Miami County Locally Grown:  The fun and freshness of seasonal eating

We had old friends over for dinner the other night – a real treat for us, as our hectic farming schedule is not conducive to sneaking in regular visits!

Our happy-to-be-city-people friends get as much of a kick out of our “farmy weirdness” as we do from how out of touch they are with where their food comes from, or how it’s produced. Listening to the animated Q & A these intelligent, supposedly functional adults engaged in with our young farm-raised children was priceless!

Case in point – the wife asked the children what were their favorite foods – our five year old longingly sighed, “Strawberries” as her answer. When pressed for why she answered so sadly, Molly gave a “how can you not know this?” look and replied, “Because it’s hard to wait for spring”. Then my friend said, “Oh if I had known they were your favorite we would have picked them up for dessert!” Complete and utter silence, along with looks on the four older children’s faces ranging from disbelief and shock to pity and disgust.

Poor dear, she just didn’t know eating fruit out of season verges on blasphemy. They told her to visit in May so she can taste a “real” strawberry – and they told her they’d rather wait for the real deal :-)

No matter how many strawberries we try raise, we always seem to just eat them as they come on, and I never have as many as I’d like for jam, desserts, canning, heaven forbid Saving… so they got a big kick out of showing off our last two jars of strawberries, that we’d saved up for a birthday!

If you have the chance to put up something, whether fruit, vegetable, herb, or protein, at its peak of freshness, there’s just nothing so refreshing come a dreary winter day as opening up a jar of dried herbs as green as the day you stocked them away, or some tomato sauce from the freezer, or a jar of pumpkin, berries, stock, what have you… I have been thrilled to no end lately that Grumpy Goat has been bringing extra herbs for sale at pickup so I can keep the dehydrator full, and enjoy using them all winter long!

Now if we could just raise enough berries to have enough to actually do something with other than just eat them… ????

Locally Grown STT:  New market membership changes

Hey farmers market friends! We are excited to announce some upcoming changes and events!

Starting November 1st, our membership fee will increase to $35/year. This membership fee goes towards administrative costs of the market. And this season we want to provide more services for our farmers market members! Also, we are doing away with the first 2 free trials model. Very few people have shared this as a pro or con for using the market so we want to you to go straight into using the market as a full time member right from the start. When do these changes take effect?
For these last two weeks in October, we will honor the current membership fee if you sign up and are in your trial period still. And after Nov 4, then the membership increase goes into effect.

So for past members, we will honor your $25 fee for this next year if you sign up again before or on Nov 4th.

And On November 4th, a farmers market Thursday, we’ll be doing a Membership Drive! Stay tuned for more as we will be posting the event details soon. It will be the same market format of order by Wednesday and pick up on Thursday, but will add in some special treats at the market pick up so plan to stop in for a few more minutes than usual.

Thank you so much for joining the local food movement and helping support local Virgin Islands producers. We want to enhance your farmers market experience and grow the # of producers on the market to provide you with more local produce. So even if your order is sometimes small, every sale encourages the producers to grow more.

We’ll see you tomorrow at pick up! Some extras we’ll have for sale at the table:
Fresh Eggs
Scallion bundles
Local juices
Local fruits
Microgreens

- Your Farmers Market Team

#buildinglocalfoodsystemsVI #localfoodvi #sttlocallygrown #locallygrownVI

Independence,VA:  Market is OPEN for Oct. 27th pickup!

Good evening!

Organic Christmas wreaths and trees are now available to order on the Online Market! Quantities are limited this year so be sure to order early! Proceeds of these products will go towards funding activities at the Market. Click on “Holiday Decorations” on the Online Market for more information.

To sign up for a pickup time for your tree and/or wreaths, please use the links below at your convenience.

November 24th Pickup.

December 1st Pickup.

Be sure to check out the wide variety of Southern Exposure seeds we have available to order on the Online Market. A lot of new seeds were posted this afternoon.

If you’d like to schedule a curbside pickup, please feel free to schedule a time using the Calendly link below. You can also drop by and pick up your order INSIDE the office any time on Wednesdays between 4-6 pm.

Thanks again and happy shopping!
To Shop: Independence Farmers Market.

Schedule Your Pickup Time (OPTIONAL): Calendly.
After you click “Confirm” on your time, be sure to enter your information and click, “Schedule an Event”. You will get a confirmation e-mail. If you do not receive a confirmation, you are not scheduled and need to try again.

Thank you for your continuing support of the Market!

Abby

Foothills Market:  Don't Forget!

Foothills Market is open today until 5:00 p.m. for you to shop fresh, local food!

Grumpy Goat:  Weblog Entry

Welcome to our winter hours. You’ll see that Tuesday is the only pick up option. If you ever need anything a different day just let us know and we will try to accommodate.

