April 8, 2020 / Modified apr 9, 2020 1:21 a.m.

How Farmers Markets are surviving - and evolving - during the pandemic.

Also on Arizona Spotlight:The Arts Foundation makes emergency relief grants available to local artists; a conversation with food writer & former EMT Jane Stern; and a short story from Aurelie Sheehan.

SNAP Farm Bucks Until April 30, 2020, Arizonans receiving food assistance can double their SNAP dollars without limit. These bonus dollars can be used to purchase local produce at farmers markets that participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program.
Alisa Ivanitskaya/ AZPM

Arizona Spotlight

April 9, 2020

NPR
(Download MP3)

Featured on the April 9th, 2020 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:

Bike church by Bike Church by Joe O'Connell and Blessing Hancock is a walk-in metal sculpture located in a community-created park and constructed from recycled bike parts arranged into geometric forms. The sculpture was commissioned through the Tucson Pima Arts Council Teaching Artist Grant. The artists led a group of high school students in the design and construction of the piece for Barrio Anita, a neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona with deep cultural roots.
Courtesy of AFTSA
  • The first episode in a new series about food insecurity, produced by Alisa Ivanitskaya. How are local businesses connected to the Heirloom Farmers Markets at Rillito Park surviving - and evolving - during the pandemic? Through the month of April, bonus SNAP dollars are available to those living on food assistance than can be used to purchase local produce.
Heirloom radishes small Produce from one of the vendors at the Heirloom Farmers Markets at Rillito Park.
Alisa Ivanitskaya / AZPM
Laura Brehm Laura Brehm from Laura's Locals sells mushrooms and produce harvested in Southern Arizona.
Alisa Ivanitskaya/ AZPM
Larry’s Veggies stand Larry from the Larry's Veggies with a customer. "When you get to meet your farmer, it's just one of the best feelings that you can experience," says Zoë Anderson, the Director of Advancement for Heirloom Farmers Markets.
Alisa Ivanitskaya/ AZPM
  • And, Mark has a conversation with co-writer of Roadfood, frequent NPR guest, and newspaper columnist Jane Stern. She tells about experimenting with new recipes made from dollar store ingredients, finding the upside of social isolation, and how she became an Emergency Medical Technician in an effort to overcome her phobia about healthcare.
Jane Stern collage On the left, Jane Stern on one of her original trips to Arizona in search of "Roadfood", to both enjoy and write about. The 1977 bestseller helped launch her career as an author, columnist, and frequent radio and TV commentator.
kathy bates ambulance girl unsized VIEW LARGER Kathy Bates played the role of Jane Stern in the Lifetime TV movie based on her book "Ambulance Girl".
  • And, "The Suit", a very short story from Tucson-based author and UA creative writing professor Aurelie Sheehan. Her fiction collection Once into the Night contains 57 short stories, ranging in length from 2 sentences to 3 pages, each written from the first-person perspective of a different character.
once into the night book cover unsized image VIEW LARGER "Once into the Night", by Aurelie Sheehan, published by FC2 & The University of Alabama Press.
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona