BERKELEY, Calif. — “I come every week, rain or shine,” says Willy Halmon, a regular at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market. Riverdog Farm and Blue Heron Farms are frequent stops of his, and they are among Halmon’s favorite stands.
Halmon, now retired, has spent the last 20 years in North Berkeley enjoying the city and the market. Though people know his face, Halmon says he isn’t on a first-name basis with any of the vendors. He is just one of many people thankful for the market.
The Big Little Bowl of Soup is relatively new to the market, having only been there for about nine months, but Rasa Dresser says he hopes he’s having an impact in the lives of those who buy from him.
“I really just wanted to make a difference in the community, and to nourish the people who are making positive changes in the planet,” he said.
(Photo by Julia Pierson/Teen Observer)
Dresser makes his soups using what he calls “intuitive cooking.” Thinking and feeling what he wants this particular batch to convey, he will buy ingredients and cook them in the way he feels will get his message across.
The soup he makes is a limited edition, unique to the feeling he wants to get across. What is sold one week likely not be sold again. This makes it difficult to nail down a bestseller or a pattern of any kind, but none of his soups use any animal products, making them vegetarian and vegan safe.
(Photo by Hannah Sanchez/Teen Observer)
“My favorite part of working here is the people I get to talk to,” Anna Kate, a worker at Frog Hollow Farm, says.
Kate is an environmental science and food systems major hoping to work in agriculture after college. She said she looks forward to seeing the “regulars” and talking to them when she’s at the market.
“I started working here first off because I love this specific farm’s mission,” she said. “… We’re a zero-waste farm.”
The Ecology Center, which runs all three weekly markets in Berkely, refers to the markets as “The heart of the community’s alternative food system.”