The Weblog
The local foods movement is alive and well in Champaign County! Here are some updates on other projects while we finalize our virtual market:
Local Producers Map:
Our local producers map is ready for publication and you will soon be able to find it on gochampaign.com. Copies will be distributed around the community, in the local telephone book, and other “hangouts”. The guide lists the location and contact information for nearly 50 local producers within our county. The map was a project of the Local Food Council and printed with the help of some local sponsors including the Monument Square District, Champaign Bank, the Community Improvement Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau and others. It is a great start to finding a local source for Champaign County’s finest!
Landslide
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love ?
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail thought the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life…
(Landslide-Fleetwood Mac)
Good morning, little local market of love customers!! It’s a windy, rainy morning, but definitely has spring blowing around, out there.
The change of seasons is upon us, the time for growth, of hope, of new beginnings. Maybe it’s in the produce growing season, maybe it’s in your own personal growth, maybe it’s in the dawn of a new day…however you look at it, it all changes in the spring. The seasons of life…
I returned from a long weekend vacation, up in the mountains of Tennessee, with a large group of my sorority sisters. We are the sisters who spanned the years of 1982-1986. The band of us who helped to colonize the chapter, on that campus, and the first pledge classes, to bring the needed growth, in the beginning. Without the pioneer attitude, hard work, constant care, and constant attention to growth, and moving forward with vision, we never would have gotten the chapter off the ground. And, in the year 2017, that chapter is the strongest on our alma mater’s campus…strong in numbers, strong in academics, strong in social awareness, strong in community.
As I sat around the table, in the cabin, one night, over bottles of wine, boxes of old pictures, laughing over old memories as we made new memories, exchanging life stories, sharing battle scars, rejoicing in our triumphs, and mourning now the loss of four of our fellow sisters, we hugged, we smiled, and we all agreed on one thing…
The strong bonds that were planted in the beginning of our journeys, way back in 1982, kept us strong, taught us about life, taught us to have a strong appreciation for the plight of fellow women, and for an undying love that brings us back, every couple of years.
I seem to apply this theme in all that I do. The planting of the seeds, the constant care to facilitate growth, the outpouring of both love and heartache to nurture, and then the constant care to continue the growth, and the ability to sustain through solid roots and bonds.
I have seen it, also, in this market. The seeds were planted, years ago. The growth took off, the constant love from you helped to carry it, and now, today, we continue to see the strength from all of our efforts.
It is Tuesday, the market will close, this evening, at 10pm, we have our End Of The Road family back on, and as the weeks unfold, we will see the return more of our seasonal growers, the part of his market family, that is essential to our growth.
Take a bit of time to shower us with love, today…it only makes us stronger…
XOXO,
Cosmic Pam