Old99Farm Market:  Old 99 Farm, week of Apr 1 2019

Yes, the farm market is open this week if any one has need of it. A delightful crop of greens is prospering in the HobbitHouse, eggs laid up by the hens aplenty, meat of cow, pig and chicken fresh frozen and waiting.

Champaign, OH:  Just Another Thursday Evening...

…nothing special. Just opening up the market, after a crazy busy week. But, as crazy as the weeks are, for me, I always love Thursdays. Thursdays are my zen day. I bake, and make soups, and get orders organized, and make sure all reports have been submitted, all while making sure everyone with orders have been alerted, or reminded, to grab their orders on Thursday evenings.

But, once I get to the market, make sure products are delivered, vendor checks have been distributed, I’ve checked in with the Y, for any updates…I can then just be one with my people.

I love the chatting, I love asking each of you how you are, how your week is going…many of you, I feel, have been with me for so very long, that we are family.

This market…the weekly vibe of me writing to you. The craziness of keeping it all going. The loveliness of it when I open it up for order pickup, and then ending my Thursdays, coming to you, live, after reopening the market…it’s a love, a thankfulness, and a gratitude that I cannot explain.

Just another Thursday night, maybe…but for me, it’s a Thursday night of market love…

Go ahead…feel free to throw us some Thursday night love.

And, as always, we thank you, kindly…

XOXO,
Cosmic Pam

Heritage Farm :  Correction

Order by Thursday night at 11:00 pm for Saturday delivery.

Too much sun in the field today!!!!

Independence,VA:  Market is OPEN for April 10th pickup!

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Good evening,

It’s time to place your Online Market order! Don’t forget about the vendor’s meeting on Friday, details below!

To Shop: Independence Farmers Market.

Upcoming Events

Have you thought about becoming a vendor at the Farmers Market?
Here’s your chance to join returning vendors and find out about the coming season and enjoy a potluck lunch.
1) Please join us at the Grayson Landcare office (108 Courthouse St.) at 11 am THIS Friday, April 5th. We’ll cover rules, fees, online market and more.
2)If you are a crafter joining us for the 1st time, please bring 3 representative items for jurying.
3) If you plan to sell canned or baked goods, or offer samples, including meats, please plan to stay after for a presentation by Sandy Stoneman.

Join us for the opening of the 2019 Market Season in Town Park on Friday, May 10th from 9 am- 1 pm! We’ve invited area artisans to join us Opening Day so you can find a perfect gift for Mother’s Day.

Join us Sunday, May 26th from 2- 5 pm at Wagon Wheel Farm, 1132 Gold Hill Rd, Independence VA for an afternoon of hands-on activities. See and try out some of the best market garden tools. If you’ve taken our “Grow More Vegetables” class, you’ll see those spacings and planting ideas in the ground and growing! Tour the greenhouse, high tunnel and field. Free kids activities. Rain date is Sunday June 2, same time and place.

Thank you for supporting the Independence Farmers Market!

Abby

Foothills Market:  Market Reminder

Foothills Market is open for a couple more hours for your shopping convenience. The market will close at 5:00 this afternoon for pickup tomorrow.

Spa City Local Farm Market Co-op:  The market is closed for ordering.

The Spa City Co-op is now closed for ordering. Please plan to pick up your orders between 3pm and 4:30pm on Friday, April 5th. Should you be unable to pick up, please arrange for a friend to do so for you.

And don’t forget to look at the Volunteer Spot program acessible thru the Market page and sign up to volunteer for a Friday Shift. It’s fun, you get to meet your fellow co-opers, and earn a couple of months extention to your membership PLUS a $5 gift card.

See you Friday!
Julie Alexander
This week’s manager

Miami County Locally Grown:  It's a Ruff life

Deb Spencer, aka 6635 StudeBaker of “History in the Baking”, is truly to blame.

Last year, just before Thanksgiving, she came to Market with a wild idea – “so Jennifer, wouldn’t it be wonderful if your children took over making the dog biscuits on the Market? I’m happy to share my recipe and cookie cutters?!”

To which I wanted to reply, "Deb, I love ya but you’re crazy – sure they love to bake, but for us! When I bake for our CSA members, their first question when they see me pull out the pizza pans is, “Is this for us or for people?”, knowing they aren’t allowed to help unless it’s something only we are actually eating ;-)

Plus, Deb, remember our oldest is 7, Baby #5 is due this Spring, and with all the general craziness on our farm, there’s only so much Mommy can handle!" Instead of course I told her we’d love to, but let’s see how things go.

Fast forward a few months, and the kids, knowing this was an option, staged an unquestionably rational argument – our (three adorable little) ducks lay more eggs than our chickens, right? So we’ll make Deb’s dog biscuits to sell, we’ll buy more ducks, sell their eggs, and save up to buy sheep!

Now if their logic seems odds, it’d make more sense if you could’ve seen how enthralled they were when we read a series on Laura Ingalls’ great grandmother growing up as a little girl in Scotland, and all the talk about raising the sheep, then shearing, carding, waulking, spinning, dying and weaving the wool (if you ever enjoyed the Little House books and haven’t checked out the more recent series’ on the females going back in Laura’s family, oh my are you missing out! We found them at the Troy and Piqua libraries!)

Now we have some incredible women on the Market who truly know what they’re doing when it comes to working with wool, from raising the sheep (Keba of Innisfree on the Stillwater and Brette of Grumpy Goat Experiment) to spinning the wool (both Keba, and Deb of 6635 StudeBaker) and creating beautiful woolen goods (Lucy of Rosy Toes Designs), and of course the kids know this is a weak spot for both Mommy and Daddy, as we’ve talked about adding sheep to our menagerie since we married.

My husband even built a gorgeous spinning wheel that I keep looking at and telling Keba someday we’ll make time for her to help me cultivate the knack for it (my first efforts were not pretty, folks) – but he also made Lucy, our oldest, a drop spindle for Christmas this last year… a much simpler (at least for me!) concept that still allows us to practice spinning and creating a beautiful yarn. And oh have we had a blast together doing this!

My little farmers have always wanted to be shepherds – they love bringing the cows in from the pasture every day, and who wouldn’t want lambs (especially when one of our girls is Mary)? They’ve even loved when we’ve accompanied my husband when he’s had a sheep shearing job – it is a grueling procedure but fascinating to watch!

And they never tire of collecting eggs – plus the ducks and their inimitable antics have become family favorites, because although all the animals on our farm have a purpose, or a job (down to our excellent cat, the mouser extraordinaire), it’s fun to give the ducks free reign of the farm only to have them hang around all the gardens and flower beds right around the house because they’re so social and love us so much (really they’re probably just looking for food).

The kids also love helping in the kitchen (bring on the practical math applications!) and relished the idea that they would be able to make something to sell on their own. Down to doing the dishes and cleaning the counter (oh, if only the incentive of getting to play in the water would last til they were teenagers)! And we already know we have the perfect number of kitchen helpers for our cozy space – the two youngest sit on the counter, with the older two on chairs beside… hard to picture but it’s our daily routine anyway, and plenty of jobs for all – many hands make light work, right? The more the merrier!

And oh is it “fun” math to both keep track of their ingredient costs and their sales, as well as practice their fractions and measurements! Plus hand-writing practice for neatly writing out the tags. And what kid doesn’t love using cookie cutters? Molly, the two-year old, may be best at snitching samples and enjoying the crunch, but thank goodness I can almost tell myself they’re just crackers – chicken broth, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, my goodness they’re healthy!

And to think our last name happens to lend itself perfectly to being makers of a tasty dog treat was just too much to overlook – we truly do have a Ruff life, and I mean that in the most wonderful way possible :-) Even if we don’t even own a dog!

So I’m happy to say we again can offer StudeBaker’s famous dog biscuits on the Market!

www.miamicounty.locallygrown.net

www.facebook.com/miamicountylocallygrown

Miami County Locally Grown:  We are OPEN with New Produce and New Winners!!

Tonight in lieu of a winner for our Refer-A-Friend program, our $10 Virtual Market gift certificate goes to MaryAnn Crist as a heartfelt THANK YOU for her support and help in pulling off our Spring Farmer’s Market last week!

MaryAnn and her husband Don are the kind of people anyone would consider themselves fortunate to know – generous, considerate, and fiercely supportive. Having been the perfect Greeter/Traffic Director/all-around Assistant for every one of our Seasonal Farmer’s Markets thus far, MaryAnn has been an incredible asset to our Market family – we love and appreciate them both so very much!!

Whether it’s physically stepping in at Market, helping search and secure funding, dropping off our Market postcards to area businesses, or just being the best moral and technical support anyone could ask for, the Crists have been instrumental in ensuring this Market continues to grow and thrive. Thanks and Love to you both!!

And our Vendor Appreciation Gift winner tonight is….

May Alanzi, of Honey Creek Farm in Tipp City!!

I can’t say enough about this woman’s work ethic, positive energy, and vision. The type of person who’s always first to volunteer for anything and lend a hand without being asked, May has been an incredible contributor to this Market both with her willingness to help out and her fantastic variety of unique products.

Thanks May for everything – we are so fortunate to have you with us!!

www.miamicounty.locallygrown.net

www.facebook.com/miamicountylocallygrown

RAF Buying Clubs :  Last Call on Orders!

Just a quick reminder to place your Buying Club order by midnight tonight (if you haven’t already)!

buyingclubs.locallygrown.net

CLG:  Tuesday Reminder - Market Closes Tonight after 10pm.

Hello friends!

There’s still time to place your order for pickup this Friday, April 5th.

The market closes TONIGHT after 10pm, maybe even midnight! Come early on Friday for the best selection from the Extras table. See you Friday!

The market is now OPEN for orders. Click here to start shopping:*

https://conway.locallygrown.net/market

How to contact us:

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. Instead…

Phone or text: Steve – 501-339-1039

Email: Steve – [email protected]