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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You've Got A Friend


Winter, spring, summer or fall…
All you have to do is call…
And I’ll be there…
You’ve got a friend…
(You’ve Got A Friend- James Taylor)

Happy Sunday, little local market of love customers!! Hoping your weekend is full fun and happiness!

There was a whole lot of local love happening in our community, this weekend!! I participated in The Rhythm and Foods Festival. I was a vendor along with Oakview Farm Meats! As usual, we brought the goodness to the festival circuit!!

We entered a food contest sponsored by Robert Rothschild Farm…your assistant manager, Mark, with Oakview, brought home a medal and cash award!! He entered a secret recipe pork wrap using Rothschild products and took 2nd place out of 40 entries!

Your market manager entered a Cosmic Trippy Pulled Pork sandwich in combination with Oakview and placed in the Top Ten at 9th place!

My Cosmic pizzas debuted as an actual vending food!! Cheese, Veggie, or a meat variety with Oakview products! Grilled on the Green Mountain Pellet grills from Oakview! Rave reviews, comments about it being the best pizza…a Cosmic love fest!

The local love was definitely happening!! We all battled weather but we all came together…vendors, festival management, the customers…it was a total love fest of good vibes.

Rock Stars of Local making the local scene all happen!!

While we were festival bound, Charlene was rockin’ it at The Champaign County Farmer’s market!!

Your market managers…we never sleep!

The one underlining vibe of the weekend was this…you’ve always got a friend. No matter what, someone is always there to help. It’s what we love on this local front, it’s what we promote at this market.

Ok…go show your own local love, and get your orders in. We love, weekly, for doing this!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Just Jammy!


Just a quick announcement…Champaign Berry has added their Red Raspberry Sauce back to the market AND added a new product, Red Raspberry Jalapeno Jam!!

Go on, get your jam on!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Cruel Summer


It’s a cruel, cruel summer…
Leaving me here on my own…
It’s a cruel, cruel summer…
Now you’ve gone…
(Bananarama – Cruel Summer)

So, yes…cruel summer…the song, the memory, the heartbreak:)

Once upon a time, your hippie market manager was a product of the 80s. I loved club music, the club scene, the club kids. I WAS a club kid. On summer breaks from college, I worked in fashion jobs, I was a mall rat, I ran ad copy at the local newspaper,I ran drinks at a little local pub, I was a mover and shaker on the downtown local scene both in the West End, and the East End. All fun, all profitable, all filled my summer days.

I was the girl who just skipped through life on a whim and a song. I had a boy. I thought he was my world. I entered a club, one summer night. I heard the DJ get a song request, it was Cruel Summer, it was from a never before seen girl, she was smirking, the boy was there, and my name was dedicated to this song. As a break up song. Yes, someone actually broke up with me, via a DJ, with a song.

Did it get me down? Well, after I suffered a full 5 minutes of humiliation, I did what any respectable club girl would do. I smiled, I found my people, we laughed, we dissed, I put on my lip gloss, we ordered a round of whatever we were drinking,(it was the early 80s, we were very of age back then), and we plotted. And, the cruel summer became one of epic urban legend. We still talk about it. People all over still talk about it. We made it our summer. The cruelness of it was that I was hurt for just a second, and then dusted myself off, got ready for the next boy of summer, and had myself a ball.

So…what does this little tale have in common with our little local market of love?

We are about to feel the cruelness of the first wave of summer. We bid a sad farewell to asparagus season. Beth will not have asparagus listed on the market BUT, just like in her first week of the season, she will be set up in the Y lobby, at market pick up, next Thursday, with very limited quantities. Come early, bring cash, escape the cruelness with the last of the season’s asparagus!!

Breaking up is hard to do…and so, we see this, as we need to break up with the strawberries of the season. The Berry Patch is on the market for just ONE more week! Make it your summer love fling. Your summer love fest…whatever you call it, don’t be cruel…order your strawberries!!

And, as we are breaking up with our seasonal food romances, we are also saying hello to our other produce vendors who are rejoining OR joining for the first time!!!

As we mend our seasonal broken hearts, we fall in love with the next seasonal items…

It’s only a cruel summer if you let it be one…say goodbye, order for the last time of the season, dust yourself off, and say hello to your new seasonal love…

We’ve got it all, we fill it all with love, we would never be so cruel as to break up without a back up:)

I am opening the market for the week…think about what you need, think about the seasonal items, think about showing us some cruel summer love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Winding Down


Hello, little local market of love customers!!

We are winding down to the end of yet another week’s market. You have until 10pm, tonight, to get your orders ready and placed!!

Make sure not to miss out on all the fun…and, remember, some of the seasonal produce is just about to leave us…

See you at 10pm!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

A Day In The Life


The next installment to our weekly series, A Day In The Life, finds us with Oakview Farm Meats! You know Mark as the assistant manager to this market, and he is also my assistant manager at the Mechanicsburg Farmers and Artisans Market. He is active in your local foods movement, and along with me, is part of the local foods council.

I met up with Mark as he entered the local farmer’s market circuit, four seasons ago. In season one, he promoted and sold the Oakview products, and became a vendor in this online market. In season two, he hit the scene in the now familiar green promotional trailer that is Oakview Farm Meats of the market and festival circuit.

We began cross promotions with Cosmic Charlie/Oakview Farm Meats/various vendors. We made famous a little sandwich called the Locally Sourced Oakview sandwich. He and his family have become a major part of this whole local foods scene. He has taught this West End girl many things about their business, about promotions, about hogs, about the breeding and raising of their hogs, and about planting, and crops.

His family is also heavily involved in the pork council, the Champaign County Fair, 4H, and various other organizations in the county. We, at the markets, appreciate Mark and his hard work in our markets.

And now…A Day In The Life…as captured by Mark’s mom, Ruth Runyan. The woman behind it all…enjoy the read…

There is no typical day in the life of Oakview Farm. Plans can be laid out but there are always changes made as needed. Oakview Farm, a local family farm which takes the cooperation of 7 family members is the basis for Oakview Farm Meats. Oakview Farm has evolved over many years through several generations. Mark and his sister, Melissa, who lives in Michigan are the 4th with Myer and Emmy the 5th generation of farmers. Each family member contributes their talents to further the Oakview ventures. Each season brings different activities: Spring – ground preparation and planting of oats, corn and soybeans, Summer – landscaping and mowing, irrigating corn and soybeans, harvesting wheat, oats and baling straw, along with Farmers Markets and Festivals with the Promotion Trailer, Fall – harvesting corn and soybeans and serving Agronomy Field Days with the trailer. Finally, Winter -machinery and building maintenance, catch-up in general. The one thing that is done during every season, every day includes is hog production. The hogs must be fed, waterers checked and pens kept clean by scraping and/or bedded. Hogs must be health checke d, treated, if sick and marked so they are not used for Oakview Meats. Hog feed must also be ground and mixed for 4 different age groups. As hogs grow they must be sorted into different groups, such as breeding gilts, boars, and market hogs. Biosecurity is a high priority at Oakview which means keeping the hogs healthy and comfortable. The hogs are in temperature controlled buildings – warm in winter and cool in summer with fans and sprinklers, secure from wild animals which often carry diseases. Along with the actual farming, there are also the Meat Shop open Tues. and Thurs, 2 – 6 pm and Sat. 10 am – 4 pm. with Bud in charge, Mechanicsburg Farmers and Artisians Market on Tues. 4:30 – 7 pm with Mark in charge, Springfield Farmers Market Sat. 9 am – 1 pm with Mark in charge and various Festivals. All family members help in various ways at various times as needed. It is definitely a local family adventure!

The Circle Game


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…
(Joni Mitchell-The Circle Game)

So, I have been in a Joni Mitchell state of mind, today. Usually, when I am in need of comfort music or contemplation music or just music to drift away with, I turn to my favorite songstress.

This morning, I was able to get some much needed time to sleep in, I was able to linger over large cups of coffee, and I immediately thought of the past week. On the local front, all outside farmers markets are now open. I manage the Mechanicsburg Farmers and Artisans Market, along with this market. We opened that market, on Tuesday. Then, I vend at the Springfield Farmers Market, which had it’s opening day on Saturday.

Both markets are vibrant, busy, popular venues, as are all of the Champaign County farmers markets. I just happen to be a part of the two mentioned markets. With each opening day, we were met with big hellos, hugs, smiles, and thankfulness that we were once again bringing the goodness of local to the masses.

Along with this little local market of love, I hold all that is local, deep in my heart. I love watching each season roll in, love seeing the produce and products that come with each season. I love greeting treasured vendors, loyal customers, and city/county officials.

I love seeing the produce that will kick off the season, produce that will come in the next few weeks, and the produce that will end the season. Such a circle game of seasons, vendors, products, local love.

My heart, soul, and business are steeped heavily in this rich local tapestry of our county and surrounding county. I love the markets. I love the market families that form. I love the customers. I love the happiness, freedom, and gypsy like ways of the markets. I launched Cosmic Charlie at the Champaign County Farmers Market, many seasons ago. The markets suit my soul, they play well with my free spirit, they show me the love, and let me give the love right back.

And then we have this lovely little market of love…the constant among our outside markets. The umbrella that bridges them all. The little market that could. My heart and soul are also heavily entrenched in this market, the customers, the YMCA, the vendors, and my assistant managers. I hold this market so close. It’s like a seasonal product that you take care of, you love, you nurture, you water, and it continues to grow, produce, and prosper.

So, in this never ending circle game of local, give us a look. Go out and support any of the local outside farmers markets. Get to know what real local is all about. Get to know the faces and names of your producers. Shake hands, give hugs, and be thankful we live in a county that is so rich in all things local.

Also, in this local circle game is the coming and going of seasonal produce. We are at the end of some produce while we are at the beginning of other produce. Take advantage. Catch the local love. Fall in love with this little circle game of local.

The market is open…it’s Sunday evening, time to plan your week, time to let us show you the love of local.

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Crazy Love


And when I’m returning from so far away…
She gives me some sweet lovin’ brighten up my day…
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole…
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul…
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love…
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love…
(Van Morrison – Crazy Love)

Crazy love…it’s what I have for this little local market of love!! Crazy, over the top, dedicated kind of love. This market is such a labor of love, on so many levels. From the vendors to the customers to the YMCA to your market managers, we all have a crazy kind of love for this market.

Each week, I am reminded of why I volunteer as your market manager. Each week, I feel so much love and pride in this market. We have so many returning vendors now that the produce season is underway, so many of their amazing products, and it is so nice to greet them at check-in, and get emails and phone calls that they are returning.

This market is a family, of sorts. We all have our place in this family, we all pull our own weight, we all bring an equal amount of local love.

As you know, this past week, we welcomed, The Berry Patch back with Steven’s amazing strawberries!! Steven told us that we may only have the berries for three weeks!! This week, we say hello, again, to our friend, Kevin, from Davidson Family Farms!!! We still have asparagus but maybe only for one more week. Take advantage!!! We still have live herbs…but not for long!! The green garlic may be giving way to the garlic scapes, AND, we may even get strawberries from JC Growers!!

We’ve got it all, we keep it all local, we come to you, year round, AND, we do it with much love in our hearts!!

This past week was an amazing market with amazing numbers and sales!! Let’s see if you can top this week!!

I am opening the market, I urge you to take advantage of what is about to leave us while you indulge in what is coming on…

Give us some love…some crazy love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes,
Cosmic Pam

Last Call!!


Ok!! You have a very tired market manager who just opened the Mechanicsburg market, tonight, for the season, and now I am sending you the last call so that you can get your lovely orders finished!!

You have 15 minutes…get your groove on…your manager wants to get some beauty sleep!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

How Sweet It Is!


Happy Tuesday, little local market of love, customers!!

It’s the sweetest song, today, because we say HELLO to local strawberries!! The Berry Parch is back and the strawberries are sweet!!

Go, order!! Be quick!! The season is short!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes!
Cosmic Pam

A Day In The Life


Today, we kick off our weekly series titled, A Day In The Life! (a nod to my love of music/lyrics…a huge dose of love for the vendors of this market)

We begin with the Swisher Hill Herbs story!! Charlene is your assistant market manager!! She keeps me in line, keeps me organized, jumps in when I need her to be me, at times. She hands out the vendor checks, she dispenses “sage” advice, and she shows me support and love, right when I think I don’t need it. She submitted the cutest story that will take you on a fun “tour” of a day in the life at Swisher Hill Herbs!!

