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Nov. 6, 2024

Going from Farm to Table with Charlotte Tolley

Going from Farm to Table with Charlotte Tolley

In this episode of Connect the Knox, host Julia Hurley chats with Charlotte Tolley, CEO of Nourish Knoxville. Learn about the organization’s mission to provide nourishing foods to the Knoxville community through farmers’ markets, SNAP doubling...

In this episode of Connect the Knox, host Julia Hurley chats with Charlotte Tolley, CEO of Nourish Knoxville. Learn about the organization’s mission to provide nourishing foods to the Knoxville community through farmers’ markets, SNAP doubling programs, and the East Tennessee Local Food Guide. Charlotte shares the impactful journey of establishing the Market Square Farmers Market and elaborates on various programs aimed at increasing food accessibility and community engagement. If you’re interested in local food systems, community support, and innovative approaches to combating food deserts, this episode is a must-listen.
 
 
 

Show Highlights:

(00:00) - Intro
(00:45) - Learning more about Charlotte and her work with Nourish Knoxville
(02:33) - All of the programs offered by Nourish Knoxville
(07:56) - What is Nourish Moves?
(09:41) - About Nourish Knoxville as a non-profit
(11:49) - Ad - Just Homes Group
(12:19) - How you can get involved in Nourish Knoxville's fundraisers
(15:52) - Expansion and impact of the Market Square Farmers Market
(18:51) - Recap of everything provided by Nourish Knoxville


Links Referenced:
 
Connect with ConnectTheKnox
- Follow the Podcast -
- Connect with Julia -
- Buy or Sell a home in Knoxville -
Transcript
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Welcome everybody to another episode of Connect the Knox.

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I'm your host Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.

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Today's guest is Charlotte Tolley.

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CEO of Nourish Knoxville, a not for profit organization connecting

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Knoxville with nourishing foods through farmers markets and donations.

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We want to get really into this, Charlotte, because this is something

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that is very interesting, especially in parts of a lot of communities

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that have food deserts and even Knoxville has a couple of those.

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So please introduce yourself and let people

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know exactly what is Nourish Knoxville.

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I'm Charlotte Tolley.

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Um, I helped found the Market Square Farmers

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Market in downtown Knoxville in 2004.

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So Nourish Knoxville is, grew out of that work.

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Working with local farmers and food producers, you know,

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peaches just don't ripen on Fridays, so there are a lot of

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other places that we work with beyond just farmer's market.

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Our non profit started in 2013, so we have been working in local food in the

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Knoxville area for over 20 years and are really not just farmers markets.

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While we operate Market Square and New Harvest Farmers Markets at this

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point, we also produce the East Tennessee Local Food Guide to help

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people find farmers markets or other local food sources near them.

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We also work with other farmers markets and direct selling

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farm sites to offer SNAP doubling, so accepting food stamps

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and doubling those dollars for fresh fruits and vegetables.

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We do a Kids Program and a Moves Program, which both incentivize people to

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come to the market and get dollars to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables.

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And then we also do a food recovery and donation program where we, you

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know, during peach season, sometimes there's a lot more peaches than can

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be sold at a market, we work with farmers to purchase those goods to go

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to communities in need who may not have a lot of access to fresh produce.

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That is a lot that you have taken on to build.

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It is a lot.

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Yeah, it sounds like you do quite a bit, and

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that's, it's an unbelievable undertaking.

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I did not know you started the Farmer's Market.

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I lived in downtown Knoxville for four

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years, and that was where I got all my food.

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Lived in a very small condo, so we either ate out every night with

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the very small handful of restaurants that were available back

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then, or we made our food from the farmer's market every weekend.

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So that's that's pretty amazing.

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Thank you for starting that because it has turned into one of

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the largest and most sought after farmer's markets in this area.

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That's huge.

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Yeah.

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Do me a favor and take us step-by-step through each of these programs because

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there's several of these I don't know anything about, and when people relocate

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here, this is one of the most listened to podcasts for new people moving in.

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I think that's very relevant information for them.

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So yeah, people know the MarketSquare Farmers Market now generally.

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If you are relocating in Knoxville, we've had multiple people come up to us and

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say like, "Oh, this is one of the reasons I felt like I can move to Knoxville."

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Like there's a vibrant downtown.

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I look at farmer's markets when I travel.

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You know, it means that there's like a maker scene and a food scene in a city.

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So of course we have our flagship market, which is on

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Saturdays, which is essentially year round at this point.

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We close for holidays, but we're downtown pretty much

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year round, but we also are there on Wednesdays in season.

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And we run the New Harvest Farmer's Market, which is in East Knoxville.

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We're not at all the only farmer's market in the area.

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Most towns have their own, so Maryville has a farmer's market, Oak Ridge

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has a farmer's market, you know, there's a Morgan County farmer's market.

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I know there's one in Farragut, and the Oak Ridge farmer's market's massive.

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And we accidentally came across that going to the Lavender

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Festival last year, and it backed up to the Oak Ridge Farmer's

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Market, and I thought, "This is almost as big as Knoxville's is."

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Yeah, and it's been running over 40 years, so the group that

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runs that market also operates one at Ebenezer Road in West

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Knoxville, and one in Clinton, so that's the same group.

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And if you are a farmer's market frequenter, you would

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see a lot of familiar faces if you go to these markets,

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because like I said, peaches don't just ripen on Friday.

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So you can't just have a Saturday morning market.

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There's a Tuesday market, a Wednesday market, Thursday market, Saturday market.

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And so we started in that world, but we do

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feel like we want to float all the boats.

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Like, we want, need our farmers to be successful.

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We want all of these farmers markets to survive and for these farmers to

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have multiple outlets, including restaurants and grocers and, you know, CSA

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programs or other ways that they would be selling their produce to folks.

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What is a CSA program?

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CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.

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So the idea is you give literal seed money to a farmer.

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So in the beginning of the season, they would say, you know, we

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would like 60 people to like buy a share of the farm, and you

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give upfront money so that they can purchase all those inputs,

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and then throughout the season, you get a share of that harvest.

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There's a lot of different models.

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There's some that are a meat CSA.

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There's some that have add-ons or are short

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seasons, and so we promote those as well.

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And so that's where we started the East Tennessee Local Food Guide.

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It's both online and in print where it's for direct selling farmers.

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So if you were to pick one up, you would see farms that you can

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call directly and find them at a farmer's market or on their farm.

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They also list restaurants or grocers and other

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farmers markets in the area in a 33 county region.

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This asset, where can you find this?

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You can go to the online version on our website.

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So, nourishknoxville.org, and you can enter

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search terms, so you can enter a county.

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So if you're in Morgan County, you can look for firms in Morgan County, or

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if you look at farmers markets in Morgan County, or if you're just like, I

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really want to be able to find this certain product, like who has local honey?

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That's something we asked out about a lot.

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You can put in honey and then you can look for things near you,

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groceries that carry it and be able to find those products.

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So the next one of our flagship programs, when food

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stamps went to an online card based system, that really

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cut out a lot of farmers from being able to accept those.

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So we, across Tennessee, helped other farmers markets as well

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accept SNAP through a script based system, which is a very technical

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term, but essentially people come to our centralized information

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booth and are able to swipe their card, take out however much

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they want, and in their own SNAP dollars and their benefits.

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And then we double those dollars up to 20 per day for

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fresh fruits and vegetables so that SNAP recipients

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are able to extend their food budget for healthy foods.

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Is that statewide?

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It is not currently statewide.

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There are other markets across the state who have programs.

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Ours is called Double Up Food Bucks.

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You heard it here first, we have a grant

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application in for a straight statewide program.

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Like we are working towards statewide.

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East Tennessee has a pretty strong program.

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From Chattanooga to Bristol, there's I think over

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30 sites now that are accepting SNAP and doubling.

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So we also do our kids program at our markets

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and a few partner markets across East Tennessee.

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So kids come to our booth, we get them to try a fresh

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fruit or vegetable, and they get five dollars to spend at

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the market on the fruits and vegetables of their choice.

