 Founded in 1969, the Ecology Center is a nonprofit organization located in Berkeley, California that focuses on improving the health and the environmental impacts of urban residents. Through their mission of sustainability, this center provides farmers markets to the Berkeley community. Held in various locations around the Berkeley area on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, these farmers markets serve as a space to provide local organic products and to provide a welcoming environment for small businesses. John Turner of Crane Creek Growers spoke about his experience as a vendor. I used to be in the wholesale business, which means you ship flowers all over the country. But when we moved up here, we thought, well, we're going to be all organic and let's just do local stuff. This one's pretty good. And we do one here in Berkeley on Saturday. We just started that one. We heard that this particular group, they like everybody to be organic. So two years ago, we got our organic certification because we grow tomatoes and cucumbers all summer. In addition to the flowers that you see, and so we called them because we didn't have any markets in the middle of the week, only on the weekends. But when you grow cut flowers or vegetables, you have to pick all of them. So in order to have something to sell, somewhere to sell in the middle of the week, these guys have one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. CalTV also got the chance to speak to Farmers Market Program Director Daniel Machesny Young about the Ecology Center and other farmers markets and hosts. The Ecology Center has managed the Berkeley Farmers Market since 1987. Our organization was incorporated as a non-profit on Earth Day in 1970. So we are coming up on our 15th anniversary and then we've been managing the Berkeley Farmers Markets for about 32 years. We have three farmers markets that we offer. This one here on Chateau between Vine and Rose on Thursdays from 3 to 7. We also have one in downtown Berkeley and Center Street between Milvia and MLK, which happens on Saturdays from 10 to 3 p.m. And then on Tuesdays, we have one at 63rd and Adelaide from 2 to 6.30. When asked about his favorite part of the markets, he describes how his past as a chef led to an appreciation of the changing produce cycles. I really love to see the produce come into season live. I used to be a chef and I get the emails about what was coming into season, but it's totally different to see the first thing of the season on that table just the day it was picked. Machesney Young finished his thoughts by re-emphasizing the Ecology Center's mission statement as the overall goal, inspiring and building a sustainable, healthy, and just future of the East Bay, California, and beyond. To get more information on the markets, vendors, and the Ecology Center, visit EcologyCenter.org slash FM. Reporting for Cal TV News, I'm Lindsay Mungman.