Locally Grown - Availability for August 27, 2014

Hey Local Food Lovers,

It’s been a great summer for Local Food in Northeast Georgia. Next weekend (Labor Day) always marks the end of summer to me, so now seems like a good time to reflect on just how significant a year it has been for our little movement.

Even though our expansion of Locally Grown to Gainesville that began on June 11th has at this point met and exceeded every expectation we had, this was far from the only momentous achievement of the summer for Local Food. Perhaps we should go back as far as March 31st when the Georgia Mountains Farmers Network held by far our best meeting to date. It was a celebration of sorts. It marked the launch of the Farmers Network from a fledgling group that met for the first time at Sid Blalock’s farm back in January 2012 to a newly formed non-profit with a board of directors with a focus and determination to deepen our collaborations. It also marked the opening of Fortify, Jamie Alred’s very own restaurant. In fact, rather than a potluck like every other farmer gathering we’d ever had, we all ate a meal at Jamie’s using food grown by the attendees. You can guess how outstanding that meal was both for the food and the company. Georgia Organics was a lovely sponsor making it possible for us to afford such an impressive farm to table meal.

As the summer heated up and the Gainesville expansion was being scouted out (lots of visits to meet new people and look for the ideal spot -thanks very much History Center by the way) we were also planning the Georgia Mountains Farm Tour our annual tour to 14 farms throughout the region with proceeds going to the Network. The event was smashing success in every way. Better press, incredible crowds (over 500), lots of volunteers, an incredible new video and I dare say more fun for everybody involved. It made us realize that we really do have something special going on in Northeast Georgia, and by golly we should be proud of it. When other people show so much interest in what you do, it helps remind you how special it is.

Not long after this the Best Chefs of America declared Rabun County GA the “farm to table” capital of the state and came out to do a full spread on all the great restaurants and growers in the County. I haven’t even seen this publication yet, but can’t wait to.

The Farm to School program in Habersham County went so well in 2013-2014 that they are expanding it to the other two middle schools this year. More and more young people are going to be exposed to eating healthy and eating local. Rabun County I believe is starting a program this year as well.

Then just a few months ago another farm to table restaurant this time in Clarkesville opened up, Harvest Habersham. It is outstanding and another place for local growers to sell food.

This is only the successes I can think of without digging through my memory banks to much. It feels like the tide is turning in some tangible ways.

All this leads me to a couple of important points. First, the real inspiration for all of these things is first and foremost the farmers that are out there in the sun, the soil, the heat and the rain toiling away at their passion day after day after day. If you know a farmer do something nice for them. Tell them you think they are awesome. Give them a gift for all the times they rounded up your order to just over a pound (when it was supposed to be just a pound and they probably made it over a pound and a half and closer to two). Farmers are the most generous people I know. To be honest they are the people I like the most. They are the one’s I admire and look up to, and try and emulate. For a few reasons this is the case. They are that perfect balance between loving nature, loving the earth, loving to work hard, and wanting to do all of it because they love people and want them to eat something that’s worth something. Farmers make me want to be a better person. In fact, the more I’m around them I can’t help but a little of it rub off, lucky me. Even if it’s only a little it feels great. Our farmers think about the experience we all have with their food. It makes them happy to hear you’ve enjoyed it, that you’ve shared it, that you’ve looked forward to it. So if you can, do something that says thanks for a farmer sometime. It’ll make you feel good to do it I assure you.

One small way you can do that is keep eating local every week of the year. One of our favorite things about this crazy Locally Grown market is that it keeps us connected to good food all year round. This is good for all of us. Why should we go back to the grocery store as cold weather sets in. Instead more and more farms are building greenhouses and growing year-round. So if you don’t know how to eat kale, collards, turnips and their greens, etc. you need to. I’ve got a turnip green pesto recipe that’ll make you never wanna go back to basil pesto it’s so good.

Ok, second important point. I’m being long winded tonight. Everthing I described above is only the beginning of what this farming movement is capabl of. Even though Locally Grown has been around for 4 years and 4 months, and GMFN is just 4 months shy of our 3rd year, we are baby organizations, just getting started in fulfilling our missions which is to collaborate to increase the impact of Local Food in our region.

So now for our BIG NEWS!

Last week we received word (after many months of waiting) that we are to be awarded a 20 month grant from the USDA that will allow Locally Grown to grow our market in ways that should make it a permanent fixture in our communities for years to come. The minimum goal of this grant is to double the size of Locally Grown during that 20 month time! That doesn’t just mean sales, or customers, it means farmers and products too. We’ll be recruiting new farms and making relationships that should continue to diversify the types of foods you can order all year long. We’ll also be focusing for the first time on marketing Locally Grown to a slightly larger audience. To do that means we’ll have more FEATURED FARMER opportunities where we hope you can meet some of our farmers in PERSON. Another opportunity is for those who really want to gain some organic gardening experience from experts to come out to the farms for some FARMER FOR A DAY workdays. There’s nothing a farmer appreciates more than a few hours of work during the height of the crazy season and their happy to share their expertise in exchange.

I could go on and on about how this means in a few months we’ll be going paperless at each market location, or that we plan to buy a trailer for hauling more food, or all the marketing ideas we have, but you’ll see all this soon enough.

As we do evolve into the next phase, we want you right there with us. Those of you who have been with us since the beginning, this summer’s success is owed to you as well. We wouldn’t be here without the dedicated local food eaters in this community. Here’s to growing this movement a little bigger, making new friends and changing the world. Or at least our little piece of the world. One yummy bite at a time.

Before I go, the hot item of the week is Shade Creek’ Farms potatoes. I ate a whole mess of them in a curry dish this week, both the Mixed Medley and the Yellow Germans and they were delicious. Get you some and…..

EAT WELL,

Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew