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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Hey, Now!!


Don’t forget…it’s Tuesday evening!! We are one hour away from the market closing for the week!!

Get those orders in…especially because we have so many fresh herbs from Swisher Hill Herbs, early produce from End of the Road…little by little, we are seeing the start of the season!

Go on…you know you want to…show us some of that local love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

The Circle Game


Yesterday a child came out to wonder…
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar…
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star…
And the seasons they go round and round…
And the painted ponies go up and down…
We’re captive on the carousel of time…
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came…
And go round and round and round…
In the circle game…
(Circle Game-Joni Mitchell)

The Circle Game…of life, of love, of rebirth, of the seasons…

Today was such an amazing day of sun, readiness for planting the new, anticipating what is ahead for all of us, the upcoming months of production, and the rejoicing in all that love brings.

Today, I took my convertible out for a drive. I do this, a lot, in the warm months. It clears my head, it lets me look at passing fields, passing people, passing houses, with an up close view. It lets me think, plan, regroup.

So, it was perfect when I stopped for a minute, and saw a loving text from one of our little local market of love vendors…

You know her as your soap girl, ELM Tree Essentials, Laura Miller…she was letting me know that she, her husband, and family welcomed their new baby, Hallie Jo, into their family!! Hallie Jo was born, yesterday, and weighed 7lb. 10oz! Everyone is doing well, and they are all over the moon in love with her!!

As our market family grows, we continue to welcome new additions, new little loves, new growth…

Congrats to Laura and family!

XOXO,
Cosmic Pam

Blue Sky


Walk along the river, sweet lullaby, it just keeps on flowing,
Don’t fly, mister blue bird, I’m just walking down the road,
Early morning sunshine tell me all I need to know…

You’re my blue sky, you’re my sunny day.
Lord, you know it makes me high when you turn your love my way,
Turn your love my way, yeah…
(Blue Sky-Allman Brothers)

Well, because it’s sunny, it’s warm, the sky is a clear blue, and it’s the kind of weather that makes this hippie girl, your market manager, want to be twirlin’ in the sunshine, groovin’ tunes to twirl by, and to be so happy that we are easing into this beautiful new season!!

To celebrate the transition, I am so happy to report that one of our favorite growers is back on the scene, at the market, with their lovely early season offerings! Yes…End Of The Road Farms is back!!

Twirl on, fast, to the market site to get your orders in!! Things will go fast, and this is the time of the season we look so forward to!!

It’s all around us…everywhere I drive, the fields are getting ready for planting, our early producers have survived the winter and are slowly coming in with their offerings, growers are reporting in with what they are growing, experimenting with, and everyone wants to dance with elation!

Blue Sky…you’re my sunny day, indeed…

The market is open, twirl on…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Signs


And the sign said “Long-haired freaky people need not apply”…
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why…
He said “You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you’ll do”…
So I took off my hat, I said “Imagine that. Huh! Me workin’ for you!”…
(Signs-Five Man Electrical Band)

Signs…perfect for an opening song for this week’s market!

Tonight, after returning home from the little local market of love, I became enchanted with an exchange of old pictures from all the West End kids, on Facebook. Our beloved elementary school is on the verge of being closed down, and tonight, through pictures, we were having a reunion of sorts. We were reliving memories, a Who’s Who of faces from back in the day, our old school, the glue that helped to build our West End roots. Our loyalty. Our love.

I can remember this song being played by the older siblings to a lot of us. I thought it was the perfect song, the anti-establishment song, a song for the beloved hippies.

And now, a sign of the times, with yet another old school building closing, years and years of memories going. Gone. The times they are a changin’…

And, signs…the signs of spring are finally all around us. The return of produce happens, this week, another sign that it’s all about to happen. Another season, another growth, another sign that we made it through another winter.

No matter what sign you are, what signs you believe in, what signs mean something to you, you can’t deny that the first signs of spring are the sweetest…

The market is opening for the week…produce from End of the Road will be added, tomorrow…take that as YOUR sign to get your ordering started!

The season has started…the signs are all pointing to grooviness…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Checking The Time!


Hello, little local market of love customers!!

Just letting you know that it is almost 7pm, on Tuesday evening, and you have until 10pm to get those orders all revved up, and ready to rock and roll!!

Don’t miss out on the local goodness and fun!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Heart Of Gold


I want to live, I want to give…
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold…
It’s these expressions I never give…
That keep me searching for a heart of gold…
(Heart Of Gold-Neil Young)

Happy cold Sunday morning, little local market of love customers!! Now that we experienced about three days of spring, fell back into blustery winter, and it now looks like we will spring right back to warmer days by the end of the week.

It’s crazy weather, it’s crazy times, and you find the one thing that just keeps you going, keeps you constant, keeps you knowing that eventually we will see the sun, the warm days, the regrowth, and the loveliness of produce…

Until then, we can still be your heart of gold with everything that is available on this little market. Stay constant with the orders, and in just a few short weeks, I am hearing from vendors that we will actually see the incoming of early produce from End Of The Road and others!!

Also, on the dairy front…we are currently working on getting an organic dairy farmer ready to get his products on this market. We realize that the lapse in dairy is hard for some of you, and we are working to fill that void. We appreciate you patience, and we appreciate that you know we have your best interests at heart!

Ok…it’s cold, it’s dreary, I am sitting here with a warm cup of coffee getting ready to place my market orders while listening to some of my old music that I turn to on days like today…

Why not join me? Grab a cup of coffee or tea or whatever you enjoy, put on a playlist, and leisurely put your orders in…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Ain't No Sunshine


So, this week found me with one illness, only to find me getting better, then to see me go into another illness.

Thankfully, Mark was able to set the market up, pass out vendor checks, and hand out orders! This allowed me to stay home to feel better!

Thank you to the market Bread Heads for understanding, and I will call you to set up when I can get your orders to you!

Thanks to everyone who made the market easy, tonight!

And, let’s hope your manager is on the way to wellness, and that the sunshine returns to us all!

The market is now open

Peace, Love, Good Vibes
Cosmic Pam

Hey, Now!!


Get your orders in! You have until 10pm, or a bit after…

See you on the flip side!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Franklin's Tower


In another time’s forgotten space…
your eyes looked through your mother’s face…
Wildflower seed on the sand and stone…
may the four winds blow you safely home…
(Franklin’s Tower-Grateful Dead)

Well, we really did make it through that very cruel weather that Mother Nature dealt us on Saturday. We had a mix of all four seasons, we had tornado to hurricane strength winds, we had the rain/sleet/snow combination, at one point, from my house, it looked like a total white out. My house was shaking, I watched shingles fly off of the garage, limbs were flying off the trees, and the wind was so fierce, I had to hold myself against one of our sets of back doors just to keep it from blowing open.

I was talking, later, with one of my oldest and best friends from the West End, and he told me that he was getting ready for the weather to hit him in Connecticut. Then he messaged me our favorite Dead lyric…May The Four Winds Blow You Safely Home.

This is my phrase for most of life’s happenings. When I think that I am at a point of not understanding where I am, how I got to a certain point, are my life choices all adding up to something, or are all signs pointing to disaster looming on the horizon, this is the lyric that I hold to my heart.

I think we all need something to ground us. To get us through. A lyric, a song, a mantra, a prayer, anything that represents a safe journey to where life may be taking you.

As I look back on my life, I have had many, many triumphs. But, with those, I have had many times that became learning lessons, necessary bumps in the road, to put me back on my course, and to direct me to where my path needed to now lead me.

This little local market of love can be our four winds, blowing us safely home, grounding us in this local community, and making the journey just a bit easier because you have friends who want to help take the stress out of anything that may be happening in your week.

When you order from us, you have the ease of online ordering, the trust that we bring you the best of the best of local products, and the love that you can only get from the hands of familiar faces…

Let us be the four winds for you, this week…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Here Comes The Sun!


I know that it feels like we have taken a step back with the chilly winds and temperatures, today, but we do have some solid sunshine, outside!! And, it’s April!!

My favorite time of the year because it means we really have come through another winter, we begin seeing regrowth, sunshine, green, we feel our bodies and souls rejoicing in the warmth.

April is also my birthday month!! Yay!! And, it’s also so fitting that it’s my favorite time of the year because I begin touching base with our growers, gathering estimated times that they will be back on the market, how their growing season is progressing, how they have been since we last saw them, and getting all excited that we are only weeks away from adding them all back, little by little.

Swisher Hill Herbs did that for me with this market!! Charlene took a tour of one of her greenhouses and saw a few plants that were ready, so she is making us all happy by adding them to the market!! They will go fast, they are the first of the live plants, and you need to get your orders in, pronto!

It’s a perfect Saturday morning for market orders…

Have a great day!! Fill it with sunshine and love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam