The Weblog
This weblog contains LocallyGrown.net news and the weblog entries from all the markets currently using the system.
To visit the authoring market’s website, click on the market name located in the entry’s title.
CSA Farmers Market: April 23 News
Market News
The New Kitchen MDA has looked at our new Kitchen, it is close to being ready. In order for the market to operate and for the farmers to process some of their own products we have to have both a licensed kitchen and a licensed warehouse. MDA couldn’t decide how to categorize since we are online so those are the requirements they came up with for us to operate.
This coming Tuesday after the new hot water heater is installed we will be licensed, the old hot water heater was too small to meet their requirements.
We have been grateful to have been able to use the a mobile kitchen from MOFFA (Michigan Organic Farm & Food Alliance) for the last few years. They are a great organization and they are donating the trailer to the MSU Student Organic Farm.
Until Next Time
Marian Listwak
April 22, 2015 Growing Season Update
No sooner did Dale get the onions planted and the weather got cold and it snowed. I’m sure that the weather will take out some of the plants although we won’t be able to access the damage until it warms again. There are extra onion plants on sale on the website for those that like to garden and grow some of their own. They are Certified Organic from Deep Grass Nursery.
If the weather is warm and sunny over the week end more lettuce and greens will be ready to harvest please don’t hesitate to request some if they show sold out. If the weather stays the way it is we still may have extras.
It is time for me to read up on the best natural predators for the pests we have in the garden/hoop houses who are devouring the crops. Oddly CSA Farmers Market keeps me so busy I don’t have much time to help on the farm.
The garlic is growing and this Friday Dale, Kristie and Stephania will be planting tomatoes inside one of the hoop houses.
We increased the size of our beef herd, they will be on pasture all summer.
Maybe this year we will be able to make our pastured beef from White Pine Farm available on the website. We are also hoping to get back to chickens, we have to complete the licensed kitchen, finish the fencing for more cattle pasture fields and other things before we can build a larger better coop.
Until Next Time
Marian Listwak
Conyers Locally Grown: Available for Friday April 17
I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. It’s time to reserve your next hog share. We are taking 7 more next Monday so order up. We will have them ready for delivery in 2 weeks with bacon in 3.
The produce is starting to come along. We should see some great looking produce in the next week or so.
Thank you for all your support.
We will see you Friday between 5-7 at Copy Central.
Thanks again,
Brady
Atlanta Locally Grown: Availablbe for Saturday April 18
Hello. I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. The Brookhaven market opens Saturday. We are excited to see you all. The sandy springs market and Piedmknt green market are both also back in season. Order up and we will see you there between 9-10.
Place your order for the next round of hog shares. We are delivering 7 next Monday. They will be ready for the market in two weeks with bacon in 3.
Thank you for all your support.
Brady
Atlanta Locally Grown: Availablbe for Saturday April 18
Hello. I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. The Brookhaven market opens Saturday. We are excited to see you all. The sandy springs market and Piedmknt green market are both also back in season. Order up and we will see you there between 9-10.
Place your order for the next round of hog shares. We are delivering 7 next Monday. They will be ready for the market in two weeks with bacon in 3.
Thank you for all your support.
Brady
Northeast Georgia Locally Grown: Locally Grown - Availability for April 15th , 2015
Hey Local Food Lovers,
Me oh my! Things are cranking up! Locally Grown just bought our first piece of property. It’s a 5×8 enclosed trailer with a side door! That’s right, your food will now be traveling down the road in style. There’s even a big fat sticker in red white and blue that says PATRIOT! And shouldn’t it be patriotic to be eating local food from local farms!
Ok, I know the 4th of July is too far away for the flag waving but we are proud at how far we’ve come. Locally Grown started in 2010 as an experiment between two communities and about 10 or 12 farmers. Farmers in Clarkesville and in Clayton had very small markets at the time and everyone was looking for a way to reach new customers. That’s when Chuck Mashburn had the idea to bring the Locally Grown model (invented in Athens) to the mountains.
It was amazing, is amazing how quickly it began. And how quickly farmers we didn’t know found us. In fact it still works that way today. Both Waukau Meadows and Homegrown Products LLC (who just joined us this week by the way) found us and gave us a call just in the last several months.
Growth was slow. The first 3 years sales were under $40,000 and were only growing by a bit of a %.
Then last year. POW! Growth! The move to Gainesville helped. But sales were up, way up at our original locations too. In fact, today, Clarkesville is by far our biggest location. We expect Gainesville to catch up and pass them soon, but way to go Clarkesville! For such a small town we have a lot of dedicated local food eaters. Most of them come every week, and many have been there since almost the beginning.
As things change we hope to retain everything that Locally Grown has always been, a laid back, fun-loving way to help farmers distribute food to more people, while ALSO becoming some new things as well. For example, we hope we’re getting better at communicating who are farmers are and why they are special. This year we have a featured farmer calendar and as each farm comes up we hope to share with you some of the things that we LOVE about the farms, the farmers, their products, and what inspires them to produce this wonderful food!
The whole point of the FEATURED FARMERS is for you to get a chance to meet some of these folks. Just imagine having a mental image of the face of the farmer behind almost every meal you eat. That’s possible now!