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Clever!

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That's a great way to get kids to start eating fresh vegetables.

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I like that.

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Yeah, it's interesting, you know, introducing things to them, because

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of course, when you say like, "Oh, have you had a strawberry before?"

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Most of them have tried a strawberry, but your like, in season farmer's

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market strawberry is probably different than the one that you had in February.

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So even if it is something that kids are used to, they may have

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tried it before and not liked it because it wasn't as good.

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And so, yeah, and we've had a lot of feedback that, you know,

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kids are more likely to try when we're just casually giving

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it to them than their parent trying to force it upon them.

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And from parents saying like, "You need to do this for adults!

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My partner doesn't ever try my vegetables."

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I'm like, "You're welcome to try this raw okra."

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I love raw okra.

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I don't know if people have tried it before.

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So that sampling piece is a really big component of what we do.

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Honest to goodness, before you came on the podcast,

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I did not know anything about this program.

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So I am actually learning as if I were

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listening to this podcast and relocating here.

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And you've been here since 2004.

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Tell us, okay, so you've got the double up Food Bucks, you've

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got the Nourish Kids, and then what is the Nourish Moves?

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So that one is encouraging physical activity.

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We kind of started because there was a big

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trend in like the workplace wellness world.

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We were asked like, "Oh, could you start a farmer's market at our work site?

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Can you do this?"

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And we're like, you know what we did?

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Bring a farmer's market to a lot of work sites in downtown.

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We just need to do a better job about connecting to those wellness

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programs and encouraging people to get out of the office in

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the middle of the day, take a little walk, buy some produce.

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Started really that way.

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We do it at our New Harvest and our Wednesday Farmer's Market at every market.

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People can come pick up a pedometer and walk around and bring it back, and

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they get three dollars to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables at the market.

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Every Wednesday and every Thursday at New Harvest.

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Really neat.

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Okay, so Wednesdays, Thursdays, if you work downtown, Come get a pedometer.

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How many steps do they have to get in?

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We do not require a certain amount of steps.

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We are just encouraging you to get more steps than you were.

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We used to, like, have a threshold, but we

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really also wanted to be accessible to anyone.

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Our new harvest market is actually in East Knoxville

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by the Target, which is usually what we tell people.

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So it's in a county park, and it has a really lovely walking trail.

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We have a lot of kids that participate in that, and sometimes it's real hot.

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And kids are having a very tiny meltdown at four in the afternoon, and

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so we were like, you know what, let's just encourage people to come,

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you know, if you made it out and you tried it all, like, we're really

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proud of you, especially on those like, oh, it's 100 degrees outside,

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like, we're not going to make you walk a thousand steps or whatever.

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Yeah, like, please don't, actually.

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I understand.

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Okay, so I'm going to, my gosh, I don't even know.

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There's just so many things.

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Tell us about your not for profit.

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Tell us about how that's going.

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What do you need?

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How can Knoxville better support you?

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Tell me about everything you're trying to do and what you are doing.

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So, you know, we're still a pretty small non profit.

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We have a staff of six at this point.

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We run three events a week, basically, in season, with our farmers markets.

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And then, you know, we do all of these programs plus some

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others and some fundraisers and try to participate in as

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many community events as we can in this realm as well.

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So we are relatively young, but we're not that young anymore.

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It does take a lot of time.

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So we do rely really heavily on volunteers as well,

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especially for our Kids and our Moves Programs.

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So we have volunteer opportunities at our markets, especially

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Wednesday and Thursday, where we are just happy to have people come

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and help us do crowd counts, help the people with those programs.

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But like you said, you know, you weren't familiar with our organization.

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People know about the Market Square Farmers

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Market, but they don't know how it happens at all.

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Like a lot of people think it's city run, and obviously

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we have a really strong partnership with the city, but it

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is our non profit and we are not, it's not city funded.

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So I think a little bit of just raising the awareness about our organization

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and all of these other programs that we do to increase food access.

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Always helpful.

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And obviously money is appreciated.

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Give this woman some money.

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Money is always appreciated.

