Northeast Georgia Locallygrown Availability list for Nov.28

Good evening Locavores,
We hope everyone has been enjoying a wonderful week of Thanksgiving sharing good times and good food with family and friends.
Many thanks to all of you for your fantastic support last week with your market orders and we hope those local food orders helped to make your holiday meals more special.
Your local farmers have had a chance to catch up some winter chores and to nurse crops through some frigid nights. Now we look forward to some warm and sunny days this week to give the vegetables a little boost.
Have a great weekend and enjoy some local winter produce.

Locally Grown - Availability for November 19th, 2014

Hey Local Food Lovers,

This is shaping up to be an excellent week at Locally Grown. I want to thank all of you from our growers and producers to the customers for listing new products, and ordering BIG this week! I think if we get just another 6-12 orders in we’ll exceed our goal to sell $2,000 this week!

So here are a few of the items that make this week so exciting if you haven’t had a chance to check the website yet.

• Wildflower Honey in nearly a dozen sizes
• Kohlrabi – If you’ve never tried one, do it!
• Loofah sponges – scrub a dub
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pies – yum, yum and yum!

I want to add one more thing about these Pumpkin Pies. Yes, this is the first time we’ve ever had Pumpkin Pies which is very exciting! What is making it happen is a beautiful collaboration that has lead to the Pumpkin being grown organically by one of the farms that sells here to Locally Grown, Promised Land Farms run by Tom Ingraham, and the gluten free pies baked by his daughter Christy Bowen who runs Keep it Simple. I bet many of you have ordered products from both and never known that we had a father and daughter both contributing to the market. Occasionally they help deliver each others products too! In the spirit of the Family Holiday coming up soon, you can support two producers at once from this good food family with a purchase that I bet will feel real good when you sit down to eat it with your family!

I also want to put in another plug for buying a WHOLE CHICKEN from Smart Chick Farms for the holiday! This is just about the simplest way to cook it you can find, and consistently my favorite. 3 ingredients, fresh rosemary (you can buy the rosemary bundled with sage from Wild Earth Gardens), butter and lemon. Chop up the rosemary, mix it with soft room temp butter, and spread it under the skin of the chicken (but leave the skin on). Take half a lemon, squeeze it inside the skin or simply in the cavity and leave the rind in the bird. Bake at 375 for an hour or until your meat thermometer tells you its done.

Eating good food is just one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family. When I’m in a hurry and not eating well, I can feel it! When I slow down and make a really good meal with really good ingredients it can make my whole week. I love to tell people the stories behind the food when we have guests. It’s just such a privilege to know anything about your food these days, and even if you haven’t met these farmers you all have learned things about them from talking with us at market or reading these e-mails.

For instance, Tom Ingraham of Promised Land is building a greenhouse currently. That is a real good thing because that means that soon, he’ll be able to grow more food during these colder months, and he’ll be coming up with new items to grow for those of us lucky or smart enough to keep an eye out for his hard work.

Two of our cutest growers, Chuck and Michele Taylor just gave birth to a new farm hand, Logan. Earlier this spring they brought some of the best early season crops I can remember, cabbages, fennel, all my favorite crops I was too lazy to grow myself, thank heavens they grew for me. Congratulations to them and we can’t wait to see the littlest Taylor!

Two more cute growers, Harold and Joni Kennedy of Melon Head Farm just got Catholic married! That’s like a whole nuther level from regular married. Those of us who know them aspire to their level of laughter and happiness in a marriage or a relationship of any kind. And they grow really great stuff like winter melon, and funky asian squashes that no one else will grow (and of course tons of melons). She told me not to tell anyone but I’ve been eating their loofah squashes all summer. Apparently before they are turned into loofahs they are delicious! Congratulations to you both. I hope you enjoyed a Catholic Honeymoon whatever that may entail.

Yes, it’s pretty cool that there are actual hardworking, cool people behind all the food (and other items) posted on market this week. Keep that in mind as you order. You’re not just eating better, you’re supporting a local economy. We hope to grow this little market bigger and better, or I should say as big as these farmers want to grow it. It’s all up to them. Make ‘em feel good by ordering a little extra this week. We guarantee it’ll make you feel good too.

We’ll be closed the week following this one for Thanksgiving. We hope you all have a safe and blessed holiday.

AND DEFINITELY EAT WELL,

Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew

Northeast Georgia Locallygrown availability list for Nov. 10

Good Evening Locavores,
The market is well stocked with products from vegetables to meats, breads, and skin care.
Remember that Locally Grown will be closed next week so stock up now for this week and for your Thanksgiving dinner.
We farmers may need the extra week off from the market to recover and care for crops through the unseasonable very cold weather descending on us this week.
This cold weather means a pot of chili with grass fed beef locally grown peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes simmering on the wood stove. Steaming hot food and toasty warm heat from the fire make frigid winter evenings downright enjoyable.
The market is open for your orders. Have a great weekend and stay warm.