Well, that’s all the time I have tonight. Really want to encourage folks to check our newest growers Tara and Russ Grindle at Homegrown Products. They are egg producers and soon to be lots of veggies in the weeks ahead. Their website link is on our FACEBOOK and under our GROWERS section. Pay their site a visit and order some eggs this week and in the weeks ahead!
Thanks to you all for your dedication and EAT WELL,
Justin and Teri in Habersham
Chuck in Rabun
and Andrew in Hall
Fisher's Produce Tulsa: Harvest Update
Hello Friends,
This week we are delivering to Brookside (Whole Foods), Spirit Event Center, and the Hwy 16 and 75 Junction. We have added a few more items to our online market this week. If you haven’t tried our Hakurai salad turnips, you are missing out!
This week’s CSA share will likely include:
Asparagus
Butterhead lettuce or spring mix
Collards or Kale (or Spinach if you request it)
Salad Turnips
Green Onions
Fall harvested sweet potatoes (They are really good!)
We have a few spots left on our Wednesday CSA. If you have any friends that are interested, we would be glad to have them join. Just have them fill out a registration form and sign up on this market site.
We are looking forward to seeing you.
Luke
Athens Locally Grown: ALG Market Open for April 16
Athens Locally Grown
How to contact us:
Our Website: athens.locallygrown.net
On Twitter: @athlocallygrown
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/athenslocallygrown
On Thursdays: Here’s a map.
Market News
This was a beautiful weekend, perfect for working out in the garden. I’ve not even started on mine, but it’s really never too late to put something in the ground, and it’s prime planting season now. I was one of the founding farms of Athens Locally Grown, back in 2002, but these days I’m living back in the city of Athens again, and haven’t established gardens here. Weather like this, though, makes me want to throw seeds in every bit of dirt I can find, wherever I find it.
If you’ve been preparing your garden, or just thinking about starting one, be sure to check out all of the live plants offered by our growers through the market. Sure, you could run off to Home Depot and buy some mass-produced seedlings soaked in synthetic fertilizers and sprayed with fumigants, but you can also get hardy seedlings grown by the same people cultivating plants for their own vegetable beds, free of synthetic chemicals.
The average last frost date for Athens falls this week, but you never know when a weird cold front will blow through, wreaking havoc on the little plants. If you’ve put out summer plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash, and eggplants, keep an eye out on the forecast for the next week or two, just in case you need protect them. The average last frost date for some of our growers won’t come for another month, further up in the mountains, but that just means more variety for our market.
Why am I encouraging you to grow your own food when I’m in the business of helping growers sell you food they grow? For one, studies have shown (and my own experience confirms) that people who grow their own gardens tend to actually increase their yearly purchases at their local farmers markets. Once they take an interest their food so strong that their begin growing what they can, they find that they can rely even more on their local growers for things that they used to get at the grocery store. And besides, my goal is for every community to become less reliant on food grown elsewhere and shipped in from long distances. And you having your own little patch of garden in your yard is a big step in helping Athens do just that.
Thanks so much for your support of Athens Locally Grown, all of our growers, local food, and our rights to eat it. You all are part of what makes Athens such a great area in which to live. We’ll see you on Thursday at Ben’s Bikes at the corner of Pope and Broad Streets from 4:30 to 8pm!
Other Area Farmers Markets
The Athens Farmers Market is open on Saturdays at Bishop Park and Wednesday afternoons downtown at Creature Comforts. You can catch the news on their website. The Comer Farmers Market is open in downtown Comer on Saturday mornings. The Oconee County farmers market is open Saturday mornings in front of the Oconee County Courthouse in Watkinsville. The Shields Ethridge Cultivator Market is held monthly in Jefferson. The other area markets are all still closed for the season, I believe. If you know of any markets operating, please let me know.
All of these other markets are separate from ALG (including the Athens Farmers Market) but many growers sell at multiple markets. Please support your local farmers and food producers, where ever you’re able to do so!
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!
Green Fork Farmers Market: Weekly Product List
Dear Green Fork Farmers Market Customers,
NEW THIS WEEK:
Bee Well Gardens has new varieties of plants available for pre-order. They will also be at the market this week so you can meet them and see what they have for sale.
Green Fork Farm has green onions, lettuce mix, cilantro, and duck eggs.
Also this week:
Vegetables—Lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, and gourmet salad mix.
Herbs—chives, sage, mint, cilantro, and mixed herb bunches.
Eggs—Pastured chicken and duck eggs.
Meat—Pastured pork, beef, lamb, and chicken.
Fermented foods—sauerkraut and jalapenos.
Baked goods—Sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies.
Salsa—Made with locally grown and organic ingredients.
Jam—Made with organic, locally grown blueberries sweetened with fruit juice.
Olives and olive oil—organic and directly from the grower in California.
Go ahead and place your order from now until Tuesday at noon, and we’ll see you on Wednesday for pickup from 4-7 pm.
Thank you!
Green Fork Farmers Market*
Plattsburgh Online Ordering: market open - check the listing
Added in kale and salad greens! Don’t have a lot, but, they are good.
Berea Gardens: Almost up to speed
This week’s weather has almost been frost-free and the crops are liking the change. We have more things coming on and this will be our first week back at the regular Farmer’s Market at the Upper West Fork Park. Hours there are 9 to 1 on Wednesday. If I don’t hear from you here, perhaps I will see you there.
Blessings,
Bob, Lynnita and Jordyn