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!
Going Up The Country
I’m goin’ up the country, babe, don’t you wanna go?
I’m goin’ up the country, babe, don’t you wanna go?
Take you to some place I’ve never been before…
(Up The Country-Canned Heat)
That’s what this market feels like, to me…a little bit of the country, right at your finger tips, easy to order from, easy to love, food that comes straight from our growers’ well tended gardens, fields, land…
Yesterday, before racing to get the market ready for order pick up, I made another salad. I know, I know…I talk a lot about salads, but I do make other amazing lunches/dinners, but my salads are someone else’s fast food through a drive through window. I make sure all of the components of my salads are washed, ready to go, and that I cover greens, colors, proteins, vibrancy.
ANYWAY…the salad, once again, featured products from this market, and vegetables straight out of our Hippie and the Farmer garden. The colors, the taste, the everything were just bursting with amazing taste, amazing texture, amazing everything!
Then, I grabbed a store bought apple that I bought, in a rush, just in case I had no time for lunch. I know better than this…but, impulse, and all. After the amazing taste explosion of the salad, and then the blandness of that apple from who knows where, was so night and day. And, once again, proved my point about eating local, eating from the land, knowing your farmers.
So, with that…think about us when you are making your grocery list. We have it all! And, we are a passionate group doing it all for you, for us, for our families, for the environment…
XOXO,
Cosmic Pam