Farmer's market on wheels

Imagine a farmer's market within walking distance where the prices are low, the crates are stocked with cultural favorites, food stamps are accepted, and local agencies are on hand for vision screening, blood-pressure testing, even needle exchanges.

That's what got under way June 30 in Camden, thanks to a $100,000 investment from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and a partnership with Philadelphia's famed Greensgrow Farms.

This new mobile market, run from a used van that Greensgrow bought with a donation from Subaru, has side windows for ventilation, awnings for shade, and racks outside for self-service shopping.

Two Greensgrow staffers - one a Spanish-speaking Camden resident - will park the van at set locations in four Camden neighborhoods every Thursday and Friday, now through October.

To meet the needs of Camden's largely Hispanic neighborhoods, the mobile market is stocking green plantains, avocados, jalapeños, yucca, and quenepas (a fresh fruit), as well as standard seasonal offerings such as tomatoes, watermelon, summer squash, peaches, and berries.

"It reminds me of my homeland," Ramon Santiago of North Camden said in Spanish, smiling as he popped a tart, pulpy quenepa into his mouth.

The mobile market accepts federal SNAP nutrition assistance cards (food stamps), Farmers' Market Nutrition Program coupons, and credit cards.

But opening day landed on the end of the month - and the end of the food-stamp cycle, forcing a number of browsers to leave empty-handed because they'd run out of food vouchers.

"I don't have the money right now," said Maria Irizarry, 52. "My check will come next week. I'll come back then."

Still, shoppers said they liked what they saw.

"This stand is going to get a lot of support," said Patricia Sturdivant, 42.

She doesn't have a car and that makes grocery shopping difficult, she said. Nearby there is only "a Chinese store, a pizza store, and the bodega corner stores," Sturdivant said, her nephew Rahmir, 6, in tow.

"He doesn't like his vegetables," she said. "But when we were walking over here, we saw the vegetables and he asked me what they were. He wanted to try them."

In Camden, as in some Philadelphia neighborhoods, access to fresh fruits and vegetables is limited. The city has just one major supermarket, a Pathmark near the city's eastern border with Collingswood, and a smattering of other farmer's markets.