Moving to a new city is never easy, and moving in the middle of a pandemic is an even bigger challenge. When Wenting Chang moved to Seattle two years ago for her job as a Software Engineer, she knew that she would need to find a community outside of her work and focus on a work-life balance.

Wenting had visited the Seattle farmers markets with a friend before making the move to the city. Once she was settled, and the markets reopened after their 2020 closures, she made it a habit to go to the Capitol Hill and University District Farmers Markets. Shortly after, she started volunteering at the markets.

Being a volunteer at the markets has helped Wenting find a supportive community, and do work that gets her outside and away from her computer for a few hours. By becoming an involved member of the farmers markets, Wenting has also learned a lot about the seasonality of produce in Washington.

Understanding seasonality and the quality of the produce from the farmers markets has changed the way Wenting thinks about food. She considers what is in season before shopping, and thinks about which ingredients she can get from the markets, instead of the grocery store.

Farmers markets were not a huge part of Wenting’s life when she was going to college in Pittsburgh, but they have become a super important piece of the life that she has built for herself in Seattle.

One thing that she admires about the farmers markets is all of the food access programs, and how they make the markets more accessible to everyone. From Fresh Bucks to SNAP Market Match, the programs are beneficial to farmers and their customers, by making fresh food available to all.