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!



 
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Love....It Makes It All Happen!


Love makes the world go round, love shows us the way, love is all we need…and, love is what drives this little local market.

It’s our love of the vendors, the customers, the market, the YMCA, that keeps us going…let’s all show our own love, and toss out some orders for the coming week!

We can hardly wait to show you what real local love is all about…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Market Love!


Hello, Little Local Market of Love customers!!

Just a few love notes on a Thursday morning…

If you want fresh peaches, make sure to get to the lobby of the YMCA, today, during market order pick up, for the return of Herr Family Farm!! Their peaches have been all the craze up at the Mechanicsburg Farmers’ Market, they were featured in the Hippie and the Farmer boxes, and now they are back to offer them to you!! Peach season is almost leaving us…stock up for your pleasure, now, and stock up for freezing or canning for the months when you want a kiss of summer goodness!

Also, your two market managers will have a bit of assorted produce from the Hippie and the Farmer gardens!! You can purchase from us at the market table!!

Finally!! We are seeing the loveliness of local produce making it’s way to the markets. Next week, the market will see selections of produce, a new honey vendor, and a new grower!!

We also will be adding a product/source for local produce, in a new way!!

We are also still working on the addition of dairy, and cheeses…

Much love to you as we begin this lovely Thursday morning!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Eggstra! Eggstra! Read All About It!


Egg quantities have been updated!! I will leave the market open until 11pm JUST as a favor to a all of you eggcelent customers!!

Go! Order!

Watching The Time


It is almost 8pm on a Tuesday eve, and you have until 10pm to get your orders in!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Over The Hills and Far Away


Many dreams come true and some have silver linings
I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold…
(Over The Hills and Far Away- Led Zeppelin)

One of my favorite places, at my house, is the top of my driveway. I have a huge hill to my driveway, and I love to spend time at the top of it. My favorite times are early morning, or late at night, gazing at the moon and stars.

When I am up on the hill, I can turn to one direction, and see nothing but trees and fields all spreading out, expanding to places beyond what I can see up on that hill.

I have used that hill to plan, to dream, to cry, to smile, to take in the beauty that is all around me. I love to see how far my gaze can reach. How much I can take in. The vastness of my gaze, coexists with the vastness of my dreams. Those that have come true, those that still have yet to totally awaken in my soul.

I was out on that hill, this morning, taking in the golden sunshine, noting how the shadows are already giving way to late summer shadows versus the early summer shadows. I used to have a friend who watched the seasonal shadows, and would gauge the days, the moments, the time on the shift in the shadows.

This morning, as I was gazing out, I was also thinking about what a hot, dry summer this has been. How the growing season was stunted, almost too slow to the start. How we are just now seeing a whole lot of any kind of love from gardens and fields. I have learned patience, I have learned hopefulness, I have learned excitement from the times of growth. When it’s right, when it’s time, and then the beauty presents, itself. Just like up on my hill, and me with my dreams…the time must always be right.

This little local market of love follows those same dreams, gazes, timing…we are a small little market, right now, until our producers are able to bring us enough, to fill orders. We sit, we are patient, and we believe that when the time is right, we will experience the excitement!

We do have a wide variety of products to take advantage of while we watch for produce. Please get to know our market, or fall in love with it, again…

We are your hill…the one that you build on…Give us a try…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

You Know We Love You!


We love you, we want to make your week, easy, and we know that you love your little local market of love!!

Give us your orders…it’s Monday, it’s hot, we are all so very over this intense heat, and it would make life so pleasant, for you, if you just breezed through the YMCA, to grab your orders to go!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Thank You!!


Thank you for being the best little local market around!

Thank you, the vendors, the customers, the staff of the YMCA, for making our ribbon cutting so special!

The love that I felt from each of you, tonight, spoke volumes…

I open the market, tonight, as I drift off to sleep…

And, a huge shout out to Doug for helping us out, tonight!

Peace, Love, and so much more Love…
Cosmic Pam

Just Peachy!!


For your market pleasure, we will have another visit from Herr Family Farms!!

They will be set up in the lobby with their most amazing crop of peaches!! They have been bringing them to the Mechanicsburg market, and I have been living on them…so good!!!

Their peaches are also featured, this month, with Hippie and the Farmer!!

Bring a bit of extra cash, tonight, AND, you don’t have to be a customer of orders, tonight. Anyone can rush in to grab up the sweetness!!

Show them some peachy kind of love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Ribbons, Ribbons, Ribbons


Annie laid her head down in the roses…
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons
in her long brown hair…
I don’t know, it must have been the roses…
All I know is I could not leave her there…
(It Must Have Been The Roses-Grateful Dead)

Ribbons…they make the world go round, they are in the best song lyrics, they are the most colorful parts of a music festival. They flow, they are free, they are any color of the rainbow, they are happiness…

And, today, is a ribbon day for your two market managers!!

Myself, and Mark, are cutting the ribbon to our business, Hippie and the Farmer, with our local Champaign County Chamber!! If you find yourself with a bit of free time, between 4pm-6pm, this evening, come out to help us celebrate!!

The Hippie and the Farmer fully licensed, commercial kitchen is located out on St. Rt. 54 at Oakview Farm Meats! See our private Hippie and the Farmer kitchen, grab some Hippie and the Farmer food, mix and mingle, and join us in one of our gardens for our ribbon cutting!!

With that being said…we have a very special volunteer working our market!! He will be handing out vendor checks, and then handing out customer orders!! Be nice to Doug, help him out, if necessary, and don’t forget to be patient…we will be back, next week!!

Ribbons…they are everything!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Closing Time


I will close the market in 15 minutes!! I am giving you extra time because orders continue to come in!!

Go, order, thank me, always…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam