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.
Fountain Fresh Dairy LLC: Market closed
Hello everyone,
The cold snap we just had finished our market’s winter season and it will now be closed until spring. We are thankful for those we were able to serve in 2015 as well as the beginning of this year! God bless!
The Cumming Harvest - Closed: This Week at The Cumming Harvest
Market News
This week we’ll go over finances. This is pretty lengthy and much of it is copied from our mother market manager, Eric Wagoner, at Athens Locally Grown. He’s got this market thing down since this is his 16th year. We’ve been in business going on 6 years this coming August.
First off, we’re legally an LLC, and the market is owned and operated by me. You may have heard the market described as a co-op but it has never legally been one even though it’s run in a cooperative spirit.
We’re not a non-profit, either, but we’ve structured things so that over time the market can just barely cover its own expenses. Just like all of our member farms are sustainable growers, the market itself needs to be sustainable. So how do we cover its expenses? One small way is through the memberships you pay. The $25 a year you give to the market is enough (to put it bluntly) to cover most of the costs of having you as a customer: banking fees from depositing your checks, paper and ink for printing, web hosting fees, and that sort of thing. There really isn’t much left and I’m happy to provide those that ask, a copy of our budget.
By far the bulk of our funding comes from the growers themselves. They pay a 10% commission on their sales through the site. This money covers the storage we use, the tables and shelves used to spread out and organize your orders, the food allowance we offer our volunteers, rent and utilities, etc. During the slow parts of the year, the sales are usually not enough to cover our weekly costs, but in the busy times (late fall and early spring, for us) there is extra. If we plan things out well, it pretty much all evens out in the end.
In 2014, the total sales and memberships combined through the market amounted to $168,509.00. 90% of the sales went straight to our growers, and the rest went to rent ($120/month), web hosting ($5,140/year), transportation, insurance and various small business expenses. The “profit” gets counted as personal income on my tax forms, and comes out to roughly $2-3000/year.
The growers get paid out of the shared cashbox for their week’s sales when they drop off their items, during the hour before we open the market. Then, you arrive and pay into the cashbox for your order. We used to then rush to the bank to deposit the money to cover the checks we just wrote to the growers, but now the growers get paid the following week (money you pay via credit cards takes up to a week to reach our account). As explained elsewhere on the website, you are really ordering directly from and paying the growers yourself, but our shared cashbox system makes things convenient for you and them. (Imagine if you ordered from ten growers having to write ten checks when you picked up your items!) This shared cashbox system has so far satisfied the tax man, but it does mean that if you place an order and then never arrive to pick it up, we’re left holding the bag. For that reason, you are responsible for paying for orders not picked up, and that amount is automatically added on to your next order for your convenience.
So, in probably far too much detail, that’s how we operate financially. Our market might be more expensive to run than a traditional “booths and tables” farmers market, but that price buys a system that’s simple, time-saving, and flexible. There’s not much money in the bank, but the market is paying for itself and that’s my primary financial goal. If you’d like to talk with me in person about this or any other aspects of TCH, just pull me aside when you come by to pick up your order.
Many of the decisions I make for the market are based on how the founding market, Athens Locally Grown, is run. The ALG market manager is also the web developer for the website and is in their 16th year of running. We hope to be around for that long too. :)
LOCATION
Building 106, Colony Park Dr. in the Basement of Suite 100, Cumming, GA 30040.
Google Map
PICK UP HOURS
Saturday from 10-12pm.
106 Colony Park Drive, Suite 100 Cumming, GA 30040
Please contact me if you have any questions, problems or suggestions. EMAIL ME
To view the harvest today and tomorrow till 8pm, visit “The Market” page on our website, The Cumming Harvest
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!
Tullahoma Locally Grown: Market Closes Today at Noon
Your Market Closes Today.
Your Tullahoma Locally Grown Market is open today until noon. Please ensure you place your final orders by that time. You still have time to order fudge, coffee, bread, eggs, dairy, candles, and other items.
Pickup will be tomorrow (Thursday) from 4:15 to 5:15.
Here is the link to the market: Tullahoma Locally Grown Market
Thank you for your support. Have a great day,
Fuel So Good Coffee Roasters
Martin's Farmstand: Dried Apples
My dad (Luke) has about 4 acres of orchard over on the homefarm. In this orchard you will find all kinds of old heirloom apples growing along with pears, blueberries plums etc. He also has various fruit trees tucked into all sorts of corners and along fence rows etc all over the farm. All this orchard is manged without the use of any chemical fertilizers or sprays. Mixed into this is all sorts of wildflowers and in general a huge diversity of life.
In the winter I take some of these fine heirloom apples (mixed kinds) and dry them. They make a lovely snack food when you are driving or walking out to the field to work etc. You can also use them in the more tradional ways for pie etc. In bygone years dried apples were a major industry here in New York. Somehow in the rush for progress many of us have skipped past this fine, healthy snack food and now eat soda and chips instead.
I have a homemade apple dryer that I use to do the drying. After supper on winter evenings or first thing in the morning when the cookstove is going, we slice a batch of apples. (I need warm, dry air for the drier to work) It takes about 8 lbs of fresh apples to get 1lb of dry apples. The price is $2.50 for a quarter pound bag or $8.00 per LB. We also sell them in larger amounts (10lbs) for $6.00 Lb. DanielCLG: CLG Pickup Reminder & Crimmins Family Farm Update
Good morning,
This is a pickup reminder for those of you who ordered this week. Thank you for your order! You can pick up your order from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. today at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 925 Mitchell Street in Conway.
If something comes up that you cannot personally pick up your order today, please contact someone to pick up for you.
Remember to bring your EGGSHELLS, glass jars for recycling, egg cartons, and bags for ordered items. Reduce, reuse, recycle! See you this afternoon.
Come early for the best selection from the EXTRAS table!
Thank you,
Steve
At the market last Friday, many members of CLG asked what they could do to help the Crimmins family that suffered a total crop loss due to flooding. I reached out again to them to let them know about the huge interest in supporting their operation. Lucrecia informed me that Tammy Keith had come to their place and written an article about their experience. Here’s a link to that article:
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/jan/10/heifer-floods-gardens-no-livestock-lost/?f=rivervalley
And here’s a note from Lucrecia Crimmins: We’re very touched by everyone’s offer support, but we all feel as Chuck says in the article: “no, no, no, to donations… there are many others much worse off than we are.” Please thank everyone once again though. We hope to see everyone again later in the year.
I think you’ll agree that this family exemplifies the kind of grit it takes to be a farm family, now and in years past.
Champaign, OH: Hazy Shade Of Winter
I look around…
Leaves are brown, now…
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter…
(Hazy Shade Of Winter-Simon and Garfunkel)
Yes, my lovely local market of love customers…we are now smack in the middle of wild winter weather!!
Just last week, I was skipping around, a sweater over one of my hippie sundresses, so excited that we might be skipping winter weather while I was skipping around in my outfit.
Not so much. It’s here, it’s loud, and it’s cold! And, snowy! But, don’t let that be a negative to getting your orders in, think of all the positive spins to this!
You still have until 10pm, tonight, to leisurely place your order. You get to stay cozy, and warm, and stress free while you do that! You can do it while you are keeping warm with coffee, tea, or a glass of wine, or bubbly, or whatever you feel like! Right now, your market manager is enjoying a glass of Cabernet while dinner is in the oven. I have placed my market orders, I know that I won’t have to fight the crowds, the snow, the wind, or the cold, to schelp around a large store, just trying to shop, quickly, so that I can be home.
When we shop quickly, and stressed out, and without poor planning, we buy all the wrong things, we spend WAY too much money, and chances are, you want to be done SO quickly, that you hit up the bad food choices. The foods that will be the quickest, fill the void, cheapest…OR SO YOU THINK.
Not so much. Here, at our little local market of love, we want you to shop in the comfort of your home, office, apartment, car (while not driving)…we want you to select our amazing products. We want to help you get breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the table. We want to save you money. AND, we want it to be all healthy, all local, and all packed up with love when you come to grab those orders!
Where else will you be able to find this kind of tender love and care? Only with us…
So, bask in this hazy shade of winter…it’s only temporary, but we are forever, and we want to take the haze out of these cold days!
Order, now, make your life a hazy shade of happiness!
You have until 10pm…AND, we are once again poised to have an outstanding market!! What are you waiting for??
Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam
Old99Farm Market: Eggs and chicken this week on special
I forgot to put this in the memo just out.
Eggs: 3 doz for price of 2, that’s $4.50 average.
Roasting chicken, stew hens: 10% off.
Make this the week for chicken.
Ian
Old99Farm Market: Old 99 farm week of Jan 10 2016
Come and get your eggs, meats, root vegetables. We’re open. Eggs on special 3doz for price of 2, that works out to $4.50/doz.
There is a growing interest in getting ready for climate upset happening in Hamilton. We won’t see fire storms or hurricanes, but we might see floods, and we’ll certainly experience the results of climate upsets elsewhere. Think: california drought, florida freezeups, etc affecting price of food. The coalition that coming together is Hamilton 350; focused on enhancing the local capacity to cope with climate change and reduce its causes. The next meeting is on Wed Jan 27, 630pm at 294 James St North (parking available). Come on out and see whether this is for you!
Healthy eating
Ian, Cami and Kazlyn
Russellville Community Market: RCM Order Reminder
Hey everyone! Just a quick reminder that we’ll be closing for orders tonight at 10:00 p.m. Get your orders in soon!
Happy ordering!
We hope to see you on Thursday for the market pick-up!
Check out our Facebook page for great info on local foods issues and upcoming events.
Be sure to click on the “Like” button at the top of the Facebook page to get automatic updates. Thanks!
FRESH.LOCAL.ONLINE.
Russellville Community Market
ALFN Local Food Club: Market Reminder
Good Morning ALFN Members,
Remember to finalize your orders for this week’s rotation by Wednesday at noon. We are still busting with fresh produce and local goods in the market.
Waste Revolution: Thinking in Circles
There is a great opportunity to meditate about modern waste this March 12th. The annual Keep Little Rock Beautiful event will take place in the morning until noon. You can either organize your own neighborhood area to clean, or volunteer to help clean the Fourche Creek Area. Check out their website…you may even see a picture of one of our growers on the front page:)
Picking up trash is necessary, but I’m also interested in thinking deeper into our own waste system. Our current economy extracts natural resources and then transforms them into products (usually with the addition of chemicals) and then eventually streams these same resources into permanent dumps. I have a good visualization of this problem. Take the Christmas tree. I’m sure you’ve seen them on the roadside lately. No problem here. The city can pick them up, mulch them and cycle them back into the soil. However, I’ve seen a more Americanization of this lately. I’ve observed a number of Christmas trees with the lights still on the tree. Our linear economy does this to many natural products. Natural resources are processed with various non-biodegradable substances that render these products toxic and true waste. So much of our waste is based on efficiency instead of resilience and regeneration.
What’s the tagline here? Think in loops. Consider how all your economic actions can be regenerated back into systems based on transforming the dormant energy in waste back into the top of our food and production infrastructure. The hard part to all of this means we are bucking a system based on efficiency. It may slow us down a bit. But hey, we are part of a slow food movement, right? Slow it down and think about waste streams…and take lights of Christmas trees:)
Wastefully yours,
Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager