\n\n<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 00:00-00:13
Alrighty. So thank you again, Mr. Gonzalez, for meeting with me. So again, your name was Mr. Mario Gonzalez. You live here in Salisbury, and I really appreciate again, you meeting with me for this food project. So I want to start off with a few just introduction kind of questions to get to know you. How long have you been growing or farming your own food?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 00:31-00:35
For 25 years.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 00:35-00:44
Wow, 25 years, that’s a long time. What initially got you interested in growing your food?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 00:44-00:49
My interest is making food organic from a life.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 00:49-00:56
So kind of like to stay healthy and make sure that you knew that the food was coming from a good place. So organics, that’s really, really important. What inspired you to begin growing? So again, it was kind of organics?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 01:06-01:22
I used everything organic. I got some, some that stay organic. This is the one of a bone.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 1:15-1:18
Oh is this your soil?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 1:17-1:21
This is from the chicken, and this is the tree I\u2019ve grown.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 01:22-01:26
Wow, so you make your own fertilizers?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 01:26-01:36
Yeah, mix it up. I put my plant, they grow organic and I use another chemical. And for insecticide, I use a different and I use a chemical for the food.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 01:36-01:45
That’s amazing. So like this is kind of what you use to keep it all natural organic in the soil, and then even for pesticides, you’ve gotten natural solutions. MG: 1:45 Right.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 01:45-01:50
That is incredible. So what inspired you to begin selling your produce?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 01:50-02:03
My produce got sell because I got a lot of customers asking me for good food, organic. I said my interest is help other people, community, and helping myself, my life.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 02:03-02:10
Yeah, no, thank you. And thank you truly for that because with the companies, it’s like you can’t trust the food in the stores now. What do you think are some of the reasons why it’s good to start selling at farmers’ markets or not farmers’ markets, flea markets? Why do you think it’s good to sell produce there?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 02:25-02:39
My product here is tomatoes and apple, peach, pears, and I try to put, this is the blue…<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 02:39-02:40
Blueberries?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 02:40-02:42
And fruit, the little one.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 02:42-02:43
Plums?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 0:43-02:46
I got plum; and this is the cherry.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 02:46-02:48
Oh, cherries, yuuummm.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 02:48-03:01
My house, everything grown is different plant. I have pear, cherry, apple, peach, fig, and apricot, plum, and pecan.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 03:01-03:03
Oh wow, you have like a whole fruit orchard.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 03:03-03:06
Yeah, I make it myself because I like to be healthy.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 03:06-03:19
That’s amazing. I dream to have orchards like that. This is my goal, is to have kind of like trees all around my house for my kids too. How long have you been selling at the flea market?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 03:19-03:21
I started two years ago.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 03:21-03:29
Two years ago? Okay. And what encouraged you to open a space at the flea market instead of somewhere else?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 03:29-04:04
My interest is truly a business, my business in the flea market. This is my part-time. My job is cook in a restaurant, but I love the part-time because I make some good food for myself and for my people, my community. I try to make some organic food for my community. But maybe five, six more years of my interest open one good store, organic and can sell to the public.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 04:04-04:19
So open one kind of… oh goodness, I hope the clock doesn’t cover up the sounds. Like, oh no. I’ll wait for that to finish. So sorry. [Bell rings]<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 04:27-04:39
Okay. Yeah, so sorry. So you wanted to open a flea market stall because, one, it helps your community, but it’s your part time job because you’re also a cook. And what else were you saying?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 04:39-04:50
Right, and I got some, a lot of people here in America got a problem with cancer. My interest is to help you, the community. I have one plant over there. It’s name is “Kalanchoa”.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 04:50-04:51
“Kalanchoa”?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 04:51-04:59
Yeah, it’s good for cancer. I suppose a lot of people use it. And I try production of the plant.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 04:59-05:00
This one?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 05:00-05:25
Yeah, this plant I try production of the extract because I got a lot of customers buy, looking for me. And he said, “I need Kalanchoa\u201d, I try the production of this because it’s very important for you. A lot of people here no have medicine now for cancer. They help you feel better or sometimes they kill the cancer. They the people, he said, \u201ckill the cancer.”<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 05:25-05:36
Wow. And especially with our healthcare system, you know, it’s like no one can afford to get cancer treatment and that’s incredible that you can grow it. So can it be brewed into like a tea maybe? You could make it a tea?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 05:36-05:48
Liquid, liquid called “olivero”. You drink it one cup in the morning, every morning. Only not mixing the medicine, the chemical medicine, only organic.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 05:48-05:50
So you can’t mix like chemical sugars and stuff. No, only organic. Some people got tested in the hospital, he said they stay for two, three months or one year in the hospital got cancer. When they get that medicine, he said, “He feel better, they kill the cancer.” They told me, “Sure, one guy has experience, he need one doctor, especially for the test how long it take to kill the cancer.” But the people, he said, “Continue to plant that because you have the community, you have the lives of people.”<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 06:19-06:50
That’s so incredible, and that makes what you’re doing so much more important and powerful and that’s why I’m so thankful that you’re sharing this with me. So this can be a part of our community. So do you feel that\u2026 Let’s wait for that to pass, so sorry. Do you feel that you have access to more customers and more opportunities at the flea market than at like a normal store or place?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 06:50-07:15
I started teaching my family because my family is very important. My kid, the train instruction, how to make the plant, how to make the garden. Later, in my store, a big collection of people will help me or pay people for, give me a hand, work.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 07:15-07:27
So this kind of lets you get like a more family community, close net, intimate kind of relationship so you can take care of the people that matter the most versus a big store.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 07:27-08:01
Right now I work in another greenhouse. The greenhouse I used to grow flowers but my organic food only I make it for this community. I don’t make it a lot because the people no pay really the price because sometimes they come in the small product. They no like it like in the big one because this small one is more better than the big one or the nice product. So the people are looking for nice, they look for that life because there’s a lot of chemical in it.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 08:01-08:04
Yeah, exactly. That’s what makes it bigger.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 08:04-08:08
Right here in the barrel I’ve got some organic products myself.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 08:08-08:10
Oh wow, in here?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 08:10-08:11
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 08:11-08:28
Oh, that’s amazing. So essentially you like to say at the flea market too because it’s instead of the people that don’t care that just want the pretty product from the store, it’s like these people actually care about your product and it’s a smaller group.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 08:28-08:29
Right.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 08:29-08:30
That makes sense.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 08:30-08:45
And Some people look at me for me every week or for a whole year I work with the flea market where it’s rocked. Some people look at me for special organic, they ask me what do you got organic, I come and buy organic.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 08:45-08:46
That’s amazing.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 08:46-09:07
And I don’t have too many, a lot, I sell it for my community only because I started growing. I got experience to Mexico, bringing here, eating, a lot of people like it, my product. I try and one day open at the store.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 09:07-09:08
They don’t like it most.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 09:08-09:12
Then will start a small business.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 09:12-09:27
Yeah, no, I mean this is an amazing business and it’s important that it’s powerful and it helps the community. So I thank you for that. Do you sell in any other places besides the flea market?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 09:27-09:30
Two places, only here in Salisbury and Lexington.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 09:30-09:35
Lexington and Salisbury, okay. Which one do you enjoy more and why?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 09:35-9:36
Here in my community.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 09:36-09:40
Because here in Salisbury because it’s your community.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 09:40-09:53
Because here coming a lot of people to Charlotte, to South Carolina, to Atlanta, to Virginia. And Lexington is the only community, the people community there.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 09:53-09:59
Okay, wow, I didn’t realize that this store has access to so many bigger cities.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 09:59-10:06
This place is more big because the highway closes the highway.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 10:06-10:07
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 10:07-10:47
A lot of people stop there, different states, you got customers from New York to Virginia, Arnbani, the road north and road south. Stop there, and you ask me where is the place organic and I told them it\u2019s me. And they stay in a good place and say thank you, I look for that product organic. They buy it, they no looking for the price, they look for the quality. Every time he says when he eats one apple, he eats some fruit or product that I sell, he says, I like your product, I come back, when I come back I stop here.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 10:47-10:51
That’s amazing. So you have customers that are loyal states away.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 10:51-10:53
Yes, right now.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 10:53-10:58
And that speaks a testament to how good your food is and how healthy and organic.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 10:58-10:59
Mhmm.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 10:59-11:07
That’s amazing. Do you charge the same price in different locations or do you charge different prices at different markets?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 11:07-11:27
I try and look at the price, the market, regular market, I put my price down because the people I check the price of regular market and I put it down more.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 11:27-11:31
Okay, so you always try and look at market prices and you go under the market.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 11:30-11:32
Yeah, under market.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 11:31-11:54
That’s smart. So then you get everyone that wants the sales and yes, that’s brilliant. So why did you get involved in, or like what led you to the flea market in the very first time? Like what kind of got you to open a stall there? How did you find out about it and what was like, hey, I should be here.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 11:54-11:58
And the question I’m catching is just…<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 11:58-12:14
Yeah, yeah no. So why, sorry, what made you find, like for the very first time ever, what made you, or how did you find the flea market and what made you say, hey, I should put a shop here?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 12:14-12:28
Okay, and finally the flea market that we’re up because the first time I looked at the product organic too. Only two stores say organic, the rest is not organic.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 12:28-12:29
Oh.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 12:29-12:38
And when I see Salisbury one option for food and business here because not have too many people eat organic.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 12:38-12:41
It’s a food desert here, it’s hard to get.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 12:41-13:04
I like this place because they give it opportunity to me to make it better for my family, teach them how to plant, how to make organic everything. Now you come in late, I have one last pear I had this year, apple begun, peach begun.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 13:04-13:06
All the fruits they’ve all gone.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 13:06-13:07
Yeah, the product begun.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 13:07-13:08
Oh wow.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 13:08-13:09
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 13:09-13:13
I mean I’m sure like all your customers grabbed it right up.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 13:13-13:14
Right.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 13:14-13:18
So it was more that you just, you wanted to stay within the community, it kind of felt like community.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 13:18-13:19
Right.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 13:19-13:56
And that’s why you wanted to stay and open there. That’s amazing. And so where, so the produce that you don’t grow here because I, and I see this is beautiful and I’d love to take just a few pictures to go with them with your, all of your history. But so the few types of produce that you aren’t able to grow here say like you know you mentioned that people like some fruit from Mexico or stuff. How, where do you secure the produce that you import and how do you do that?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 13:56-14:09
The secure product, my father or my grandfather they showed me, you see only organic for good product, security. No spray chemicals.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 14:09-14:10
No spray chemicals?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 14:10-14:41
Uh huh. This is not a security. Yeah, I’d say, well I got, talk to the customer, I give you good product. I don’t give you insecticides or something that, but the product. Some people spray three times, four times. I use this one, only spray that is another plant in Mexico. I use the chemical spray, that’s it. I don’t put it, nothing different.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 14:41-14:49
That’s good, that’s good. So any food that you don’t grow here that you sell in your stall, where do you get that from?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 14:49-14:56
I get that from food to Thomasville.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 14:56-14:58
Thomasville, okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 14:58-15:04
The product, I watch the farm, they work organic, I sell that by too.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:04-15:09
So you go to an organic farm in Thomasville?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 15:09-15:19
Because No sale, no product, no organic, I go see the product organic, I buy the product for sale because a lot of people look for organic.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:19-15:25
Yeah, that’s amazing. Okay, so pretty much if you don’t grow it here, you go and look for other organic farmers.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 15:25-15:28
Yeah, they bring me in my stall.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:28-15:31
That’s amazing. So Thomasville is one that you use. MG: 15:31 Yeah<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:31-15:36
Okay, awesome. Do you have any experience with farming personally?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 15:36-15:41
No, because in my experience I got up to Mexico, not here.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:41-15:42
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 15:42-15:44
It’s different here.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:44-15:52
Yeah, It’s way different. Do you have any personal connection with your farming and your gardening here?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 15:52-15:53
Only my country.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 15:53-15:57
Only in your country? So it’s not really personal, and intimate here?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 15:57-16:10
Yeah, Only my country, one Philippine here worked organic, he grew a lot of chicken and there you put the chicken you use for the plant.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 16:10-16:11
Oh, fertilizer.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 16:11-16:12
Yeah, correct.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 16:12-16:14
Okay, it’s chicken manure.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 16:14-16:15
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 16:15-16:42
Awesome. So what are some unique or challenge or like unique challenges or actually we’ll start with one. What are some unique challenges when selling at the flea market? What are some like struggles with selling at the flea market? If any, or do you have like any complications, any troubles with selling at the flea market or none?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 16:42-16:44
Ah none have no trouble.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 16:44-16:50
No troubles? Nice. Like I didn’t know if you know it’s hard because you can’t take credit card or something.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 16:50-16:52
Most people want to pay cards.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 16:52-16:56
Like do you have any kind of issues with selling at the market?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 16:56-17:02
I think probably they no have the credit card. They don’t have the machine or register.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 17:02-17:03
A register. Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 17:03-17:08
Sometimes they pay me for sale only but no. No otra (other).<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 17:08-17:11
Yeah, okay. So it’s like they don’t have cash.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 17:11-17:21
I don\u2019t know. I try next time and try to making one counting bank. They give me the machine for charging credit card but maybe later.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 17:21-17:25
Okay yeah, So it might be a way that you would expand.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 17:25-17:27
Right. But right now that is a tough part.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 17:27-17:31
Yeah. And so what are some advantages to selling at the flea market?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 17:31-17:42
The benefits are a lot of my life, my family, my community. It’s a benefit to look at everything healthy.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 17:42-18:04
Definitely. And those are beautiful benefits. All right. And just so wrapping, get some final questions to wrap up. What is an aspect of farming that people wouldn’t consider or what’s something that’s misunderstood about growing organic foods? Oh, I\u2019m gonna wait for this to pass really quick. Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 18:04-18:20
So what is something about growing organic foods that for the farmers market or for the flea market that some people might not know about that you’d like to tell them?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 18:30-18:49
The food organic, no need too much work. Only you got a passion to wait for the growth.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 18:49-18:50
Really?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 18:50-18:51
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 18:51-18:54
So it actually isn’t as much work as it’s patience?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 18:54-18:55
And patience.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 18:55-19:01
Patience and passion. Is there anything else that you would like to say?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 19:01-19:11
When rain is better for my, I no say I save you water, I don’t use too much water. When it rains, I use a lot of water.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 19:11-19:14
So it’s nice when it rains?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 19:14-19:17
Well, I love rain when it rains. I like it.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 19:18-19:19
Rain is peaceful.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 19:19-19:31
It’s easy. I don’t have to water to the plant, any plant grows itself. Rain water is better than city water or clean water.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 19:31-19:32
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 19:32-19:36
We have a lot of organic water in the plant that grows beautiful.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 19:36-19:40
So it makes it even more organic when it\u2019s rain water?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 19:40-19:48
Yes. Say I have some bucket of water, but how do I drain the water? I keep it in the bucket later for my plant later.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 19:48-19:57
That’s smart, collecting rain water. It’s probably way better and way healthier than city water too, when there’s chemicals in that water.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 19:57-20:10
The chemical, sometimes the bleach coming into the water, they kill the plant. So I don’t put too much water. All I use is organic. Or sometimes I go to the lake, a glass of water, and do my plant and move it all.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 20:10-20:38
Wow. See, I didn’t know that. So that’s another fact that you’re sharing with it, is sometimes that there’s bleach in the city water. So if you pour a cup of city water in your plant, sometimes you can lose it or it loses organicness. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. Is there any other things that you would say people misunderstand about organic farming?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 20:38-20:51
