Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show where we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Bing Turner, Co- Founder of Heritage Farmers Market. Hello.
Bing Turner
Hey, hey.
Maya Gwynn
I feel like we have to say that you are my former boss.
Bing Turner
Yes, full disclosure.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah. So I wanted to start at the beginning. You have seven farmers markets at the moment, which is incredible. What was the spark that led to Heritage Farmers Market? Was it something you witnessed, experienced, or felt was missing in the community?
Bing Turner
It was a combination of a few things. Number one, we had just moved to Fontana, actually, North Fontana, new neighborhood, new community, and we wanted to build community. We had just moved from Pomona, new neighborhood, but then also my son was diagnosed with type one diabetes, and so we were trying to figure out, in addition to creating community, how can we create this space where people can access like good food? We just didn't feel comfortable with accessing food the traditional way. We knew that food was a big impact in how people eat and what they consume. It impacted their health and their well being, and so we wanted to be on top of it.
Maya Gwynn
How do you think we got to a point where so many neighborhoods lack fresh food, affordable food, in your opinion? How have you seen that ripple out into other areas like education, mental health and community safety and stuff?
Bing Turner
My wife and I were both from Compton, California, and we just remember there weren't any fresh food outlets that was in close proximity to our neighborhood. We literally had to go to like neighboring cities like Cerritos. And paramount. Just think it was just development like we developed really fast. I don't think people really thought about when they were planning this thing, how folks were going to access, like, fresh whole foods. They have the traditional grocery stores. But there are some issues with, if you're especially concerned about the environment, about food miles - how food travels, their exposures to pesticides and chemicals. There's a direct correlation between the building of these concrete fulfillment centers - those areas were like farms. When they focus so much on one thing, other things get left out. You know, there's a correlation between food access and nutrition and students' ability to perform well in school. Having good nutrition also equals having good grades, concentration in schools. My background is education, and so I'm always fascinated being now in the public health space, seeing how those correlations exist.
Maya Gwynn
How, in your opinion, can we reframe the conversation around healthy eating so it feels empowering, rather than judgmental or elitist?
Bing Turner
I don't expect people to go down a food access, a food nutrition, Farmer's Market rabbit hole. However, when you go down a rabbit hole, you'll realize that, take, for instance, the city of Compton that I grew up in. Most of the people in the neighborhoods that I lived in actually grew their own fruits and vegetables. A lot of them came from the south. My grandparents, my neighbor's grandparents, there was always like a system of growing your own food. And then there was also, like this barter system. So if we kind of do just a simple history, you realize, number one, there's nothing new under the sun. I think in particular like with black folks, we have always grown our own food. We have always have created what are now CSA spaces where people can go to the local church and get produce and food items that were either donated by other community members. When we try to ape the behavior of other communities and become more like them. We kind of forget the lessons and the teachings of our ancestors and of our parents.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah. If every neighborhood had a heritage farmers market, what kind of change you think we'd see, not just in health, but in culture, connection and community?
Bing Turner
Man, people would be happier with the Heritage Farmers Market in their community. They'll be more fulfilled. We create opportunities for people to enjoy art, for people to enjoy music, to gather. We do a lot of pop up events, a lot of events where we engage community members who have small businesses that don't necessarily fit in the farmer's market space, but we think that they add value to like wellness and health. There's all these opportunities for people just to kind of come together and gather. I know for a fact that I've been changed because of Heritage Farmers Market being in certain communities. I've talked to other community members. They've shared with us how great our markets are and how like our Chino Hills market - it's a night market.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Bing Turner
It's a lot of fun, and it's interesting. That market is sort of like a unicorn in farmer's market spaces because that market generates a lot of traffic. It generates a lot of income for the vendors in the market as of any Saturday or Sunday weekend performing market. So we just love the communities that we serve. We want to serve more communities. The spaces that we choose to operate farmers markets in, those are places that we know that we can have, like, really good impact, and they have really just cool community members that support us.
Maya Gwynn
Definitely. I mean, you can't have seven farmers markets if people don't keep coming back each week. What has been the most fulfilling part of building these farmers markets? And what do you hope individuals take away like each week as they come?
Bing Turner
I think the most fulfilling part is watching children interact with the fruits and vegetables, learning about new stuff. I want Heritage to encourage them a sense of well being and wellness. That's the overall goal is longevity. I want us to eat well so we're not just here, but we're here for long periods of time enjoying each other's company as human beings.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, so we're gonna move to our rapid fire portion. I'm excited to hear your answers. Okay, if your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Bing Turner
We Gonna Be All Right, Kendrick Lamar.
Maya Gwynn
Not the first time someone has said, that. Okay, if you had to teach a master class or give a TED Talk and a random skill you have, besides what you do, what would it be?
Bing Turner
Maybe fashion? How to accessorize? Yeah, I like to accessorize.
Maya Gwynn
And besides Heritage, what's your favorite Inland Empire restaurant or landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Bing Turner
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna get knocked in the head for saying this -Raquel's.
Maya Gwynn
Where's that?
Bing Turner
See, there it is. So Raquel's, it's a club. It's in Rialto, but Raquel's reminds me of all small, but well supported bar clubs in Southern cities. So I think Raquel's is sort of like if you have guests in from out of town, that's a really good Inland Empire -
Maya Gwynn
- you said it's in Rialto?
Bing Turner
It's in Rialto. Check it out.
Maya Gwynn
And how can people keep up with Heritage and support the work they're doing?
Bing Turner
Oh, man. So you can look at us on socials. It's just Heritage Farmers Market. You can do Heritage Wellness Collective, that is our nonprofit, our public health advocacy work. You can catch us on Twitter. You can just do a Google search. We have some YouTube videos that are out.
Maya Gwynn
What are your weekly markets that people can check out?
Bing Turner
Weekly markets, you can check us out on Wednesdays at the Shoppes at Chino Hills, that's from 3:30 to 7:30, Terra Vista shopping center - that's in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, that's every Saturday. It's rain or shine. We are on the campus of Moreno Valley College, Chaffey College, Norco College. It's on pause right now, but we also have a market that we do once a month at The Resort, which is located in Rancho Cucamonga.
Maya Gwynn
Awesome. Thank you so much for being here, Bing. I appreciate it.
Bing Turner
I enjoyed you.
Maya Gwynn
Bing Turner is Co-founder of Heritage Farmers Market. Find this segment and others at kvcrnews.org/bpie. Support for the segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments and black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn, thank you.
