Julia Bull Appointed Market Manager of the Collegeville Farmers’ Market

Julia Bull has been named Manager of the Collegeville Farmers’ Market, a program of the Collegeville Main Street Program.  As Manager, she is in charge of the operation of the market and its weekly communication to local residents. 

Bull grew up in Media, PA, and attended Penncrest High School.  She is currently entering her senior year at Ursinus College majoring in Environmental Studies and is Director of the Ursinus College Organic Farm, where she oversees their large vegetable plot and maintenance of their fruit trees, chicken coop (which she built with her Dad) and bee hive. 

Bull first learned about gardening from her mother, who tended a small vegetable garden, as well as her Dad, who shared his love of gardening. Then at Ursinus College, she quickly became best friends with the current head of their Organic Farm.  Her passion for sustainable agriculture, healthy eating and buying locally grew further through Professor Richard Wallace’s “Food and Society” class.

In December, 2010, she signed up as volunteer through a University of Massachusetts program at the Sachamama Center in Peru to work with the local indigenous community to teach them to transition from their slash and burn methods to sustainable agriculture.  On that trip, not only did she learn even more about agriculture, but she learned a principal truth about life itself: “The only real thing important in life is strong relationships with friends and family, having enough to eat and having shelter,” Bull explains.   

Passionate about small family farms, Bull says, “There is a disconnect today between people and their food.  I believe that family farming and sustainable agriculture is the best way to provide our nation with nutritious, healthy food and to take care of the land.  I am proud to support the sustainable agriculture movement by running the farm and showing other students how to farm organically.  And by also managing the Collegeville Farmers’ Market, it adds in the force of community empowerment to what I am doing and brings my work full circle.”

Upon graduation in 2012, Bull intends to stay in the Collegeville area for a few years and hopes to get an apprenticeship at a local farm. 

You can meet Julia at the Collegeville Farmers’ Market each Saturday between 9 AM and 1 PM in the large parking lot behind the AmeriGreen Gas Station (460 East Main Street).  The market is now in operation weekly throughout the summer and fall until November 19th, and currently has 14 farmers and vendors selling bedding plants, early spring vegetables, baked goods, cheeses, local wines, honey, flowers and herbs, fresh eggs, organically grown poultry, grass fed beef, pastured pork, grass fed lamb and a wide selection of homemade products, herbal remedies, gourmet dog treats and crafts.

To receive updates on what the farmers will be selling each week throughout the market season and about market specials, sign up to receive the weekly Collegeville Farmers’ Market newsletter at www.collegevillefarmersmarket.org.  If you already receive the monthly Main Street newsletter you do not need to sign up again.  Also, please friend the Market on Facebook at: www.Facebook.com/CollegevilleFarmersMarket.   

For additional information, contact Julia Bull, Farmers Market  Manager, Collegeville Main Street Program, 476 East Main Street, Collegeville, PA 19426.  E-mail:  manager@collegevilledevelopment.org  or telephone at 610.454.1050.