A lot of people look at probably the chemical use and a lot of chemicals.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 20:51-21:22
Oh, I see. Okay, so sorry about that. We had a train interrupt again. And so, just picking off where we last left off. What are some common misunderstandings you think people have with organic farming?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 21:13-21:15
What are they missing?<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 21:15-21:22
Like, what might people think is a true fact about organic farming, but it’s actually wrong?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 21:22-22:04
Sometimes he said, “My food when looking, because I’m not using chemicals, sometimes looking a little bit dark or something.” He said, “This is bad food, it’s like people don’t know it. It’s good food just to start sometimes rain, the water got acid, they make it dark or something.” So there’s good product that guarantee to pick it up, take it inside everything. Probably the government in America uses a lot of chemicals. Chemicals when rain, the acid coming down, they will stop the product, they make it bad.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 22:04-22:05
Oh, wow. Wow.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 22:05-22:14
Especially March and April, especially that day, later in June and July, a lot of chemicals come in the rain. The factories, everything, they bring it to contamination the rain water.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 22:22-22:23
Okay, wow.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 22:23-22:32
They make it bad, my product, the market, no, except they say something’s grown here, and I don’t know why. The water, they make there.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 22:34-22:35
Wow.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 22:35-22:43
But sometimes I grow something, in a greenhouse, they grow nice, but grow upside, sometimes, I have probably, sometimes better upside inside the greenhouse.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 22:46-22:56
Wow, wow, I didn’t realize that. So sometimes well rain can be beneficial for organic, at the same time it can be detrimental in some months because of the companies and their runoff and their waste.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 22:56-23:09
Yeah, especially the factories, the factories, they make a lot of contamination, and when the water comes in the humidity, the rain, the rain, bad acid, the product can be bad.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 23:09-23:30
Wow, thank you for sharing that. What advice would you give to people who have only been doing organic farming for a few years? How, what advice would you give them if they wanted to be like you and go for 20 years? How would they sustain it? What would you advise?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 23:30-23:34
The product, when I buy or I sell.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 23:34-23:35
No, the ones you grow.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 23:35-23:57
Ones I grow. Okay, sometimes when I grow extra, sometimes bad, especially when they’re too hot, they need to cool. I don’t have coolers, sometimes I sell cheaper, sometimes I grow fast. Because I keep them all, they’re bad, because the humidity makes them bad.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 23:57-23:58
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 23:58-24:05
I recommend the organic, keep it inside the cold, with oil, no need to refrigerate it.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 24:05-24:15
Some product you can buy in the store, you put it inside, need to cool it, no need the outside.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 24:15-24:17
Oh, wow, okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 24:17-24:27
And this is the problem, when I grow a lot of, sometimes it’s a very fast cheaper, because you know they make it bad when heating. When cold, this time, no problem.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 24:29-24:30
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 24:30-24:38
This time, only grow inside the greenhouse, outside not, they can die with weather.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 24:40-24:45
So pay attention to your storage, you know, if you have a lot, sell it faster, even if it’s cheaper, because you don’t want it to go bad.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 24:45-24:50
Yeah, this is the problem, when a lot of products, they need to sell fast.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 24:50-24:53
Because you don’t ever want to be associated with bad products.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 24:53-24:56
Yeah, because the heat that make you bad.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 24:56-25:02
Yeah, no, that makes sense, and it would be hard to store, and then you just lose it, if you don’t sell it quickly.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 25:02-25:21
Yeah, because my idea is for next time, I make it one cooler, you put a product in more long time and cooler, because upside, they make a bad plan, the product.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 25:21-25:22
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 25:22-25:30
So I make the plan, when I grow heat, I need to pick it up early, when it’s ready, pick it up early, no, then make it down.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 25:30-25:40
Okay, so don’t let it drop, pick it while it’s fresh and ripe, don’t let it get overripe, and then you waste the product, because my figs do that. Oh my gosh, my fig tree, if I don’t get it fast enough, they just start dropping rotten fruit.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 25:46-25:47
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 25:47-25:52
So if you could give your past self one warning, what would it be?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 25:52-25:53