Locally Grown availability - November 12th

Hey local food lovers,

Gonna be short and sweet tonight. We’ve got two big announcements though. First, the Wednesday after this one on November 19th will be our last market day in November. We are usually open the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but this year we’re gonna take that week off. So what that means is this week and next you should order big.

One big recommendation is to replace your big store bought turkey with a whole chicken from Ohana Farms or Smart Chick this holiday. These products are so good and so good for you and your family. Next week I’ll try and give a quick recipe for whole roasted chicken. Or send us yours!

Also, on that Wednesday the 19th we’ll have the state director of the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service coming to visit our Gainesville location. They are excited about the grant we were just awarded to expand and market Locally Grown all across Hall County. Please plan to order big and bring a friend that week so we can make a great impression!

It’s a great week to eat well. Hope you enjoy this weeks offerings,

Justin, Chuck, Teri, and Andrew

Northeast Georgia Locallygrown Availability list for Nov.7

Good Evening Locavores,
Another round of cold mornings is here as we begin our market. These crisp days are beautiful with sun and blue sky smiling on our North Georgia Mountains. This combination of sun and cold mornings is also responsible for creating that delicious shift to sweet, refined flavor of winter greens.
Enjoy them fresh daily now and freeze some for later. They go great with the grass fed free range meats, breads and milled products in the market.
Note that Simplyhomegrown Farmers Market in Clayton at the Covered Bridge Shopping Center is open this Saturday and next Saturday from 9:00 to 1:00 pm.
Stay warm and enjoy fresh local food.

Locally Grown - Availability for November 5th, 2014 - NEW PICK UP HOURS

Hey Local Food Lovers,

Chilly weather has descended! That means we’ve probably seen the last of the peppers, tomatoes, squash and other such crops until next spring and summer. However, since Locally Grown is a year-round farmers market all that means is it’s time to start eating the crops that are abundantly available all fall and winter long. And learning to eat these seasonal crops is part of the joy of eating local. Here’s a quick list of crops you’ll likely find here most of the winter:

Arugula
Asian Greens
Beets (on occasion)
Carrots
Swiss Chard
Collards
Garlic
Jerusalem Artichokes (by far one of my favorites)
Kale
Lettuce
Mustard greens
Onions
Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
Spinach
Turnip Greens (gotta learn how to eat these)
Winter Squash

And this is just a quick list of what we have today. There are lots of other veggies that are available year-round. And that doesn’t include the delicious meats, breads, herbs, milled products, coffee, honey and other array of foods here all winter long.

One thing the cold weather brings (coupled with this weekend’s time change) is our WINTER PICK UP HOURS for LOCALLY GROWN. With the changing of the season we shorten our pickup window from 5PM to 6:30PM. We’ve done this every year since we started because our PICK-UP Locations are outside and it gets very dark and very cold after 6:30. Even though we’ll go ahead and start this new schedule THIS WEDNESDAY, we’ll be somewhat forgiving this week, but do plan to come before 6:30 in the weeks ahead. We’ll start calling folks around 6PM as a reminder.

We do appreciate everyone who is supporting the market! Sales are not quite, but almost, double what they were this time last year. That’s terrific and a real sign of what’s to come. The market has lots and lots of planning to do over the winter. I won’t get into all the details now, but everything from electronic checkout, to adding more growers, to doing some special events at market is on the horizon. 2015 is gonna be a great year!

Let’s finish up 2014 with a bang! This a great time of year to perfect a butternut squash soup, or a sweet potato casserole just in time for the Thanksgiving Holidays in a few weeks. Don’t forget to LIKE the Locally Grown FACEBOOK page as both market managers, farmers, and customers are getting better about posting yummy meals that can be cooked with current ingredients. It’s a great place to share your experience eating local.

FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/NGLGmarket

And the RECIPES section of the locally grown website also has some great suggestions for current in-season items.
NGLG RECIPES
http://northeastgeorgia.locallygrown.net/recipes

Enjoy and EAT WELL,
Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew

Northeast Locallygrown Availability list for Oct. 31

Good Evening Locavores
We hope you are all having a nice evening with more treats than tricks.
Now you can treat yourself to some healthy, locally grown foods to recover from all those halloween sweets.
This cold weather begs for a hearty stew. Amy and I especially like a stew pot on the woodstove for a long, slow, simmer. Now to choose between grass fed beef or free range chicken to add to the pot with fresh herbs and vegetables.
Stay warm and have a great weekend.

