Think eating healthy on campus means buying a couple of mealy Granny Smiths on food points? Think again. Thanks to the University's employee health promotion program, Live for Life, everyone on campus has easy access to a cornucopia of fresh, local produce at the Duke Farmers Market.
Prompted by the results of health risk assessments over a year-long period that revealed low fiber consumption and limited attention to fruit and vegetable intake among employees, the two-year-old program was created to find a "way to make it easy for employees to get access to fresh produce," said Kevin Harrell, health education specialist and coordinator of the market.
So on payday Fridays--weekly April to June and every other week thereafter through mid-November--local farmers roll out the goods: tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, peaches, melons, squash and pumpkins, not to mention the plants and flowers, honey, baked goods and homemade scented oils.
Anywhere from five to 10 vendors, including Brock's Produce, the Angels Nest Farm, Flat River Nursery and Busy Bee Apiaries, offer whatever produce is available and in season. Local restaurants like Pau Lim Asian Bistro add healthy lunch options to the mix.
The market is set up in front of the Medical Center Bookstore 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then at North Pavilion 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., positioned so that employees--especially Hospital employees--can enjoy a convenient, healthy alternative for lunch hour.
Lashawn Whitlock, a patient resource manager at the Hospital, said she has been coming to the market since she saw posters advertising it around the Duke Hospital in June.
"It's a great idea," she said. "The variety of produce here is great. It helps me stay healthier, and it's fresher than when I get it from the grocery."
Whitlock added the market even improved her family's eating habits by sparking their enthusiasm for fresh foods. "When I bring [produce from the market] home, everyone eats it right away," she said.
The only complaint Whitlock voiced was a lack of variety in lunch choices from week to week.
Accommodating approximately 8,000 visits by Duke employees and students this season, patronage of the market is estimated to have doubled since last year.
As the idea of the market started to catch on with staff and students within the University community, the rest of the Triangle area began to take notice. Live for Life manager Julie Joyner cited both Cisco Systems and the SAS Institute as organizations that have created similar programs locally, modeled after and inspired by the success of Live for Life's Farmers Market.
But the growing market has also become a hub of community for employees as well. Doreathy Booth of The Angels Nest Farm said the atmosphere is warm and familial.
Customers can wander leisurely from booth to booth as, more often than not, a fellow employee sets the mood with music in the background. Joyner remembered one day in particular when an employee and her daughter came and played the cello to provide entertainment for market-goers.
"Of course I love coming back here," Booth exclaimed. "[My customers] are like friends that keep coming back. And they know what they want."
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