One warning?<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 25:53-26:05
Mm-hmm, if you could go in the past, if there was like any lesson or any bad mistake, a bad harvest one year or anything, there’s one thing that you could go back in the past and tell yourself what would it be?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 26:05-26:12
That’s a question, I need to explain that a little bit.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 26:12-26:24
Okay, yeah, now of course, if you could rewind time and fix one thing of all of your growing and selling, what would you change?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 26:24-26:35
They change. When I grow, I sell only.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 26:35-26:36
You would just sell only?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 26:36-26:51
Yeah. No, no picking because right here in America, only three months, three months of summer, three months of week. Fast, fast, they sell fast, everything would grow back.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 26:51-26:54
Oh, wow, okay, so it’s hard to keep anything for yourself?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 26:54-27:01
Yeah, the plant, when I grow the little plant, I grow for the month.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 27:01-27:02
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 27:02-27:16
The plant’s head month is the full month. The full month is better for any product to grow, start growing with little one. After the little month, none will grow nothing.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 27:16-27:17
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 27:17-27:21
Because the plant, they grow down or dry or something.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 27:21-27:30
That makes sense. So if you could go back in time, you would tell yourself that in America, the seasons are way shorter, so only grow really within a month.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 27:30-27:31
Right.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 27:31-27:32
So you would grow past that?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 27:32-27:47
Yeah, I grow when the full month, I grow everything or plant any plant to grow good products. When the full month passes, when the younger month, none grow nothing. Only do the seed in the ground, they said.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 27:47-27:57
Okay, that is actually really great advice. Thank you. And so what hopes or dreams do you have for your farm and stand at the flea market?<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 27:57-28:09
What is your dream or your hope for your shop at the flea market?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 28:09-28:11
The hope.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 28:11-28:16
Dream, your goal. What would make you very happy?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 28:16-28:19
Very happy when I see that.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 28:19-28:20
For your business. What do you want for your business in the future?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 28:28-28:41
I need some big company help me to make the credit for buying and sell.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 28:41-28:46
Oh. So like a big company to pick you up and help make your own organic store.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 28:46-28:50
Yeah, because now I sell the regular customer.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 28:50-28:51
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 28:51-28:54
I have more and maybe I buy more spice (space). My idea is to buy more spice (space) and plant more. Then I don’t grow too much.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 29:00-29:06
Yeah. And then expand and get bigger and have like a little organic store for the community though. But every day instead of on the weekends.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 29:08-29:09
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 29:09-29:10
That would be amazing.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 29:10-29:16
But right now this is my small one because we can sell.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 29:16-29:37
Yeah. But you’ll get there. I mean this is beautiful. And like you said you have customers from all over many states. So I hope that you get a store one day. I could see that. And what do you see for the future of farming and organic farming in Charlotte?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 29:37-29:44
Organic Charlotte is big city. And maybe next time we’ll grow better.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 29:44-29:45
But not many.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 29:45-29:50
And its better there because there are more customer.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 29:50-29:51
More customers.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 29:51-29:52
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 29:52-29:58
Do you think that organic farming is going to thrive there or do you think it’s kind of dying out?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 29:58-30:00
Maybe it will thrive there.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 30:00-30:01
Hopefully it will thrive?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 30:01-30:02
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 30:02-30:23
I hope so. And I think it’s getting bigger. You know like you mentioned this cancer healing plan and stuff. You know hopefully time goes and people will care more and more about healthy food. How have you passed along your skills to future generations if you have? So do you teach your children or are your children involved?<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 30:23-30:24
Or Have you?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 30:24-30:25
Nah\u2026<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 30:25-30:29
Or have you done classes or taught anyone?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 30:29-30:46
My kid I teach a little bit of experience but I no grow no pick up the growth of my plant I grow my self. My kid like school, to be student more.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 30:46-30:48
Okay. Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 30:48-31:06
The farm and really the day they pay little money. And my kid, he\u2019s a student to experience different stuff. My kid like it but no I don’t want to see him stay and work a lot of days, you know. You need to work too much.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 31:06-31:07
You work hard. Yeah. You work hard. Yes. Some customers and your product is not quality but not see inside organic. But the interest in my kid is to do different. They’re into different things.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 31:24-31:31
Yeah. Totally understand. Is there any other questions that I should ask you?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 31:31-32:04
The question I don’t have a question only I need to talk to something in the community or the people in general. Try eat good food organic.Try plant some plant in the home or eat organic. No use of chemicals. The plant will send this one. When you chop it, keep it in the ground. This is the food for the animal. They make it good food for you to help. Oh Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 32:05-32:11
And not always the trash, the tree or something are dropped in the ground. So the soil can absorb. Right here, every thing when I drop in the drop, see a lot of people throw away the trash cans. And they’re trash cans.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 32:25-32:26
In their trash cans, I see that.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 32:26-32:27
Trash cans throw away the outside. Burn it.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 32:28-32:29
Yeah.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 32:29-32:37
Everything, the piece of wood, dry wood, not throw away the trash. Burn, keep it. This is organic. This is good food for them.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 32:37-32:38
Ok. For my life. Anybody like, need to change the America then. Now America got a lot of, I’m wondering how they grow in three, two, three months they grow something, grow chicken, grow plant, grow food. But no see how many chemicals put in the body. How many chemicals kill the life. My daddy said, grow organic, you live in long life, you live in healthy, you go to hospital, you don’t pay a living, you don’t pay nothing. It’s chemical, you go to the hospital, you see the difference that.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 33:20-33:21
Destroys your body.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 33:21-33:32
My, and they are then, talk to the students, try, grow organic, try to grow, eat organic food, families, any family.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 33:34-34:44
And now I had different people. I had Spanish, American, and men look for me. They say, you had good food, I come to people, buy you. They say, I have whatever you like,its organic food. Every time, some people understand, don’t make it money sometimes. They say, you keep the tip, there’s no problem. I’m happy when I look at happy people. I’m happy when one customer coming in, he said, my family, I take a hospital, I feel they’re happy to see the people. I wanted people, everybody, to feel happy, not feel bad. I got one doctor, he told me, why you don’t grow a lot of plant organic, because we have money, inversion, and I grow small business. They say, you grow a lot, you need to buy an acre in lands, you plant a lot.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 34:44-34:45
You should.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 34:45-34:51
I thought, I want, I got a problem with the credit.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 34:51-36:03
That, yeah, that would be tough. But I mean, you know, there are grants and things here. And I actually, I’d love to connect you with some, but there are some grants and things where the state will actually give you thousands of dollars if you can find a property that you’ll farm, if you’ll work with them and help give them organic foods and stuff, and they’ll like, help pay for, there’s a bunch of grants and programs that will pay you. I’d love to connect you to some. But yeah, that would be amazing. You definitely should. Your heart’s in the right place, and you really care, and this is incredible. And thank you for sharing that too, because I think that that’s what we want students to hear, you know, is how important organic food is to the community, to the body, to, you know, to maintaining our health, to taking care of each other, to, you know, even being more affordable, we should make it more affordable and stuff. But I appreciate you letting people know that, hey, you can do it from home, you know, too. So, is there any, so outside of any questions, is there any last things that you’d love to share?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 36:03-36:12
But another thing is, I want to open the, talk to the open, try to reduce the contamination, because there’s another problem for my training.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 36:15-36:17
Try to introduce what?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 36:17-36:19
The contamination, the factories.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 36:19-36:21
Yes, contamination.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 36:21-36:57
The people use a lot of plastic. The plastic, they use the air, they make it bad piece for the, when you do it with the air, they kill you. They say they want to talk to the government, reduce the contamination. But a lot of people see the cancer, a lot of people see the different stuff, you know, the kids with cancer got a problem. The sugar, high sugar, diabetes.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 36:57-36:58
Diabetes.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 36:59-37:27