226
00:11:02,415 --> 00:11:05,155
We, you know, we have a donation program for our friends program.

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A lot of our funding come at this point comes from grant funding

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from the state for these nutrition incentive programs in particular,

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but we also rely on an individual donors and like foundations.

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Um, in the area.

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And we work really closely with other organizations to ensure

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that we have been able to serve more people with local food.

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And one of the things that we didn't talk about

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a lot yet was our Nourish Community Program.

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And that is the one where we purchase from

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00:11:30,944 --> 00:11:33,285
farmers and then donate to other organizations.

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00:11:33,294 --> 00:11:36,145
So we rely really heavily on other partners in the community

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that are serving the community their clients really well.

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We work with Beardsley Farm and Battlefield Farm and the

240
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United Way and Wesley House, Dream Center, so Pride Center.

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00:11:44,870 --> 00:11:46,429
There's all these people doing really great work in

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the community, and we really have to work together.

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We all know that real estate is location, location, location.

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00:11:54,074 --> 00:11:57,954
Our team at Just Homes Group has the true expertise,

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pairing buyers and sellers with the right opportunities.

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00:12:02,564 --> 00:12:05,704
Whether you're looking to buy or sell a home right here

247
00:12:05,704 --> 00:12:11,555
in Knoxville, Lenoir City, Clinton, or Farragut, we have

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00:12:11,564 --> 00:12:14,854
the expertise throughout every Knoxville surrounding area.

249
00:12:15,944 --> 00:12:17,785
Call Just Homes Group today.

250
00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,319
So our, our organization that I am part of is called

251
00:12:21,329 --> 00:12:23,579
Charity Chicks and we do a lot with Wesley House.

252
00:12:23,810 --> 00:12:24,480
I love that.

253
00:12:24,490 --> 00:12:25,980
I love that we have that in common.

254
00:12:26,100 --> 00:12:29,129
And that tells me we're on the right track with engaging in

255
00:12:29,140 --> 00:12:32,800
different aspects of the community for all of the right places.

256
00:12:32,999 --> 00:12:33,839
That's good to know.

257
00:12:33,990 --> 00:12:36,770
Now I know that you have some fundraisers throughout the year.

258
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:37,479
We do.

259
00:12:37,549 --> 00:12:39,110
How can people get involved in that?

260
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:40,860
Is it like a, uh, it's like a dinner?

261
00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:42,500
Is it a, well, tell me about these.

262
00:12:42,785 --> 00:12:44,175
So we have a couple things.

263
00:12:44,185 --> 00:12:47,535
Our longest running is called Winter Warmer, and it is a

264
00:12:47,545 --> 00:12:51,165
fundraising dinner, and no shade to any other fundraisers,

265
00:12:51,335 --> 00:12:54,455
but it's unlikely that you will have a chicken breast at ours.

266
00:12:54,574 --> 00:12:58,005
It is a more of a farm to table experience.

267
00:12:58,085 --> 00:13:00,154
So we do work with local- with all of our

268
00:13:00,154 --> 00:13:02,895
fundraisers, it is also still a part of our mission.

269
00:13:02,895 --> 00:13:05,125
And since we have a food-related mission, when we have

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a food fundraiser, we're trying to make sure that we're

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including local ingredients in those meals as well.

272
00:13:10,020 --> 00:13:12,640
And people are perhaps even able to learn a little something

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00:13:12,650 --> 00:13:16,610
about a local farmer or a new product that they aren't used to.

274
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:18,930
So Winter Warmer is in February.

275
00:13:18,980 --> 00:13:21,899
This year it'll be February 21st, 2025.

276
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:23,779
And it's our 10th year.

277
00:13:23,829 --> 00:13:26,209
So we actually are moving to a bigger venue.

278
00:13:26,650 --> 00:13:29,550
We were at the Standard, which has housed us most

279
00:13:29,550 --> 00:13:32,740
of the time, and we're moving to the Mill Mine.

280
00:13:32,850 --> 00:13:36,460
So, it's still not a huge, we're like 225 people.

281
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:37,559
It's a plated dinner.

