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Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

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ORAL HISTORY

Sarah Thurman

Athens Farmers Market

Sarah Thurman is the market manager of the Athens Farmers Market. Sarah was born outside of Los Angeles and attended Humboldt State University in California. She learned about farming during service work in Brazil and moved to Georgia to be with her now-husband in 2014, where she worked at Full Moon Farm. She describes the way her experience as a farmer informed the way she navigated this pandemic as the market manager, seeking to support producers and consumers, and also shares personal health challenges from the last year.

Interviewer:
Diana Dombrowski

Photographer:
Lynsey Weatherspoon

Download Transcript

“

"The adult in me was, like, this is your job. This is your job, and it doesn't fall on anybody else. And there was a voice that was, like, you can handle this. And I'm really grateful for all those life lessons that led me up to 2020, because I'm really proud of what we did with the market and how we handled it. And I think that had I not been as grounded in myself and my intuition, that I would've crumbled under the pressure. And, instead, I just, like, took a deep breath and pulled up my pants and was, like, it's time to handle the situation, it's not the time to be weak. I can cry in 2022 but not right now. [Laughter]" - Sarah Thurman

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