Madison GA:  The Market is Open.......

See everyone Wed!!!!!!

Athens Locally Grown:  ALG Market Open for August 6

Northeast Georgia Locally Grown:  Locally Grown - Availability for August 5th, 2014

Hello Local Food Lovers,

After 5 years and 4 months of writing a weekly message for Locally Grown nearly ever Sunday night, tonight it is my bittersweet privilege to write one last one.

For those who are newer to Locally Grown I’d like to share a very quick history of this fun little market. Keep in mind this is just my recollection. I could get some or all of this wrong!

In May of 2009 I moved back to Clarkesville after nearly 5 years living in Athens, GA. While in Athens I’d grown quite fond of eating good local food. There are a ton of farmers in the Athens area, and finding fresh food was pretty easy.

Once I’d returned to Clarkesville, local food wasn’t impossible to find, but it had it’s challenges. For instance, one guy would deliver his micro-green salad mix right to my downtown office every week. That was terrific. But not many farmers had that kind of service. So on the weekends I would drive up to Rabun county for the Simply Homegrown market. At the time it was one of the only places to find organic local foods.

After meeting about a dozen farmers scattered across a pretty wide distance (Rabun, White, Habersham, Stephens and beyond), this one farmer who’d made a pretty big impression on me had this radical idea. He’d been selling some of his produce to a market in Athens I knew well called Athens Locally Grown. Not only had I been a customer, but I was close friends with the software designer Eric Wagoner who invented the whole concept and made it a reality. I thought it was brilliant. Local food for the modern age, and it solved a whole lot of challenges to boot.

That radical farmer was Chuck Mashburn of Mill Gap Farm up in Tiger. I hope all of you have the privilege of meeting him, as he’s what all us “into farming types” consider “The Man.”

Chuck knew from experience that the Locally Grown market had some great advantages to our need and desire for more local food. It created a permanent space on the web for farmers and customers to meet, provided a year round market, allowed farmers to meet each other and collaborate, reduced the amount of time farmers had to spend at numerous markets and most important allowed farmers to get food to locations and customers much further away than they could alone. After all, most farmers are out in the country! Distance can be an issue.

My guess is that once Chuck realized I was familiar with the Locally Grown approach, and desperately wanted to get my hands and teeth into some local food every week, he thought “That guy may be foolish enough to help distribute food every week at a market location down in Clarkesville.” Or maybe he said, “this guy’s not what I was hoping for, but he’s the best we got and I’m ready to implement my master plan to dominate NE Georgia with local food for everyone.” Or similar words to this effect. Needless to say, I fell for the cut of his jib, hook line and sinker and jumped right in (I think I’ve mixed my metaphors once or thrice). Or maybe I should say, I was damn lucky to be in the right place at the right time, with the right kind of interest….food and farms. Or maybe it was I who talked Chuck into all this foolishness. No one can get the story straight anymore but it did happen and we were pretty durn excited and giddy about it at the time.

Now all that foolishness wouldn’t have amounted to much if it hadn’t been for those willing to grow the food. At the table that very first meeting was Joe Gaitins of La Gracia Farms (always to be remembered as the most focused pioneer of the local food movement our region has ever known, I miss you Joe), Brooks Franklin of Leah Lake Farm (though he wasn’t farming yet, he’d soon become the master of the Locally Grown business model, for reals) David Lent (for those who remember Coleman River Farms) and Linda Johnson of Sylvan Falls Mills.

This story could go on and on but let’s try and wrap it up.

Locally Grown has Grown and evolved immensely in 5 years. We’ve learned how important it is to have standards and rules that we use to both co-market all our farms in the region and to help educate each other about what sustainable farming is (another reason Chuck is such an assett is his incredible knowledge and dedication to the art of sustainability).

Locally Grown has also led to a lot of positive changes around local food that just never would have happened if we hadn’t all started talking and working together. For starters, its how an incredible number of us met in the first place. Markets tend to be local (like 30 miles from your home local), but this market gave us a reason to reach one or two counties over and go over and meet and hang out with other farmers. As result we formed a Georgia Mountains Farmers Network, which went on to host the FARM TOUR, then other good things happened like the Farm to School program (Ronnie Mathis of Mountain Earth Farms initiated that ball a rolling), and on an on.

It’s only been five years but it feels like a true Northeast Georgia community around good food from good farms has been created that stretches from Rabun down to Hall and from White (maybe even Lumpkin) over to Stephens and even into the Carolina’s. That’s probably what is coolest about this to me. I now have friends in 9 counties who grow food, or buy it, or cook it in their incredible restaurants. I’d never felt that connection to the whole Northeast Georgia region before. The work that I did as my day job was pretty narrowly focused on one small place (protecting the Soque River in Habersham County). But building Local Foods, that work made it possible to feel a sense of relationship with people, and with the landscape across a very broad, and very beautiful region. Isn’t that a big part of what this is all about. That sense of connection.

Believe me when I tell you it feels great to farmers to know when they drive through Gainesville that there are many, many dozens of people who eat their food every week. Their’s a kinship with a place that you’re feeding. I bet many of you feel something similar about places that feed you, that kinship, especially if you’ve been on the farm tour. You can never drive through Clarkesville or Clayton and feel the same way about it right? When you know a region’s farms, you’re no longer detached. There are people who feed you who live there, and you know where and who your food comes from. That’s cool! It’s also nourishing. That land has literally contributed to the very fiber of your being. And it’s a highlight of one’s life if you take the time.

I’ve tried to take the time these last many years and it’s one of if not the biggest blessing I’ve experienced. I’m so proud of the opportunity to help get Locally Grown Foods to where they are today in our little neck of the woods. And now since my neck of the woods has shifted ever so slightly to the west (to Dahlonega) and I’ll no longer be able to be involved week to week, and buy and eat the food offered every week it’s time to let Locally Grown continue to evolve with some NEW voices. However, I don’t plan on disappearing entirely. We still have big plans for Locally Grown and our farmer’s network (GMFN) that runs Locally Grown in the weeks and years ahead and I plan to stay intimately involved in those efforts as a board member. But no more Sunday night (sometimes Monday morning) messages, which after this extremely long one you may think is for the best. I’ve really enjoyed spending a few minutes each week reflecting on what I ate how I cooked it and where it came from, what was going on in my own garden, which farms I’d seen recently, and what crops I knew were coming down the pike. It’s been an awful lot of fun.

I just want to close by saying thanks. Thanks to all the people who do this work. And by that I mean, all those wonderful salt of the earth people who sweat in the field, but also the people who browse the web and click ADD TO CART, and come to market on Wednesdays. Many of you are so loyal to Local Food you deserve an award! You know who you are, and each of you taught me things I didn’t know about good eating/and or good living. Thanks to the volunteers whom without this market simply wouldn’t exist. Thanks to those who went ahead and came for that 4th visit when we slap you with a membership fee. This is a non-profit market so not only is that fee tax-deductible (we’re working on a receipt for that by the way), but it’s absolutely necessary to help pay for coolers, transportation costs, the very very small volunteer and market manager stipends, checks, postage, etc. etc. I assure you this is a labor of love, and your support and encouragement is what makes it possible for us to continue. Thanks for your passion!

It’s the simple things in life right? And one of those simple things should always be to do our best to …..

EAT WELL,

Justin in Lumpkin now
Chuck in Rabun
Teri in Habersham
and
Andrew in Hall

PS – We have NEVER yet held a big farmer and customer get-together, but we’ve talked about it, and it’s coming one day. Imagine for a moment the hundreds of people throughout our region committed to this market through farming, eating, volunteering,etc. all getting together to break bread, slice tomatoes, then squeeze ‘em together with some mayo, pepper maybe a couple leaves of basil in between. In other words, we’re due for a party. If you’d like to help us organize it let us know. No dates set or even discussed yet, but if you’re interested give us a hand and we’ll do something fun and memorable!

Palouse Grown Market:  Last chance to order!

Happy Sunday, hopefully you stayed nice and cool!

This is the last day to order from Palouse Grown Market before it closes Monday & Tuesday to freshly harvest your order!

https://pgm.locallygrown.net

Thanks for ordering local!

Holly
Market manager

Atlanta Locally Grown:  Available for Saturday August 8

I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. We will see you Saturday between 9-10 at your selected delivery location.
Thank you,
Brady

Conyers Locally Grown:  Available for Friday August 7

I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. We will see you on Friday between 5-7 at Copy Central.
Thank you,
Brady

Green Fork Farmers Market:  Weekly product list

Dear Green Fork Farmers Market Customers,

So sorry this week’s newsletter didn’t make it out to you last night! We’ll extend the ordering window tomorrow (Tuesday) until 5 pm to give you more time to place your order!

NEW this week: Beyond Organics has chicken and Cherokee purple tomatoes, Diamond T meats is back with pork and chicken, and Green Fork Farm has Juliet grape tomatoes, sweet Lunchbox snack peppers, and a colored mix of sweet bell peppers.

Also available this week:

*Vegetables—Potatoes, tomatoes, green bell peppers, mixed colored bell peppers, mexi-bell peppers, Lunchbox peppers, jalapenos, poblanos, red Anaheims, green Anaheims, sweet Italian frying peppers, and sweet banana peppers.

Herbs—Green basil, purple basil, Thai basil, tarragon, and mixed herb bunches.

Mushrooms—Fresh log-grown Shiitakes.

Meat—Pastured beef, chicken, and pork.

Fermented foods—Sauerkraut and jalapenos.

Cookies—Chocolate chip cookies made with wheat or oat flour.

Salsa—Made with locally grown and organic ingredients.

Olives—organic and directly from the grower in California.

Plants and Flowers—Culinary, medicinal, and pollinator plants, ready-made flower arrangements.

Place your order from now until Tuesday at 5:00 pm for pickup on Wednesday from 4-7 pm at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville.

If you aren’t able to place an order, stop by to shop with us on Wednesday. We will have a variety of items for sale from the table.

See you on Wednesday,

Green Fork Farmers Market
Wednesdays 4-7 pm
Indoors, Year Round
At Nightbird Books
205 W. Dickson St.
Fayetteville, AR

To place your order, click on the link below to enter the website. Sign in as a customer, then click on the icon next to each product you wish to order. Proceed to checkout, review the list to make sure it’s correct, then scroll to the bottom and click on Place This Order. Make sure you receive a confirmation email—if you don’t, your order was not processed. Payment is at the market pickup with cash, check, debit/credit card, EBT, and Senior FMNP coupons. Ask about our doubling program for EBT and SFMNP!

StPete.LocallyGrown.Net:  Market NOW Open - Aug. 3rd, 2015

Summertime Volunteer & Training Opportunities

MARKET PRIORITIES Thanks to all who have responded to the call for picking up dairy in Oldsmar every other Thursday. We’ve got a plan in progress now and I’m following up with folks who volunteered to be backup in case the primary person is unable to make it. If you’re interested, please contact me.

NEXT PRIORITY – We need more delivery people trained and ready for the fall wave that will descend upon us sometime in October or November. We need to use the summer to train folks for this. We have three shifts to fill for Friday deliveries. Commitment is a 2.5-hour shift between 1130AM & 630PM. Delivery volunteers are asked to train to become a part of our Friday team and attend a 20-minute phone conference orientation at their convenience. Teams of two deliver via large air-conditioned cargo van throughout St. Petersburg, near Largo, and into Gulfport. Volunteers must be detail oriented, working with checkoff sheets and distributing invoices. Our delivery duos are forming bonds and meeting smiling and grateful customers excited about their vegetables.