282
00:13:37,810 --> 00:13:39,239
So, ticketed, obviously.

283
00:13:39,329 --> 00:13:41,530
We have sponsorship opportunities, and then we have a

284
00:13:41,650 --> 00:13:44,479
pretty amazing silent auction if I do say so myself.

285
00:13:44,719 --> 00:13:45,910
Mostly if you like food.

286
00:13:45,979 --> 00:13:50,359
There's a lot of really wonderful, like, one of a kind experiences as well.

287
00:13:50,420 --> 00:13:53,259
Just like, a cocktail class, or a dumpling making class, or

288
00:13:53,259 --> 00:13:57,620
like, you know, distillery tour, and that is both online.

289
00:13:57,620 --> 00:14:00,829
So even if you're not attending the event, you can bid on these like in home

290
00:14:00,829 --> 00:14:04,430
dinner with one of, you know, Knoxville's Blackberry Farm graduate chefs.

291
00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:05,469
Really wonderful.

292
00:14:05,510 --> 00:14:07,019
So yeah, we really enjoy that event.

293
00:14:07,020 --> 00:14:08,220
We're working on that one right now.

294
00:14:08,820 --> 00:14:11,600
We just finished, it's not really an event, we

295
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,760
can call it an event, but we do Restaurant Week.

296
00:14:13,939 --> 00:14:14,949
So that one's pretty new.

297
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,150
Last year was the 20th anniversary of our Market Square Farmer's Market.

298
00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,845
So, we started it then and really enjoyed doing it, and the

299
00:14:21,845 --> 00:14:24,165
restaurants we worked with gave us a lot of really great feedback.

300
00:14:24,165 --> 00:14:29,474
So essentially, we just ask the restaurants, cafes, bars, to

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00:14:29,484 --> 00:14:32,545
make an item for their menu that includes local ingredients.

302
00:14:32,555 --> 00:14:35,224
So there's some that we work with that, no problem, they may

303
00:14:35,225 --> 00:14:37,414
feature something that always features a local ingredient,

304
00:14:37,484 --> 00:14:39,574
or they may make a special that they are featuring.

305
00:14:39,605 --> 00:14:43,180
And that week, a percentage of those sales go to our organization.

306
00:14:43,219 --> 00:14:45,749
So it's a really easy way to give back.

307
00:14:45,930 --> 00:14:47,979
You just have to go get a cocktail at Fly by Night.

308
00:14:48,050 --> 00:14:49,369
Pretty low, low barrier.

309
00:14:49,569 --> 00:14:53,019
So that's in August every year.

310
00:14:53,129 --> 00:14:56,030
So we just finished that one, and those are our main events.

311
00:14:56,255 --> 00:14:59,235
Otherwise, we do our appreciation event.

312
00:14:59,385 --> 00:15:03,875
So in October, we have our annual appreciation event for our donors,

313
00:15:03,905 --> 00:15:06,834
our market vendors, you know, those restaurants that participated

314
00:15:06,845 --> 00:15:10,924
in Restaurant Week, our sponsors, it's just people, volunteers,

315
00:15:11,095 --> 00:15:13,555
people who've given stuff to our organization over the year.

316
00:15:13,665 --> 00:15:16,855
We go to Strongstock Farm, which is in East Knox County.

317
00:15:16,865 --> 00:15:20,005
It's a beautiful, over 900 acre working farm.

318
00:15:20,155 --> 00:15:23,105
We have a cakewalk, delicious snacks, per usual, drinks.

319
00:15:23,105 --> 00:15:25,495
So basically, you're Donate to your organization.

320
00:15:25,505 --> 00:15:27,935
There's always going to be food and there's going to be great food.

321
00:15:28,305 --> 00:15:28,705
Yes.

322
00:15:28,725 --> 00:15:29,145
I love that.

323
00:15:29,175 --> 00:15:29,775
I love this.

324
00:15:30,105 --> 00:15:31,895
Add us to the list for February.

325
00:15:31,895 --> 00:15:32,875
I love that idea.

326
00:15:32,955 --> 00:15:34,235
And I want to connect you.

327
00:15:34,235 --> 00:15:36,425
I'm sure you already know the Chicken Librarian.

328
00:15:36,525 --> 00:15:36,805
Yeah.

329
00:15:36,805 --> 00:15:37,774
I'm familiar with her.

330
00:15:37,775 --> 00:15:38,105
Yes.

331
00:15:38,125 --> 00:15:38,435
Yes.

332
00:15:38,465 --> 00:15:39,864
I have her on my podcast.

333
00:15:40,174 --> 00:15:43,175
I guess it was a couple of months ago, and I've taken a few of her classes.

334
00:15:43,435 --> 00:15:46,305
I think that getting her to donate to your silent auction on

335
00:15:46,305 --> 00:15:48,824
one of her cheesemaking classes would probably be really cool.

336
00:15:48,865 --> 00:15:49,895
So I'll make that connection.

337
00:15:50,035 --> 00:15:50,735
Absolutely.

338
00:15:50,865 --> 00:15:51,925
Yes, we'll take it.

339
00:15:52,015 --> 00:15:53,905
Okay, so I want to make sure that I got this right.

340
00:15:53,905 --> 00:15:54,424
We do.

341
00:15:54,505 --> 00:15:57,104
Well, you do the whole, you do all the farmer's markets now.

342
00:15:57,105 --> 00:15:58,814
I'll give a book of all the farmer's markets,

343
00:15:58,814 --> 00:16:00,605
but you started the Knoxville farmer's market.

344
00:16:00,849 --> 00:16:03,030
Downtown Knoxville, which is the biggest one.

345
00:16:03,030 --> 00:16:04,329
It is huge.

346
00:16:04,390 --> 00:16:05,560
That's now on Wednesdays.

347
00:16:05,599 --> 00:16:07,369
It is huge, that farmer's market.

348
00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:09,699
I remember when it started, there was, I mean,

349
00:16:09,699 --> 00:16:12,170
there were farmers there, but it is massive.

350
00:16:12,260 --> 00:16:14,069
Your farmer's market is huge.

351
00:16:14,170 --> 00:16:18,879
I remember when Mark moved the Old City Java for the first time, I, because

352
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,660
I get old, I used to get Old City Java every morning, every morning.

353
00:16:22,660 --> 00:16:25,530
That man, I probably bought a house from him at one point.

354
00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,100
That's how much money I gave that company.

355
00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,940
But I remember when he brought a food truck, his coffee truck, to

356
00:16:31,940 --> 00:16:35,340
do the hand poured coffee for the first time at the farmer's market.

357
00:16:35,340 --> 00:16:37,800
And I said, oh my gosh, you know, this was so long ago.

358
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:39,669
I was like, Knoxville's gotten bougie.

359
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,699
Honestly, part of the reason that they did that, I mean, Old City Jamba

360
00:16:43,709 --> 00:16:46,880
was already open in the Old City, but we literally could not get a cup

361
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:51,140
of coffee at the opening time at 9 am, like in the Market Square area.

362
00:16:51,180 --> 00:16:53,339
There just wasn't anybody selling you coffee.

363
00:16:53,419 --> 00:16:55,689
And so we're like, we need a coffee vendor, like all of these

364
00:16:55,699 --> 00:16:58,250
vendors are showing up and being like, can I get coffee?

365
00:16:58,270 --> 00:16:59,829
And there was like Pete's maybe, but a lot

366
00:16:59,829 --> 00:17:02,800
of them didn't open until like 9 or whatever.

367
00:17:02,910 --> 00:17:05,260
So yeah, that was part of the reason we're like, can you

368
00:17:05,260 --> 00:17:07,859
just come up here and make us coffee in the morning, please?

369
00:17:07,970 --> 00:17:11,149
Yeah, it was, it was the best addition because it got us out of bed early.

370
00:17:11,315 --> 00:17:13,224
It got us to the farmer's market early.

371
00:17:13,224 --> 00:17:14,095
We could have breakfast.

372
00:17:14,095 --> 00:17:15,024
We could have coffee.

373
00:17:15,145 --> 00:17:19,754
We actually went earlier and spent more time, which equated to more money.

374
00:17:19,825 --> 00:17:21,084
So that was a win for everybody.

375
00:17:21,264 --> 00:17:23,024
Having Mark there was a great thing.

376
00:17:23,224 --> 00:17:24,214
I'll tell you a story.

377
00:17:24,295 --> 00:17:26,714
I can't remember the name of the trolley, the flower

378
00:17:26,795 --> 00:17:29,014
trolley, the lady that does the fresh cut flowers.

379
00:17:29,175 --> 00:17:30,555
We've had a couple of different ones.

380
00:17:30,585 --> 00:17:31,784
We have a new one now.

381
00:17:31,945 --> 00:17:33,735
And I remember there was a flower, I swear

382
00:17:33,735 --> 00:17:36,165
to gosh, this flower was the size of my face.

383
00:17:36,195 --> 00:17:38,434
It was this, it was so beautiful.

384
00:17:38,435 --> 00:17:39,579
I couldn't pass it up.

385
00:17:39,810 --> 00:17:43,220
I got it, I put it in my condo, I come downstairs, I go

386
00:17:43,220 --> 00:17:46,510
to smell it, I lean in to smell it, and a spider, the

387
00:17:46,659 --> 00:17:50,100
size of the flower, comes crawling off the side of it.

388
00:17:50,179 --> 00:17:55,079
I smacked that thing across, I [laughs] ran downstairs, and I was

389
00:17:55,179 --> 00:17:57,899
screaming, and the next time I saw her, she gave me free flowers,

390
00:17:57,959 --> 00:18:01,810
cause she was like, well, this is real flowers with no pesticides.

391
00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:03,340
Came straight from the farm.

392
00:18:03,470 --> 00:18:05,060
And it was so beautiful.

393
00:18:05,470 --> 00:18:08,639
Still to this day, the most beautiful flower I've ever seen in my life.

394
00:18:08,730 --> 00:18:10,490
But I will never, I'll never forget that.

395
00:18:10,530 --> 00:18:13,530
I will never forget sharing that story with her and her giving me new flowers.

396
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,260
There are people who are always like, I'm real sorry about the spider.

397
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:18,439
Please just take another one.

398
00:18:18,439 --> 00:18:19,060
I'm so sorry.

399
00:18:19,299 --> 00:18:21,810
Flower, I'm sorry you pelted it across the kitchen.

400
00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:25,429
So there's, there's so many good stories to,

401
00:18:25,470 --> 00:18:27,139
that are connected to your farmer's market.

402
00:18:27,139 --> 00:18:28,449
It brings families together.

403
00:18:28,665 --> 00:18:31,635
It's a reason for people to visit Knoxville when they're here.

404
00:18:31,834 --> 00:18:34,725
They don't know what we have to offer and that is a place, a gathering

405
00:18:34,725 --> 00:18:39,564
place, to bring people together to get to know what local farmers there are

406
00:18:39,625 --> 00:18:43,435
because I was unaware that that were that many and that had those, those many

407
00:18:43,455 --> 00:18:49,184
different forms of food available year round until, until you built that out.

408
00:18:49,194 --> 00:18:51,665
So I really appreciate everything that you've done for that.

409
00:18:51,675 --> 00:18:54,720
Would you please Would you quickly go back through each

410
00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,419
program you offer and how people can find you, donate

411
00:18:58,429 --> 00:19:02,350
to you, and enjoy this, uh, this event in February?

412
00:19:02,350 --> 00:19:03,060
I'm going to push that up.

413
00:19:03,220 --> 00:19:05,209
I may end up selling your tickets out for you.

414
00:19:05,409 --> 00:19:06,760
I'm really excited about that.

415
00:19:06,909 --> 00:19:08,340
That's why we moved to a larger venue.

416
00:19:08,340 --> 00:19:09,769
It does tend to sell out.

417
00:19:09,769 --> 00:19:13,895
So one of the perks of donating at $150 and more is

418
00:19:13,895 --> 00:19:16,195
that you get advanced ticket notice for our events.

