Oct 27, 2024
Jazz + Jean by Kathleen
K : Hi I’m collecting stories at the Rosendale Farmers Market, and I’m here with Pomona Kitchen.
Jz: I’m Jazz.
Jn: I’m Jean.
K: Great. I’m just going to ask you a few brief questions. Please, tell me something about how you got here. How did you get here to the Farmers Market, or anything you want to say about how you got here?
Jz: We got here because we heard that there was a Farmers Market, and we’ve been wanting to
join the Farmers Market, because, first of all, we live around the area, we live in Tillson. We joined the Rosendale Farmers Market, because rather than going outside the town, we first want to introduce ourselves in the local area, our food and our business.
JN: Our family really cooks vegan food, which is rare, because there’s like rare Filipino vegan food, so why not just join the Farmers Market here in Rosendale? We have had this business in the Philippines. So, when we moved here, my mom wanted to continue her passion for cooking. Jz: We wanted to share it with people.
K: Great. How long have you been at the Farmers Market here in Rosendale?
Jz: This is our first year.
K: First year. How was it? What was it like for you all?
Jn: We like it so much. The people are so warm. We’ve gotten really a lot of connections with this experience. We’ve met a lot of amazing people, and I think that’s the highlight of everything that has happened throughout the season, just meeting people and meeting new connections.
K: How’s the business going?
Jz: The business has been great. Like the launch of any business, it has some rough starts because we just wanted to try pop-ups and we’ve never really expected anything but such overwhelming blessings and big startups! So far we love it. The business has been good. Jn: People love it. That’s the important part. That’s for us.
K: I just had your congee and it was delicious, just to say.
P: I’ll still give you fruit bowl!
K: Oh, my God. Oh, I’d take another bowl. Um, so what would you like to see more of here or, you know, both as a resident and a business owner? What would you, something you’d like to improve, something that you could imagine would serve the town and your life better, whatever.
Some ideas for, for what you’d like to see this town evolve more.
Jn: I would say mutual aid, inclusivity is one thing, I think that’s the bare minimum. But most importantly, mutual aid because there are a lot of people that need that, and in particular, people who struggle not just financially, but also emotionally, physically, and, spiritually, a lot of things to be considered while we go through a lot of community work. I think Rosendale has a lot of potential for community work and mutual aid. And I think people should get together and organize something about that. Cause there’s a lot of struggle out there. So I think in preparation for that challenge that we ought to face, I think mutual aid is a mutual aid.
Jz: Well, mutual aid is where we teach each other or we be there for each other because we want each other to be safe.
Jn: I just think if people who are in power are really blinded by their power, I don’t think they can look out for us. So we look out for each other. That’s what mutual aid needs to meet.
K: So do you have a, some kind of an iconic story that happened while you’re here, either
as a resident or a business owner, like some memory that just pops up that kind of, uh,
just sticks out in your mind. Do you have any? It can be anything, don’t think too hard.
Jn: I think when, like, customers would always, like, come back, just, like, drive like 40 minutes
Away. Just to try our food. And I’m really happy about that. Cool.
Jz: Just this community as a whole, there’s a lot of things that really warms my heart when it comes to the community. A lot of people are friendly. We have a library that has personnel that are really resourceful when it comes to volunteering.
K: So the library is a real resource that you appreciate.
Jn: And I think the library has an underrated, I think people underestimate what the library offers for the community of Rosendale because they have, first of all, the books and a lot of information that are hidden in that little library. And I think it’s underappreciated because the library offers a lot of things to the community such as: they reach out to people that we think we can’t reach out to. So with the library, I think anything is possible, and the community, without the library, the community is very incomplete.
K: Thank you! You are very articulate young women.