How you, you say here organic, when I start here in America, you say organic, any plan? When I had, back in the store, I got my medicine myself. When I had something caught, I got my medicine myself here in my house, I no wonder what the problem was. Sometimes when I’m very, very sad, bad, I go to the hospital, no, no. I fix myself here.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 37:27-37:31
Yeah, with healthy food and stuff, so it’s possible.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 37:31-37:58
Yeah, because right here, I see a lot of people in the hospital, probably with the cancer, they create a lot of chemicals. I start working in America, I work in the factory. When I see the chemical go, everything my body. I say no, no, no. I grow organic, I grow my cell, I stay with my cell more better. Keeping my family.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 37:58-38:00
Mhmm.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 38:00-38:03
It’s money, the company make it a lot of money. Kill a lot of people too.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 38:05-38:19
Yeah, thank you truly for sharing all this, and thank you for what you do for the community. Is there anyone that you would recommend that I talk to, or is there anyone else you can think of that might help this project?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 38:19-38:30
I recommend the school now, you work for the school, teaching your students, use of organic. For the plant this one, for protection of the end, paint on the lemon pain, they know to eat the ends eat the leaves.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 38:43-38:45
Wow.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 38:45-38:49
Sometimes this is the end, come and eat the leaves.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 38:49-38:51
Oh wow, ants did that?<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 38:51-38:52
Yeah, the ants.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 38:52-38:55
Woo. I would be terrified of those suckers.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 38:55-39:02
Yeah, but I try to put this on the end, the ants don’t come because they don’t like it.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 39:02-39:07
Wow, okay, so that’s like egg shells and ash and, okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 39:07-39:08
The ashes.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 39:08-39:12
The ashes and the egg shells, and I have all that, so that’s perfect, I can make that at home.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 39:12-39:13
This is the plant.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 39:13-39:14
I don’t have chicken.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 39:14-39:18
Chicken, this is the plant, you have a chopping.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 39:18-39:19
Okay.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 39:19-39:28
And some time after the vegetable, the product, you can leave the vegetable after that, make a compost.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 39:29-39:35
Okay, oh so like you’ll have to reuse and stuff and compost it, and then it gets extra nutrients.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 39:35-39:37
Yeah, extra nutrients for the plant.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 39:37-39:38
I need to start composting.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 39:38-40:00
I want to recommend because a lot of people, extra the food, the care or the, you’re told when to trash, not told when to trash, telling you the kid is putting one compost, keep it two, three months in the day, good for putting any plant, they grow better.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 40:00-40:03
Wow, okay, so composting is very important.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 40:03-40:37
Very important for the plant. And, same the chicken, when people had to possibly dig out the chicken, the chicken, not the way, this you said, 30% in the sand, and the tree, and later the organic chicken. Mix it up, now put the chicken, the plant, mix it up, later in the mix. Later in the mix, put in the plant, they grow nice plants, any product grow nice.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 40:37-40:40
Thank you, thank you, truly for that. I recommended a school that teaches the kids, now I see the school one time ago I go in the school, the school of my kid, I showed you the school that the user organic, no user, no use any organic, any soil used organic, they help you, they help you, the dark help you. Right here, and you see not in some place or big house, with the chemical, don’t wait for the plant, don’t wait for the soil, don’t waste any product, I usually leave fruit, bad fruit. I don\u2019t waste any bad fruit. I usually wait one month and I got a lot a, a lot a compost.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 41:35-41:40
That’s amazing, that’s amazing, so I’m definitely going to start that at home.<\/p>\r\n
Mario Gonzalez 41:40-41:50
The cardboard are using them, the cardboard are, do not throw away the cardboard, only plastic trash, the cardboard are for keeping.<\/p>\r\n
Phoenix Riesing 41:50-42:09
Cardboard can be used for composting and for farming organic, okay. Yeah, I’d love to take some pictures if you don’t mind, let me go ahead and stop this. And I just want to thank you again, truly Mr. Gonzalez for your time.<\/p>\r\n
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Mario Gonzalez has been gardening and growing his own produce and even medicine for over 25 years. Mario grows everything at home in his own garden and property, which includes his own small orchard. Mario was extremely worried by the chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers being used on foods here in America after he immigrated, so … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbeiID-lN","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1352,"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions\/1352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/food-oral-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}