Locally Grown - Availability for October 29th, 2013

Hey Local Food Lovers,

One of the coolest things about getting involved in local foods is how INVOLVED you can become in local foods. For example, quite a few of our customers in Locally Grown have also become volunteers over the last few years. You may have noticed that during market pickup we have many different faces that are willing to help you and help our farmers by volunteering an hour or two to help distribute food. In the process they often learn a lot about the different farms, which foods are in season, and get a very small food stipend so they can always be sure and eat up and enjoy some of good food being offered from week to week. WE COULDN’T run this MARKET without these good souls! Be sure and tell them how much you appreciate their efforts and their knowledge.

We also have over 20 volunteers that help us with the annual farm tour. This is a great way for folks to get to know at least one of the farms that grows food in our region, and establish a friendship with a farmer or two. This is why most of us enjoy local foods so much, its so much more than just good food, it’s a relationship with the people and places that produce it, and a sense of community.

One of the cooler things about an internet farmers market is the barriers to entry can be slightly less intimidating for someone who wants to become a new producer. I’ll use myself as an example. Even though I’d grown a garden for years, it wasn’t until we had begun Locally Grown (back in 2010) that I realized, why not grow a little more food and share it with people through the market. I can’t recall now what I grew that very first year, but I can remember the joy and excitement of getting my first orders, harvesting from the field the very best of my crops so that they would look crisp and delicious in the bags, figuring out how to optimize their appearance so that a customer was just thrilled when they opened the bag and smelled the fresh food within.

Locally Grown is just at its very beginnings in our region. And we need more growers and customers. We plan to grow more of both this year with the help of some marketing resources.

Fresh Local Foods and people that are knowledgable about fresh local foods don’t just appear over night. Like anything else they have to be cultivated over time, giving time for trial and error. We often have small new farms start out with just a few products, then as they gain skill and confidence and find a few niches for products that are in short supply, they grow a little more, and become a fixture in our community of farmers. This has happened many times just in the last four years, and we look forward to it happening again.

Another thing that happens is customers will sometimes become producers. This week at the Clarkesville Location we have a FEATURED PRODUCER – Leslie Montemayor of Leslie’s Garden Dream. This is the second week we’ve asked Leslie to set up DURING MARKET and share her products and her experience and knowledge with healthful and local foods. She gave a demonstration at Tiger several weeks ago, and this week she’ll be at her home market in Clarkesville where she’s been a customer since the very beginning.

Leslie was inspired to share a few items with the market, and that list has recently expanded. She is the only person we know who grows luffa gourds (or loofah), which are dried to make luffa sponges for bathing or cleaning. I keep a luffa sponge sitting on my sink at all times for scrubbing those pans that need a little extra elbow grease, these make it easy. She also sells the seeds if you’re motivated to try and grow these yourself, and I’m sure she’ll tell you how to dry the gourds for use as well.

Leslie also makes healthy dog treats out of oat and rice flour, chicken liver from locally grown organic chickens, cheese, and locally grown eggs. Recently she added some good looking breads and cakes using organic ingredients too. I look forward to sinking my teeth into either her apple cake or sweet potato bread this Wednesday.

Locally Grown benefits from efforts to slowly but steadily replace our grocery store diets with Locally Grown and Locally Made foods. We try to be very cautious not to over emphasize processed food (even if they are made with more wholesome ingredients) or non-food products on the market. Locally Grown is obviously primarily about Locally Grown foods! This market more than anything is for the farmers, to help them access customers that want fresh, farm grown fruits and veggies, and meats. But as we grow, we’d love to see more people decide, “I have something to contribute. I’m going to go out and learn how to grow WASABI root because no one else is growing that.” Blurring the lines between who are producers and who are consumers is a healthy thing. Give yourself time to become really good at it before you try and unleash your gifts on the general public, but we welcome such efforts….as long as LOCAL products and sustainability is at the core of your efforts.

We hope you enjoy our featured producer this week. We hope to get a calendar of other featured farmers and producers going for 2015. That way you can meet some of the good folks that are filling your tummies.

Thanks for shopping and …..

EAT WELL,
Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew

Northeast Georgia Locallygrown Availability list for Oct.24

Good Evening Locavores,
Your Locallygrown market is now open for orders. This is going to be a beautiful fall weekend and we hope you will have a great one.

Locally Grown - Availability for October 22nd, 2013

Hey Local Food Lovers,

Just a reminder to get some good local food this week. I want to emphasize how special breakfast foods are here on Locally Grown. I just had family in town for the weekend and was able to cook up an entirely local food feast with local sausage from Smart Chick Farms, eggs from Ohana (with peppers from Oakcrest cooked in), then corn muffins featuring Sylvan Falls corn meal.

We’ve also been eating the Cinnamon Roll Bread from Keep it Simple. Yum, yum, yum. She also has muffins, and pancake mix. Eating local is an event 3 times a day, so if you’re not yet eating local food breakfast every day give it a try. We also have granola from Habersham Bakers. Leslie’s Garden Dream is offering some brand new breads that look like they’d go great for breakfast or anytime.

That’s it for this week.

EAT WELL,
Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew