Fields

To Sway Like Flowers In A Field…
(Fields- Great Wide Open)

So, you know I love all that there is to love about local, and tonight’s Weblog opens with a lyric from one of my favorite local bands. And, I have many favorite local bands. In fact, this area is just rich in local musical talent.

This past weekend was an amazing example of that, up in Mutual, at the annual Madden Road Music Festival. A gathering of local music, local foods, and local love.

Anyway…this song is so pure, so beautiful, and it reminds me of days just like the day we had, today.

I love sitting out on my back deck, having morning coffee or evening wine, watching the beauty that is the sun, the sky, the fields behind me, the clouds, taking it all in…watching the fields all sway, watching the colorful beauty of it all.

It makes my heart happy in those moments. It makes me so happy that so very many years ago, for whatever the many reasons, I ended up in Champaign County. I may not have been born and raised in this area, but I love it as if I was, I support all local loveliness, and I love being a part of the local fabric.

I had a local foods council meeting, this afternoon, as we prepare for our third annual State Of The Plate event. I love being a part of the local buzz, the local excitement, the planning of such a local celebration. I will be talking more about this, in the weeks to come, I will be passing out save the date cards for October 4, but for now, all I want to say to this very lovely local community, is a HUGE thank you.

A thank you for letting this girl manage your local markets, letting me watch and learn, filling my heart with local love and pride…

This little local market of love is another piece of the local fabric that is near and dear, and I hold in my heart. Totally proud of what we have accomplished in the past four years, totally committed to watching it continue to grow, totally in awe of the family that this market has become.

I open the market, tonight, urging you to take advantage of the local, seasonal produce, to take advantage of shopping local, and to take advantage of products produced from local farmers, growers, artisans…we are so proud to be a part of this local love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

In The Summertime

And I love to live so pleasantly…
Live this life of luxury…
Lazing on a sunny afternoon…
In the summertime…
(In The Summertime-The Kinks)

We are now in the middle part of August. Still plenty of summer days left, plenty of lazy days of sun, but then outside forces want to keep pushing our thoughts to fall.

Early back to school, fall decorations, Halloween displays…can we just have a minute and stop? Can we just love the warmth, the sun, the amazing produce that is coming to us, locally, in these last weeks of summer? Can we just celebrate the remaining long and sunny days?

One way to celebrate is by ordering, locally, through our market. Order the produce that will not be around much longer. Get to know seasonal, local produce. Get to know the farmers behind the produce. Get to know all of your local producers of locally produced meat, dairy, eggs, fish, baked goods, produce, dried herbs, garlic, cheese…get to know it all, right here, on a sunny afternoon, at this little local market of love…

It is now Tuesday evening. The market will close for the week at 10pm! You need to think about your orders, get your account pulled up, and then begin the weekly ordering, shopping, that helps you support local while taking the stress out of your week…

You have until 10pm…go, make it happen!! Keep the summertime alive with ordering all of the produce that won’t be around for much longer!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Raspberry Beret

She wore a raspberry beret…
(Raspberry Beret-Prince)

Happy Monday, little local market of love customers!! I have been in an old school Prince music mode over most of the week, last week, and this song title seemed fitting for today’s market weblog!

Why? Well, because we have raspberries from Champaign Berry Farm!! I announced the red raspberries, and the blackberries, and now Cathy has put the golden raspberries on the market site!! My favorites!!! This week is limited quantities so order, quickly!

They have more to come, but if you want them, now, you need to rush and order!

And then go dig out your groovy Prince music…get your raspberry groove on!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Going Up The Country

I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ to some place where I’ve never been before…
(Going Up The Country-Canned Heat)

Hello, little local market of love customers!!!

It’s been a great week of all things celebrating local, ending in a local event, yesterday, up in Mutual, at the Madden Road Music Festival!

We are so fortunate to live in a community that supports our local food movement, understands what real local is all about, applauds all of our efforts, and welcome us to their events, showing us so much love!

Yesterday, I was one of the vendors at the music fest with my Cosmic Pizza My Heart Festival pizzas along with your assistant manager and family of Oakview Farm Meats as they grilled their popular local selections.

Throughout the festival, the bond of local was strong. The community interest in what we do, the interest in this little market was overwhelming, and the trend toward eating only local was spoken, all day.

This market makes me so proud. The vendors are amazing, the customers are the best, and our host, the YMCA, couldn’t be more accommodating!

It takes a team of local loyalists to keep spreading the word so that this market continues to thrive!

Thank you for being a part of this local, community local, in your backyard local, market!

We are open, we will be open until Tuesday evening at 10pm, we encourage you to make a list, place your orders with us, and make your week an easy, stress free kind of week.

Make sure to take advantage of seasonal items!!! We have red raspberries/blackberries from Champaign Berry Farm!

We have amazing produce from our produce vendors!!

Remember…the season is quick, and the seasonal products will soon disappear!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Weblog Entry

You belong among the wildflowers…
You belong in a boat out at sea…
Sail away, kill off the hours…
You belong somewhere you feel free…
(Tom Petty – Wildflowers)

This week has shown me many things about myself, about what I hold dear, why I am involved in this local food movement, and why I love my circle of friends who let me be…well, just be me.

First…I was reunited with friends who have drifted out of my life for many reasons. Many of the reasons are just as simple as their paths took them off on new adventures, some drifted off to find themselves, and some just lost connection to me. In a sort of Cosmic pattern, I ended up with chance encounters with some, chance texts by others, and messages of some returning to me for a visit.

My heart holds all that is dear to me in a very tight, loyal, love filled bond. To see each of these friends drift back into my life, drew me to tears, and laughter, and hope. Each of these lovelies means so much to me. Each of them was a part of my life, in different ages and stages.

But, what has always been constant, has been our dedication to friendship, to a wildflower kind of relationship that allows us to catch right back up where we all left off, years ago.

Just like this little dedication I feel for this local love, for this little local market, for all of the love and friendship that has been poured into this market. It has taken hard work, laughter, tears, ideas, and a healthy dose of trust that we are always doing the best we can do for this market, that we are upholding this market, and that we do everything to make this market grow.

The market is always here. Year round. We see some customers, each week. We see some, every couple of months. We see some over the years. But, the never ending vibe is that the market is a constant. A light of local. A friend when you need us. A market that wants to be here for the times that you may need us.

We hold each customer dear to our hearts. We are here, ready to welcome you home, ready to say hello, ready to make your life a happy place!

Get to know us, once again…shop with us, let us help you through the busy weeks.

We’ve got it all for you, and we just want to welcome you back into our local market of love…you belong among the wildflowers…let us help you back into the bonds of local shopping…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Tonight, Live, At The Market!

Tonight, in the lobby of the YMCA, during market pick-up, we will be featuring our newest producer, Dialton Farms!!

They will be set up with produce to sell, and they will be on hand to introduce themselves, talk about their farm, and what they grow!!

Don’t forget that you will be paying them, directly, so bring a bit of extra money for shopping!!

I can tell you that their peppers from last week were AMAZING!

Also, show Charlene some LOVE, tonight…she will be working the market all by her lonesome…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

We Know!

We know it’s fair time!! We know it’s back to school time!! Let us help!!

Place your orders for the week so you have no worries!

Let us take the stress out of your week!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Do The Salsa!

Well, not the actual dance BUT this salsa recipe looks so good that you may feel like doing a bit of salsa dancing after you try it!

Right now, on the market, we have tomatillos, from Anchor Acres! Laurie wanted to share this recipe so that you could see how simple using the tomatillos can be!

Salsa making (2)
People

?

?
Laurie Cuddington

To
Pamela Bowshier

Here’s my attempt at a salsa “recipe” based on how I make salsa, based on how I learned from my Mexican friend in San Diego. I will try to be thorough, but don’t let that make you think that it’s difficult to prepare, because it’s NOT, it’s super simple. :-) Read through before starting! lol

Start with about 1-2 pounds of tomatillos. Remove the husks and stems – this is very easy. I slide the husks up from the bottom (where they are starting to open anyway) and then kind of grab the stem with the inverted husk and give a little twist and the stem comes right off with the husk. (The description is WAY more complicated than the doing.) Now wash the tomatillos – they have a slightly sticky coating that will not completely wash away but that’s okay, just gently rub off what comes off. Now put the tomatillos in a pot of water with enough water for them to move around and float or sink – whatever they choose to do. Because once they are ready one of the signals is that they will float, but if they float a bit at first, that doesn’t count. Anyway, bring that pot to a boil and also put in your choice of hot pepper – if you want a mild salsa, you only need one small slightly hot variety of pepper, but if you want the salsa more spicy, then put a second and/or hotter pepper. The pepper(s) should just be washed but that’s all. Now if you have room in your pot, as the pepper(s) and tomatillos get a head start, you could add your tomatoes (maybe half the amount of tomatillos that you are using). If you don’t have room, just wait til the first set of veggies is done and you can do the tomatoes after (same water). So you are watching for when the tomatillos float and look sort of lightly cooked, softened up a bit. Same for the pepper(s). As they are to that point, fish out the ones that are done and put them in your blender (if it is not very big, you will have to do separate batches). But with the pepper(s), set them out onto a plate or cutting board and cut out the stem. You can also remove some of the seeds if you need to lower the heat. Smell the pepper if you want to get an idea of how spicy it is. Put maybe only a half pepper in the blender to start – you can always add more but you can’t take any out! Tomatoes will also need stems removed when they are ready for the blender. They need much smaller cooking time than the tomatillos and peppers (or even uncooked completely if you want). Now what you also want to put in the blender are an onion or two (quartered is fine) and garlic. I like a whole bulb of garlic but you can decide how much garlic you like – remove the husks from the cloves and just drop the cloves in the blender with those hot veggies. You also need to add salt (maybe a tablespoon?) and sugar (also tablespoon?). Oh and cilantro! Put some leaves of fresh cilantro if you have it. Of course there are other things you could put, too, but this is what I do. :-) There is plenty of liquid in the veggies themselves that you probably do not need to add any. (This does make a “runnier”-style salsa which I like, so I don’t make any effort to drain the normal veggie juices.) (However if you actually did need to add more liquid, ladle some out of the veggie cooking water – only add a teeny bit at a time til you see how it is.) So what is VERY IMPORTANT is that you blend up what you have put in the blender and then TASTE it!!! You can taste it plain and you can taste it on a tortilla chip or whatever you’re wanting to serve it on, because you want to see how it is! Then, you adjust – more garlic, more hot pepper, more salt, more sugar, more onion, ETC – little bits at a time and re-blend and re-taste until it is perfect. Tasting is part of the fun. :-) But, if you are saving for freezing (this salsa freezes very well) or serving to guests, I don’t recommend double-dipping, haha

59th Street Bridge Song

Slow down, you move too fast…
You got to make the morning last…
Just kicking down the cobble stones…
Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy…

(Simon And Garfunkel – The 59th Street Bridge Song (feelin’ Groovy))

So, I have always been told to slow down…take it easy…let yourself rest…

Ummmm…I don’t know how? I am not kidding. I have been a busy queen bee since I was able to walk. Everyone wanted to calm me, constrict me, make me relax. It’s still like that. I run into people who ask me why I do so much? Why am I always busy? I should take time off. I should go on a nice long vacation. I should, I should, I should.

It’s enough to drive a girl insane. Very few people know what drives your market manager. Very few people know what makes me tick. Very few people know that I cannot relax until every little detail is finely tuned.

I get bored, I like to push the boundaries, I hated coloring inside the lines, and I abhorred being ordinary.

And so…enter this little local market of love, it’s own built in eccentricities that I love, and a whole lot of go power!

Go power gets things done, makes people aware, and makes them want to see more of what this market continues to say…Love, Be The Local Love, Be The Local Light…I cannot be still until I know everyone is vibing, grooving, dancing to the local beat.

Get ready to groove your orders. We know that our county fair starts, tomorrow, but there is no reason to not take time out from the busy week to order. Once you order, you can just rest. We do all the work. Slow down, you move too fast…we want your orders, any way that you feel like giving them to us!

With much love in the air…I open up this week’s market to the mellow tunes of Simon and Garfunkel AND of the silent little local song of love that comes from our hearts…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Hey, Now!

It’s that time, again! It’s a Tuesday evening, we are approaching the close of another market, and just so you can STILL get your orders in, I am extending the market an extra 15 minutes, tonight!

I know a lot of you are busy with fair prep., life, vacations, etc…but don’t be so busy that you forget to order!

Go, order, be happy, your life will be so easy on Thursday at order pick up!

I am off to do a bit of marketing, myself…see you in a bit, after we all finish up our market lists!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam