in 2009, the Gray Street Farmers Market (GSFM) is a project of in partnership with the Louisville Metro Dept. of Public Health and Wellness and Catholic Charities Common Earth Gardens. Their goal is to increase access to fresh food in downtown Louisville. In addition to providing access to affordable, locally grown produce, the market welcomes craft vendors, food trucks and partners like the Louisville Free Public Library. The market is open every Thursday, 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. from June through September, rain or shine.

The GSFM offers several food access programs to provide support to customers enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) and seniors. SNAP dollars can be tripled at the Gray Street Farmers Market through the Triple Dollar Program.

UofL Community Gardens

Seeking out local produce may not take you much further than your own backyard, neighborhood or campus. Gardening is another way to shorten your grocery store list while decreasing environmental damage. UofL’s two community gardens, Garden Commons and Urban & Public Affairs Garden, are cared for and harvested by students, staff, faculty and public volunteers. Each week, volunteers meet to care for the garden, learn and enjoy a share of the produce.

The celebration was in advance of National Farmers Market Week Aug. 4-10. Farmers markets act as vital resources for families to get locally sourced produce which increases healthy eating habits and boosts the local economy.

The Gray Street Farmers Market was co-founded in 2009 between UofL’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences (SPHIS) and the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health Wellness. Together, they work toward relieving the food desert that exists in downtown Louisville.

“We’re in the middle of an increased need to provide fresh produce within downtown Louisville, specifically to those on food assistance programs,” said Sara Frazier, Gray Street Farmers Market manager.

Locally-grown produce can often be viewed as a commodity for only those who can afford it, according to Frazier. The Gray Street Farmers Market addresses the issue with its Dollar for Dollar program, which matches SNAP recipients’ benefits up to $20. The service is provided through donations and numerous fundraising opportunities, including a available on the market’s website during August.�� There is also an for those wishing to donate directly to the Dollar for Dollar program.��

The market runs every Thursday from mid-May to Oct. 31, 2019 – rain or shine. It operates from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with lunch options available through vendors and weekly food truck rotations. The market’s governance committee reviews all vendor applications to ensure the products are local and will be a good fit. They want there to be a variety of high quality options for our customers.��

Visitors can expect homegrown or homemade products including fruits and vegetables, canned goods, hand-crafted products, artisan coffee and more. Most vendors accept cash, card or tokens. Tokens are available at the information booth in order to help those who need currency exchanged onsite.

.

For its third year on the Belknap campus, the Farmers Market will run each Thursday through Oct. 13 from 3:30-6 p.m.

The market will feature five new vendors this year, including DelectaBites (cookies, cakes, ice cream), Good Family Farm (fresh produce), Purl’s Pecans (pecan fudge), Crigger Farms (a beekeeping farm that sells honey, apple butter, peanut butter, honey bourbon balls and more), and Paradise Tea (several types of tea).

Returning vendors include:

• Emily & Travis Ross’s New Farm (formerly Em & T’s Louisville Farm, selling CSA pork shares and pork cuts)
• UofL’s Get Healthy Now (providing activity-based demonstrations and information)
• Granny’s Delights (vegetables, canned pickles, salsa, jams, jellies and homemade bread loaves)
• Green Farm (fresh vegetables and fruit, stuffed pancakes, miso noodles and more)
• Lowe Creek Farm (apple turnovers, ginger cookies, apple butter, dried apples, frozen blueberries, baby carrots, chocolate granola and more)
• Pop’s Kettle Corn (kettle corn, caramel corn, lemon shakeups, iced tea)
• Swallow Rail Farm (eggs, lamb, whole and half chicken)
• Use Good Scents (deodorants, lotion, body butter, detergent, hand soap and more, all made with organic oils and butters)
• UofL’s Health Promotion Wellbeing Central will also be on hand with its RAH-Mobile, transporting produce around campus and providing recipes for the Farmers Market newsletter.

Darlene Shircliff, the Farmers Market assistant manager, said variety is important.��

“We try and keep our vendors diverse. This year, for example, we’ll have everything from a pork vendor to a bee keeper. We think it’s important to bring different things to the market to give our customers a variety,” she said.

Additionally this year, the Louisville Water Company will provide pure tap water and door prizes will be handed out.��

On Sept. 8 and Oct. 6, Chef Mat Shalenko, a formally-trained chef and certified health coach, will provide cooking demonstrations and samples.

The Farmers Market is a member of Kentucky Proud and Shircliff touts its commitment to sustainability and healthy eating efforts.

“We hope to support local – Kentucky and Indiana – farmers and promote healthy eating on campus for both students and employees,” she said. “We are getting our students more involved and trying to promote it more to them this year. Once people find out about it, they love it. It’s just a great thing to do.”

For more information, check out the .��

The Gray Street Farmers Market also opens May 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The market, which caters to the HSC campus and surrounding neighborhoods, features 11 vendors, including some who are available at both markets. More information about the Gray Street Farmers Market is .