Spa City Local Farm Market Co-op:  Last market for Meatworks

We are sorry to say that Meatworks will be closing down. This next market, opening on Saturday at 9 a.m., will be the last time you will be able to order from Meatworks, so you may want to stock up.

We have been fortunate to be able to offer the quality, naturally raised beef, pork, chicken and lamb from our local farmers, and we are sorry to see Meatworks go.

We do have a new vendor, Eden’s Memory, a small family farm specializing in pastured poultry grown using nonGMO feed. Wendy and Kerry also have a variety of heirloom vegetables, goat’s milk, and whole grain artisan breads.

Denise Marion
spacity@locallygrown.net

Statesboro Market2Go:  July 4 grilling idea!

We have some new products online – check out Relinda’s grilling medley!
It’s a beautiful medley of baby veggies already on a skewer, ready to grill. Perfect for your July 4th cookout!

In addition, we have an organic cherry tomato mix, thia peppers, jalapeno peppers (perfect for your Mexican cornbread!), banana peppers, eggplants, and so much more!

Place your order before midnight tomorrow, pick up Thursday, and be ready to celebrate!

www.statesboromarket2go.locallygrown.net

Northeast Georgia Locally Grown:  Locally Grown - Availability for July 2, 2014

Hey Local Food Lovers,

It’s a late message again this week, but that’s because we wanted to take the time to share some of the highlights of the FARM TOUR this weekend.

Attendance was bigger than ever with approximately 350 people coming for the weekend (up from 250 last year).

If you weren’t able to make it (or even if you were) here’s some PHOTOS of some of the farms and what they looked and felt like. Hopefully this link will work!

2014 Georgia Mountains Farm Tour

If the link doesn’t work, visit the tour website at
http://georgiamfn.blogspot.com/

We want to thank all those who attended. In another day or two we’ll have a survey to get your feedback on things you liked most about the Tour, and ways we can improve upon it in future years.

We had visitors from all over the state attend the TOUR which was exciting. Obviously we live in a pretty area, and people enjoy touring around and learning about the culture of local food we are rapidly building here. That’s probably the major purpose of the tour to help to build a culture around local food here in the Mountains. Locally Grown is a very important part of that culture. As we’ve mentioned here before, most farms from Rabun, Habersham, White, Stephens and other surrounding counties didn’t even know each other until we started collaborating through Locally Grown. I think it’s safe to say, we wouldn’t have organized our first FARM TOUR if Locally Grown hadn’t helped to demonstrate the benefit of collaborating together.

Ironically, we probably wouldn’t have expanded to Gainesville this year if we hadn’t received a call about year and half ago from a woman in Buford interested in us delivering to the giant sub-division she lived in. We weren’t prepared to make the move at that time, but after giving it some thought we realized expanding the area that farmers sell their food in makes a lot of sense. And North Georgia has a rapidly growing population of people looking to EAT WELL. Gainesville struck us as the best step in that direction because there’s already a relationship between that community and our own. Heck, I can remember that before 2006, if you wanted to go to the movies or hit a big hardware store you had to drive to Gainesville. After all those years of depending on Gainesville for a few staple items, it’s exciting to reverse the flow a bit and start sending fresh, diverse farm products from the mountains down there.

Since most of the farms on the FARM TOUR are also featured on Locally Grown I want to mention a few of them.

Those who have noticed the milled products from Sylvan Falls Mill and their baked goods as well, may not realize what a treasure this Mill truly is to preserving and expanding our agricultural heritage. First, there are only a handful of working water wheel grist mills left in the state. And meal and flour ground with water power are said to have a better flavor because the stones don’t generate excessive heat which can actually cook the meal as it’s being ground. Lots of conventionally milled grains have been heated by the friction of a grinder that works all day long. Another thing I often forget is that the Johnston’s that own and operate the mill only purchase local corn from farms that do not spray their crops, thus creating a market for organically grown corn. Many families in Rabun are growing corn selected from the best ears from nearly 100 years of corn growing in the area. That means they select corn that is bug, disease, and rot resistant. That also means that this selection process eliminates the need for them to spray chemicals. These are families who follow a long, long tradition, and folks who seek their corn products help to preserve these traditions.

Other farms on the tour that sell to Locally Grown regularly were Melon Head Farms (their rhubarb / strawberry jam on vanilla ice-cream was the tastiest treat of the Tour for us), Mill Gap Farms (Chuck and Amy have a story behind almost every item they sell), Leah Lake Farm (if it weren’t for Brooks most of us wouldn’t eat lettuce all Summer, Spring, Fall and Winter), Taylor Creek Farm (which just started selling to LG year and already are consistently the 2nd or 3rd top sellers). Quite a few farms sell to LG now and then such as Liberty Farms (the only folks that have ever sold okra through LG by the bushel), Shade Creek Farm (who specialize in lots of root crops) and LoganBerry (who are so popular they can usually sell everything they grow off the farm but occasionally list their bumper crops such as asparagus and tomatoes).

It’s really nice to have these mental images of the various farms when you put a bite of delicious food in your mouth.

Since we can’t see everything that happens on these farms all the time, we try and write about as much as we can here, and post photos too. If you have PHOTOS from this weekend’s tour that you’d like to share please send them to us at

soque@windstream.net

We’ll add them to our FACEBOOK page and to the FARM TOUR website. We really love the involvement of the whole community in sharing an appreciation of the farms and foods that make our area special. Your unique viewpoints are a valuable contribution, just like that lady in Buford inspired us to expand our whole market, you might inspire something too.

We hope you order lots of good food this week and keep spreading the word!

THANKS for the Support and
EAT WELL,

Justin in Habersham
Chuck in Rabun
and Teri and Andrew too!

South Cumberland Food Hub:  Tomatoes are here!

Good morning from the South Cumberland Food Hub.
Delvin Farms *and *White City Produce have slicing tomatoes and mixed cherry tomatoes on the mkt this week.
Check out the whole list here:
Click here to go directly to the Rootedhere Locally Grown Market Page

We’re open till noon. Have a wonderful day!

Risa

Heirloom Living Market Lilburn:  Still time to order.....

Reminder

Market Closes at 6:00pm Today!

Take me to the Market.

Thank you all for your support!

See you at Market on Thursday!

Heirloom Living Market Hamilton Mill:  Still time to order.....

Reminder

Market Closes at 6:00pm Today!

Take me to the Market.

Thank you for your support! See you at Market on Wednesday!

Champaign, OH:  American Girl

Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinkin’
That there was a little more to life somewhere else..(Tom Petty – American Girl)

I am that girl who loves a good celebration, loves a good fireworks display, loves to watch as we celebrate our country on July 4th.

I have lived all over since I left college in the mid 80s. I was the girl with constant wanderlust going where the wind would take me, in a way. My travels and the cities I have lived in have made me who I am. All of my early adventures in big cities, all of my learning experiences, all brought me to this little local town that I have called home for a very long time, now. Well, almost 16 years, but a long time for a girl who likes to live on the fly.

I was a flight attendant, for a few years, and it was the perfect career for this people oriented, social butterfly, girl on the go. I got to travel, I lived all over the place, I got to meet so many different people, and I experienced so much in that time of my life.

The life of a flight attendant isn’t for everyone. It was a crazy life with crazy hours spent with all kinds of crazy people. (Crazy good, crazy bad, depending on the day, the flight, the moon:) But, one of my favorite yearly times to work flights were over the July 4th holiday.

I used to fly the LAX to JFK all night flights. I was based in LAX, we were all a junior crew, we ruled the DC-10, and by the time we landed in NY, we had 32 hours to roam the city. But, with the night flights, on that holiday, we could cross each state, each little town, each big city, and be treated to amazing firework shows as we passed through the night sky.

To me, it was like big sparks of magic, exploding in celebration. I used to just stare down, think about the town, think about the people, think about the pride that each town was displaying in honor of this very important holiday.

I have spent many July 4th holidays in mountains, on beaches, one Grateful Dead concert, on rooftops of old apartments, where I resided, but nothing ever compared to the view that I was lucky enough to experience from the sky, looking down.

I used to wonder about the people who lived in those towns, about their local customs, about their daily lives, as I watched the light show. After all the years of running and exploring, I think I have finally figured out that local pride is all around, no matter where you live, no matter what you do.

We have amazing local pride right here, in Champaign County! You can feel it, everywhere. You can see it, everywhere. I like to think that this little local market is where I make my local mark, show my local love, make it all about my local pride.

This little local market makes this wandering hippie girl, who became your market manager, full of local love for both the market and the customers who come to us through this market.

As you begin your celebrations, think about what makes you proud in your community. Think about how lucky our community is to have so much local pride. Take some time, just to reflect…

The market is open until tomorrow evening at 10pm. We are bursting with all things local, all things that make us proud to offer to you! Get your lists ready, place your order, and let us take the work out of the week, for you!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Searcy, AR:  new products at the market including red ripe tomatoes

Good morning! We have several new products at the market this week including red ripe tomatoes and sweet corn. Orders for Tuesday delivery can be placed until 10 pm. tonight. Have a great week!

Fresh Harvest, LLC:  Fresh Harvest NEW ITEMS ADDED FOR WEEK OF JUNE 29TH!!

Hello!

We have added some new items from Rocky Glade Farm this morning. There are some greens on there – kale and chard, as well as a lovely assortment of herbs. Please go back and place another order if you would like some!
Thanks so much and have a great day!

John and Tally

Joyful Noise Acres Farm:  JNA Farm market closes at 8:00 tonight

We have had many new items added over the weekend and a new vendor came on the market, Simply OH!. She does all natural bath, beauty, home and pet care items. Take a look at all she offers.

Chanterelle mushrooms are blooming. I took a mushroom foraging class and learned 2 new ways to cook them that I will share in the recipe section. The chanterelles are $8/lb.

Farm Fresh Foods has her Lemon Poppysed bread available this week. Flavor Explosion!

Have fun shopping and browsing all the wonderful foods and treats.

Blessings to all and reflection as we celebrate the Fourth of July.

Mary Beth