We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sade Perkins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sade, thanks for joining us today. How did you find your key vendor or vendors? Maybe you can share the backstory and share some context and the relevant details to help us understand why you chose them, why they chose you, etc.
My goal is to promote local black farmers, gardeners and entrepreneurs at our market. Finding black farmers and gardeners with consistent produce in a mega city has been a huge challenge. I’ve searched and forged relationships with roadside fruit sellers, cattle ranchers and farmers as far away as Huntsville Tx and local home gardeners.
Sade, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
While a resident of Freedmens Town 4th ward, I realized our nearest grocery store is over a 30 minute walk away. After doing a bit of research I found our neighborhood is actually a designated food desert by the FDA. This was surprising to me because 4ward is located in the shadows of downtown Houston. Nestled in between wealthy River oaks and Montrose. However our residents are limited in access to fresh produce and other organic healthy foods. Thus the idea for a farmers market was born. The goal of our weekly farmers market is to provide residents in Freedmens Town with access to affordable healthy foods, while also helping to grow and sustain black agriculture. We are an EBT/ Snap certified market and want to provide access to all residents.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Shortly after opening in 2020 I was forced to move locations twice. I’d didn’t give up, but instead forged relationships with local churches in our community. Pastor Smith of Mt. Horbe Baptist church graciously allowed us to continue our mission on their church lot every Saturday in exchange for a small donation. We ended up moving to where we are now over 1 year ago. Pastor Smith has a long history of feeding our community. His church was the only church to allow the Carl Hampton Houston chapter of the Black Panther Party to provide free breakfast to school children back in the 70’s. No other church in Houston would work with the panthers at that time. He saw the need for the services we provide and wanted to help. We are internally grateful.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
At the time I decided to open the market I was doing something completely different. I had an online Etsy shop and a stay at home mom. I simply saw a need in my community and decided to act on it. I completely pivoted from online sales to agriculture. It was a huge leap of faith but 2 years later I’m glad I did it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/freedmenstownfarmersmarket
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/freedmenstownfarmersmarket?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/FreedmensTownFarmersMarket/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCXqbvcuzUFpUmIfev1o6Ouw
Image Credits
N/a