Thanks, Charlene…and of course, Joe…her husband and administrative assistant!!

A day on Swisher Hill Herbs:
My name is Ginger, I am a Golden Retriever. I was brought here to this place a scared little puppy 13 years ago. The Male human who picked me out and brought me here, gave me a puppy treat and a bowl of water, sat me on the porch and said This is your Home . As I sat on the steps of the front porch. I was surrounded by wonderful smells, cool loose dirt to dig in, shade trees to sit under, and I could smell the moles, rabbits, chipmunks and other critters that were plentiful. I got off the porch and followed lady human around the house on paths with gardens and flowers everywhere, I learned very quickly. There were Rules! Stay on the path and out of the gardens. I don’t mind this too much because there is plenty of green grass to roll in, paths that go the through the woods where I can investigate and wander around. I am loved and free. I shall call these humans Daddy and The Mama. I would like to tell you about our day here.

The birds start waking us up around 5:30, coffee is on by 6:00 am. By 6:30 Mama and I head off to the gardens, we make a quick stop at the greenhouse to check on plants. Every day is different out here, new plants blooming, new seeds coming up, always new weeds, and critters are everywhere. Critters and protecting these humans is my job Swisher Hill Herbs. I stay in the gardens under a shade tree for about an hour or so, then I wander back up to the house to check on Daddy, Mama joins us for breakfast. After breakfast it’s back to work, Daddy mowing, Mama weeding, planting and harvesting, of course I go around the perimeter of the property to check on critters check mole hills. I am a pretty good mole hunter. But remember what I told you about rules. Don’t bring moles in the house to play with is a big no, no! Another big “NO NO” is going in the secret room in the basement where Daddy and the Mama develop their products. However, I do like to lie outside the door and enjoy all the great smells.

I have learned over the years that my humans have a large extended family of other humans who visit here. Some come briefly and walk the gardens, take pictures and leave. They most always include me in their pictures. Say, if you would like to see a picture of me go to the vendors section of this website, look under Swisher Hill Herbs pictures, that’s me, I am the red hairy dog sitting in the shade watching Daddy mow. Other Humans stay for extended times I call them Family. We all visit and help in the gardens, harvest vegies to cook, pick flowers for the table or take home. I protect them all, especially the little ones.

Thursday, Friday and Saturdays at Swisher Hill Herbs are busy times. It is called Getting ready for Market and Going to the market. I stay out of the way, Daddy and my down time is Thursday afternoons when The Mama goes to the Virtual market. On Friday humans pack the car with all kinds of herbs and flowers dried and fresh. Saturday They are gone for a few hours. But they always come back to be with me.

We are going to have a Swisher Hill Herb open house here in July on a Sunday, we would like to invite you all to come. But you have to stay on the paths, we will have a sample table of good herb dishes made with our herb products. Learn about herbs and how easy they are to grow. You will understand why I will never leave this place Called Swisher hill Herbs

Swisher Hill Herbs is located approx. miles east of Urbana, Ohio on Swisher Road. This has been a family owned business since 1981. Originally owned my mother Virginia Moore and me. We began plant herb gardens to educate ourselves and help introduce the uses of herbs to our customers. These gardens consist of both formal display beds, conventional plots and raised beds of herbs, flowers and vegetables. It was because of our love of herbs and all their virtues that prompted us to start blending all of our own herb seasonings, dips, butters, spreads and sauces. We made potpourri, herbal bath product and conducted classes on herb related subjects.
Swisher Hill Herbs is owned and operated today by Joe and Charlene Stapleton. This family owned business still continues the tradition of introducing herbs and herb related products to the public. All of our herb blends are salt free, no preservatives, and no msg. We have a small greenhouse to grow our herb plants and gardens to sell fresh cut herbs in season. We are consistently experimenting with flavors introduce to our customers.
The little Herb Shop is no longer open. We sell our products instead through Champaign County Farmers Market and this Virtual Market.