Details of volunteer needs for the following folks are listed at the links below.
St. Pete Locally Grown Market is the hub for selling & delivering fine products of many of St. Petersburg’s urban entrepreneurs.
Pioneer Settlement Garden in St. Pete
The Dancing Goat in Oldsmar
Alexandra Lake Farm in Dade City

Message from Your Market Manager

CLEARANCE ITEMS
We are just bulging with new categories for our Market lately. Next up is “clearance” for discontinued goods. Either there isn’t enough demand or there isn’t enough supply. SAVE BIG as many of these items are pretty much going “at cost”. My new mantra is “live & learn”!

SPECIAL THANKS TO SUMMER GROWERS
Despite recent ongoing rains, Growers for SPLG continue to push forward the best they can to produce for our customers. We offer sincere thanks to all of them for supporting our Market and our Customers! Special mention of Nathan Levy for dropping his workshop prices to just $15 per class. Take advantage of this special summer pricing! Detailed flyer is linked on our Weblog page.

RECENT CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
We really do appreciate hearing from you when things are good and when we need to improve. This time thanks go out to Katie and Jenifer!

• “We really enjoyed our first delivery!!!  Scallops were amazing and Don bounced out of this house this morning happy with his fresh apples – thank you for making it a great experience for your (our) customers!!!” – Grower/Customer Jennifer Slocum of Coeurisma
• “Just cooked up the burger I purchased a couple of months ago, it is outstanding, soooo good, reminds me of the real beef when we butchered our own steer at Jones packing in Chemung IL. so happy you do what you do. Thanks! Katie

VOTE FOR ST. PETE LOCALLY GROWN
August 6th is the date to begin voting on Creative Loafing’s website for Best of the Bay 2015 local businesses. Of course, we are hoping to have been nominated in several categories. The vote runs August 6 – September 8 and access to Best of the Bay voting will be made available at this link on August 6th. So please refer back to this email when you decide to vote! The Categories where you may find us are in the “Good & Services” and “People, Places and Politics” sections. Within Goods & Services, please vote for us as Best Farmer’s Market, Best Place to Shop Green, and Best Chemical-Free Food Co-op. Within People, Places and Politics, we hope you deem us the Best Place to Volunteer.

SUGGESTED CHANGES FOR YOUR MENU

• Never had grass fed lamb before? Now is your chance to try it at clearance pricing. We will not be repurchasing due to low demand. Lots of other clearance items, including salmon, available to enjoy before they are gone for good.
• I’m quite curious about several new herbs coming this week from The Faithful Farms. Check out Anise Hyssop which has a licorice flavor but comes from the mint family. Another herb, Salad Burnet has CUCUMBER-flavored leaves.
• Variety of Peppers this week to stirfry, eat raw, or “get hot” over! Just search for peppers to find hot ones and oh-so-sweet ones Here’s a recipe for the Shishito’s!

SPLG’S FRUIT BASKET
Early Gold Apples, Cantaloupe melons, Medjool dates, seedless Red grapes, luscious nectarines, and green papayas grown in St. Pete!

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Our Market has high standards for what it sells. Despite that—as seasons transition—the challenges of evolving weather and pesky insects can take its toll on the crops. Market Growers are being very selective about what they are willing to present to you. No, it won’t always be picture perfect (which is part of its charm) and sometimes an insect is going to evade capture! But we won’t send you anything that we wouldn’t eat ourselves. If for any reason we have goofed and you are dissatisfied, please report it to me right away so we can rectify the situation. That’s how we get better and we all benefit from that. Your satisfaction is key to our success as a resource for St. Petersburgs’ lovers of chemical-free, organically & locally grown vegetables.

YOUR COMMENTS REQUESTED
If you are happy with our produce, products and services, PLEASE leave us a brief review on Local Harvest, a national directory of farms, markets, CSAs and folks like us. Just click here to “Post a Review”?

