Showing up

A nice perk to my job at Penn State Extension is I get to visit farmers markets. Community farmers markets, on-farm retail farm markets and public markets. This is not actually part of my job description and I'm sure the powers that be would question why I do this. "Why don't you just call them?"

There is so much you gain by just showing up at someone's place of business. Besides, being a farmer, I am never comfortable spending a lot of time in an office and I have little patience for the bureaucracy that is required to run a machine the size of Penn State Extension. So taking some time to visit the businesses and people I serve seems to me to be a good use of my time rather than filling out paperwork.

It actually takes quite a bit of planning to do this. If I don't plan these trips, they won't happen. Early in the season I decide how many visits I want to make each month. I pick a region and plan to visit 3 to 4 markets that day. That's about the most I can do when you factor in travel and the operating hours of the market. If I'm visiting community farmers markets I don't want to arrive during the first hour that the market is open since that is the busiest time and vendors and managers are not able to talk shop. After all the planning, the hardest part of the day is making sure I showing up.

When I go, I usually don't have an agenda. I don't need one. The managers are happy you came to their market. They are usually anxious to know what I think. "What do you think of this display?" "What about the flow of the market?" On a recent trip, the manager of a retail farm market had just installed a new P.O.S. (point of sale) system and was excited to show me its features. I can't get that from a phone call. I can usually get a feel for the status of the market when I enter. You can feel the passion that someone has for their business. Is there order or is there chaos? I always come away inspired by their hard work and passion and usually a few ideas for upcoming winter programs.

In the end, this job is about people. Yes, it's research and education but first it's about the people you serve and making a difference in your community. If they don't know you, they won't trust you. Why would they trust you if you never seen their business?

One day I was visiting a large public market. I made my way to the manager's office. I introduced myself, told them a bit about what I do and the programs we offer. They seemed to be not very interested so I gave them my card and left. When I got back to my office, there was a phone message for me from that manager asking about rules regarding dogs at a market.

I think it was Woody Allen that said "90% of life is about just showing up". So I show up.