419
00:19:16,385 --> 00:19:17,725
You know, a little plug for that.

420
00:19:17,795 --> 00:19:20,405
Yeah, so our website is nourishnoxville.org.

421
00:19:20,605 --> 00:19:23,985
There you can find, you know, links to our East Tennessee Local

422
00:19:23,985 --> 00:19:27,885
Food Guide, both a PDF version and the searchable online version.

423
00:19:28,045 --> 00:19:30,285
You can find information there about our Nourish Kids

424
00:19:30,315 --> 00:19:33,689
program and the other markets at which we offer those.

425
00:19:33,780 --> 00:19:36,820
You can find information about SNAP Doubling and also

426
00:19:36,820 --> 00:19:39,590
the other markets that accept SNAP and offer Doubling.

427
00:19:39,709 --> 00:19:42,270
You can find information about our Moves Program and where we do that.

428
00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:46,019
You can also find information about how to volunteer, or if you

429
00:19:46,039 --> 00:19:50,019
are someone that wants to sponsor or have a non profit organization

430
00:19:50,020 --> 00:19:53,495
that wants to work with our kids, activity leads, there's a lot

431
00:19:53,495 --> 00:19:56,815
of other partnerships that you can find out about on our website.

432
00:19:56,915 --> 00:19:58,885
Obviously, there are plenty of ways that you can

433
00:19:58,895 --> 00:20:01,125
send money to us through the website as well.

434
00:20:01,205 --> 00:20:04,495
And then information about Friends and Farmers, our appreciation event

435
00:20:04,524 --> 00:20:09,235
is there, and as well as what we know so far about Winter Warmer.

436
00:20:09,325 --> 00:20:12,695
But yes, if, you know, if donors at $150 and above or who

437
00:20:12,695 --> 00:20:15,915
volunteer 10 hours or more receive, are invited to Friends and

438
00:20:15,915 --> 00:20:19,685
Farmers and receive those advance ticket notifications as well.

439
00:20:19,735 --> 00:20:23,659
Charlotte, I have Absolutely enjoyed learning about Nourish Knoxville with

440
00:20:23,659 --> 00:20:27,530
you today, and it means the world that you took time out to be on our podcast.

441
00:20:27,550 --> 00:20:30,310
I know that this is going to be an extremely popular one.

442
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,439
Um, we're at a little under 14,000 listens a month, so

443
00:20:34,439 --> 00:20:37,739
we're starting to climb the ranks for Knoxville podcasting,

444
00:20:37,770 --> 00:20:39,830
but it's really just means a lot that you took the time.

445
00:20:39,830 --> 00:20:41,409
I know you're very busy, and I know that you're

446
00:20:41,419 --> 00:20:43,899
very focused, and it's farm time right now.

447
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:45,500
Season for some corn.

448
00:20:45,509 --> 00:20:46,530
Everything's going great.

449
00:20:46,540 --> 00:20:47,429
Like let's go.

450
00:20:47,530 --> 00:20:49,030
I won't take too much more of your time,

451
00:20:49,030 --> 00:20:51,080
but I want to say thank you so very much.

452
00:20:51,350 --> 00:20:53,639
And it means the world to us that you spent time with us today.

453
00:20:53,639 --> 00:20:55,559
So everybody thank you so much for tuning

454
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,080
into another episode of Connect the Knox.

455
00:20:58,280 --> 00:20:59,500
I'm Julia Hurley.

456
00:20:59,790 --> 00:21:01,840
Connecting Knoxville to the nation.

457
00:21:02,020 --> 00:21:03,020
Until next time.

458
00:21:03,710 --> 00:21:05,460
Thank you for tuning into the show.

459
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,860
Make sure to like and subscribe.

460
00:21:07,930 --> 00:21:10,939
Leave a five star review on your podcast player of choice.

461
00:21:11,199 --> 00:21:13,279
And if you would like information on moving

462
00:21:13,279 --> 00:21:15,799
to Knoxville, send me a private message.

463
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:20,160
As always, this is Julia Hurley connecting Knoxville to the nation.