May We All Flourish
“Do something because you really want to do it. If you’re doing it just for the goal and don’t enjoy the path, then I think you’re cheating yourself.”
I hope this week has found you well! The weather for tomorrow is looking warm and fairly sunny! I think yesterday we had all the rain all at once. Don’t forget to wear your sunscreen and stay hydrated!
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! We see so much influence from these beautiful cultures in our everyday lives, and it’s important to acknowledge that.
Joyce Chen is one person who shaped our food culture here in America. She was born in China and moved to the US with her family during the Chinese Communist Revolution. She learned to cook next to her family’s cook. She lived near Harvard and MIT and would meet Chinese students that missed their cultural foods while living in America. She would often cook these foods for her children’s school events, and these meals became extremely popular among the college students and her children’s school. In 1958 she opened her first restaurant that was a buffet-style restaurant that we are all so familiar with. She began branching out and teaching cooking classes, wrote a cookbook, opened a second restaurant, patented the famous flat-bottomed Peking wok, and created her own line of cooking utensils--just to name a few. Here is a little bit more about her: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/joyce-chen
https://joycechenfoods.com/legacy/
It is also Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health care for the BIPOC community is often lacking. “Many different communities within AAPI label face their own unique challenges: from the trauma faced by those who survived wars in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam; Japanese Americans who remember the internment camps of the WW2 era; or the anxiety felt by the children of first-generation immigrants to reconcile their cultural heritage with American life. The struggles faced by Filipinx Americans vary from the experiences of Indian Americans (not to be confused with Native Americans). Additionally, Native Hawaiians, who are grouped into the category of AAPI as Pacific Islanders, still experience generations of historical trauma from the colonization of the islands of Hawaii.” It is important to understand that generational trauma can affect us today, and that these situations can cause trauma that families will experience for generations. Not only do AAPI face generational trauma, they also face socio-economic barriers:
“There are over 20 million people in the United States who identify as Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1 percent of the overall population).
Over 420,000 (2.5 percent) of Asian Americans and more than 76,000 (7.6 percent) Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders are veterans.
Nearly 54 percent of Asian Americans and 24.4 percent of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have at a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In 2018, 10.8 percent of Asian Americans lived at or below poverty level, and 6.2 percent were without health insurance. Hawaiian Natives and Pacific Islanders fared slightly worse with 14.8 percent at or below poverty level, and 8.6 percent without health insurance.”
Those in the AAPI community face many challenges that can affect their mental health. Our brains are part of our bodies and it is important to make sure our brains are as healthy as our bodies. Seeking help for our mental health should be as normal as seeking help for our bodily health. Here is some more information about mental health in the AAPI community: https://www.mhanational.org/issues/asian-american-pacific-islander-communities-and-mental-health
Macon Mental Health Matters is a great organization that seeks to help anyone in the Macon-Bibb county area needing mental health services. They help to connect people with mental health advocates to make sure that Macon-Bibb has the mental healthcare it needs.
https://www.maconmentalhealthmatters.com/
Joyce Chen on US postage stamp
Loy, Kaneish, Mitchell, Mr. Porter, Ms Eva, and Amanda all have a wonderful selection of produce for us this week!
Kaneisha no longer has strawberries, but that’s more than okay! She is bringing collards, red and green tomatoes, squash, corn, and fresh pressed juices! Loy has honeydew, watermelon, green & red plums, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Mr. Porter has containers of greens and strawberries, as well as other fresh fruits and vegetables already harvested. Mandy with Mandylandfun has some sunflowers and tomato starts and possibly herbs! Mitchell has buckwheat and other microgreens and plant starts for your garden as well! Ms. Eva is back from her winter break and she is bringing boiled peanuts and herbs! Be on the lookout next week for Dale from Cardinal Ridge Farms! He’s bringing pecans!
May is full of wonderful things for the market! This week we are welcoming a new vendor! Art with Deonna and Sierra with Cafe Heart Projects will be joining the NHFC crew! You can also find them at other markets around Macon as well! Next week Dale with Cardinal Ridge Farms plans to come out with his delicious pecans! The next week of May seems to be the busiest of all for us! May is also National Tennis Month, so Macon-Bibb Recreation’s Tennis Coordinator Robin will be out with us with various fun activities! And that same week we will have Sweet Rain Vegan Bakery joining us! So make sure to come out each week this month! You do not want to miss all of this!
This week’s recipe is Tomato and Squash Gratin
The tomatoes are here! And so is the summer squash! This recipe celebrates those flavors with some creamy cheeses and herbs!
Thank you so much to everyone who supports this market! We are so incredibly grateful for all of you! Whether you are coming in the rain or the shine or both, we are thankful for the support you show us each week! Whether you have yet to make it to the market, but are sharing our information with others, thank you! We could not do this market without you, our community! We really do love to see each and everyone of you each week! We hope to see you tomorrow!
Bring your SNAP/EBT card to the market tent to double your spending power!
We are a partner market with Wholesome Wave Georgia to help make your dollars go further at our market!
We are always looking for more people to join our fun! If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a vendor at our market, follow the link below for our vendor application!
Just a hint of all the fun we have to offer! Come join us!