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST CUSTOMERS
Once you have submitted your order, if in doubt about what you owe, you can always confirm what you have been charged for by checking your account history and viewing your most current invoice. Instructions on how to do that are on our Q&A page under the question entitled Since you don’t provide an invoice with delivery, how do I know what I owe? Also, since your vegetables are picked fresh within 24 hours of delivery, they should be lasting for WEEKS in your refrigerator. When you accept delivery, please take a few minutes to inspect your order to protect your vegetables from unnecessary spoilage. Lastly, it is imperative that you understand our policy on Unclaimed Orders found on our Q&A page. When you make a purchase you are agreeing to abide by this policy.

Upcoming Events

All these and more are posted on our Calendar of Events

WORKSHOPS & EVENTS

• “Successful Urban Farming in St. Petersburg” on Aug. 8th, 8-10AM SUMMER PRICING JUST $15. RSVP NOW
• “REAL DIRT: Make Your Own” on Aug. 15th, 8-10AM SUMMER PRICING JUST $15 RSVP NOW
• “Monthly Potluck Social”, Aug. 22th, Nathan’s Garden Tour Begins at 5:30PM for active Market customers, growers, and volunteers. BY Whoozin.com e-vite ONLY. SPEAKER PLANNING IN PROGRESS.
  

Dawson Local Harvest:  August News

Dawson Local Harvest for August 7th

August Harvest News

HI EVERYBODY.

Got some news flashes for you.

LEILANI’S continues to have plenty of Tomatoes, Squash, Cucumbers, Peppers, and Eggplant, as well as the Potatoes and Onions added last week. They harvested an Okra today, which Leilani pronounced “excellent” as she ate it raw. This single bold adventurer will be joined by dozens, nay, hundreds of fellow Okras (Okri?) in the Harvest for next week. Their Corn may also be ready then.

MY DAILY BREAD has added Organic Veggie Cream Cheese Spread to their list of Dips and Spreads.

The Market is ordering Fresh Shrimp from TOM’S AWESOME SEAFOOD this week. Order yours now.

If you like Bratwurst you owe it to yourself to try 5 HENS FARMS version. Every one is raving about it.

There will me more to add next week.

THE MARKET IS NOW OPEN!

REMEMBER! You can order until Tuesday night at 8pm. Pick up your order at Leilani’s Gardens Friday afternoons from 4 to 7pm.

You’ll find the DAWSON LOCAL HARVEST at http://dawsonville.locallygrown.net

We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible! We guarantee your satisfaction with all products in the DAWSON LOCAL HARVEST.

Have a happy and healthy week!

Alan Vining
Market Manager

Fresh Harvest, LLC:  Fresh Harvest for August 2nd

Market News

Hello!
Welcome to the first week of August! We have so many great veggies for you this week – all of the bounty of summer is here! Tomatoes, cukes and squashes, freshly dug potatoes and onions, green beans, and more!

Please remember we guarantee all of our products! If you are not satisfied with any part of your order, please let us know and we will refund your money or replace your item. Some items, like melons this time of year, are hard to know exactly what their quality will be. We want you to feel free to try something and just let us know if it didn’t work out for you!

Bear Creek Farms is running a Fresh Harvest exclusive. On the Market is their Brisket Burger – if you like burgers you got to try it!

The blueberries are fading out, and this should be the last week for The Peach Truck. If you are interested in picking your own blueberries, there are still lots on the bushes at Trace View Farm in Santa Fe, TN, just south of Leiper’s Fork off the Natchez Trace Parkway. If you are interested in picking your own berries there, please call Bernie at (931)682-2864 or (931) 922-1201 to make an appointment. He is giving $5.00 the first bucket to all Fresh Harvest customers.

The Bloomy Rind is still on vacation this week – a working one! Kathleen is in Providence R.I at a cheese artisan conference, where surely she will discover lots of amazing new cheeses for us to try! Next week the selection will be back up.

We certainly appreciate your support. We know you have many options for buying local produce these days, and are thankful to you for ordering your good veggies, fruits, meats and eggs through Fresh Harvest!

Thanks so much – and we’ll see you on Wednesday!

John and Tallahassee

Coming Events