The farm store will still be set up for shopping as the veggies are still producing. I suspect we will have them for a few more weeks. Once the weather cools and the veggies stop we will only be open for preorders (the barn store just gets too cold).

Also mark your calendars! October 30th we will be set up in Troy with some other amazing vendors. We will be set up at Popup (right downtown on Main Street. It’s not too early to do some holiday shopping! Troy is having their Trick or Treat event downtown too so bring the whole family.

Thanks to everyone for a great summer season. Hope to see you even as the weather finally cools!

The Cumming Harvest - Closed:  Wellness Wednesday / Grower Spotlight

Have you tried Elderberry Syrup yet? Let’s talk about the health benefits and how to get some!

• Elderberries are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The health benefits associated with taking elderberry are known to boost the immune system. Elderberry syrup has been used as an effective natural remedy for centuries for treating and preventing colds, coughs and flu. Research shows the use of elderberry could shorten the duration of flu by about three to four days, along with lessening symptom severity if taken within the first 24 hours of having the flu.

Check out one of our growers who offers it and just replenished their inventory with us:

Good Shepherd Herbals

• Father’s Bounty Homestead is the home of Good Shepherd Herbals located in middle Tennessee. Our Elderberry Syrup, herbal salves, and goat’s milk soaps are made with care on our family farm. These are natural care alternatives to the commercial chemical laden products found in most stores.
• We use chemical free milk from our Saanen does to make our soaps. They are cold pressed and hand cut. All of our goat’s milk soaps are gentle and emollient; safe for infants, the elderly, and those with skin issues.
• Our various herbal salves are made in small batches. The herbal infusion process takes 14 days. Special attention is given to consistent temperatures and purity.

Our address is: 3540 Keith Bridge Road, Cumming 30041 (behind Hollywood Feed). Please be sure to come to the new address this weekend.

As a reminder the market is open from Wednesday morning through Thursday at 8pm for orders. All orders must be picked up on Saturday from 10am until 12pm noon. Please be respectful of our volunteers’ time and plan to pick up early and not right before noon.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Angie Breindl
Local Support for Cumming Harvest Market and Meals by Grace
404-426-4055

Locally Grown STT:  Online Market still open!

Happy Tuesday!

Lots of great buys are still available:

-avocadoes
-st vincent bananas
-sugarcane stalks
-guavaberries
-crisphead lettuce
-scallions

And duck eggs, try making a duck egg quiche. Let us know how it turns out.

Market closes at 5pm Wednesday
Pick up in Frenchtown Fish Pavilion
3:30pm-6pm.

Happy shopping,
Your Market Crew

Locally Grown STT:  Online Market still open!

Happy Tuesday!

Lots of great buys are still available:

-avocadoes
-st vincent bananas
-sugarcane stalks
-guavaberries
-crisphead lettuce
-scallions

And duck eggs, try making a duck egg quiche. Let us know how it turns out.

Market closes at 5pm Wednesday
Pick up in Frenchtown Fish Pavilion
3:30pm-6pm.

Happy shopping,
Your Market Crew

Locally Grown STT:  Online Market still open!

Happy Tuesday!

Lots of great buys are still available:

-avocadoes
-st vincent bananas
-sugarcane stalks
-guavaberries
-crisphead lettuce
-scallions

And duck eggs, try making a duck egg quiche. Let us know how it turns out.

Market closes at 5pm Wednesday
Pick up in Frenchtown Fish Pavilion
3:30pm-6pm.

Happy shopping,
Your Market Crew

Russellville Community Market:  The Market Closes At 10PM!

To ensure your order is placed, make sure you click the “Place My Order” button once you have completed your shopping. You will receive a confirmation email.

Orders will be ready for pick-up from 4 PM – 8:00 PM this Tuesday outside the Downtown Russellville Train Depot.

IMPORTANT NOTICE – the Depot has been closed to the public again due to the ongoing COVID outbreak. Please remain in your car, and your order will be brought out to you in a full-service fashion. You may ask an RCM worker about any available extra items! We are happy to serve you, and we thank you for your patience during this public health crisis.

We still have plenty of Eggs, Collard Greens, Green Tomatoes, Roselle Hibiscus Tea, Cocoon Cookies, and Sourdough Olive Bread!

We also have plenty of pretty flowers, farm crafts, farm-fresh eggs, yummy veggies, an assortment of baked goods, and a vast selection of roasts, steaks, pork, and chicken!

Check back frequently as our farmers regularly update what they have available. Multiple orders are encouraged. :)

Photo of Marigold Bouquet from Bluff Top Farm
Thank you for choosing to shop and eat locally!

Russellville Community Market

FRESH.LOCAL.ONLINE