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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Homeward Bound


Homeward bound…
Home where my thought’s escaping…
Home where my music’s playing…
(Homeward Bound-Simon and Garfunkel)

Home…isn’t that where our thoughts take us at this time of year? Maybe you are already home, maybe you are trying to get home, maybe your thoughts are just taking you back to a time when you were home…

Today, I welcome back my lovely co-ed, who is homeward bound, as I type. She is in flight from Milan to New York. She has been gone since the beginning of September. She took off with the wings that I gave her and now she is on her way back after having life experiences that she will cherish, forever.

Home is where the love is, home is where the comfort is, the love light is always on.

Lately, I have been experiencing similar thoughts of home, and the community that we have, right here, that I am so entrenched in. For the past year, I have used my wings to expand my own business, enjoying new territory, and accomplishing goals. I have also continued all of my work that I do for this town, this market, my local venues. Sometimes, it takes an adventure or an experience to make you stop, look around, and appreciate the welcoming arms of the familiar.

Today, while I celebrate feelings of homecomings, I also celebrate this little local market of love. We have carved out a little market family of vendors, customers, volunteers, the YMCA…I celebrate that we have become your own hometown market. Your hometown way to shop. Your local love light that you look to when you want ease, local, trust, nutrition, and all things good for your soul.

We are open, just for this week, and then we close for the two weeks of the holiday season. Make your lists, get your orders in, remember that we are here to make your lives easy, stress free, and full of local goodness. Look to us when you think of home…

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Both Sides Now


" I’ve looked at life from both sides now…
From up and down, and still somehow…
It’s life’s illusions I recall…
I really don’t know life at all"
(Both Sides Now-Joni Mitchell)

Happy Thursday evening, lovely local market customers!! We just ended another amazing market pick up, chatted with all of this week’s customers, had a tasting and lots of laughs with The Stadlers of Valley View!

During the market, tonight, I took a moment and just absorbed all that was taking place, all that we do, all that we offer, and all that we have become. There is a gentle ease to the flow of customers with us, there is always a fun banter, and tonight, with The Stadlers, it was fun to watch all of the interactions taking place.

The Thursday tastings are getting very popular, the vendors and customers all like to congregate to ask questions, get to know one another, and have fun with the products and knowledge.

The song that I picked for tonight is for several reasons. First, I love Joni Mitchell. I have a ton of Joni vinyl in my collection. I could listen to this particular song, over and over, and still get chills just from the message and love that pours out.

Second, it is a very pivotal song in my all time favorite Christmas movie…Love, Actually. When this scene is on, you feel your heart and soul ache for this particular character. A tug of age, of love, of heartache, of the need to explore…

Third, as I continue to talk about my flight attendant days in California, I get drawn back, in my mind, by the sound of Joni’s voice. I had made friends with a group who had business dealings in London, Los Angeles, and New York. When they were in Los Angeles, they would have big parties, big dinners, at their home off of Melrose. Lots of wine, lots of amazing food, music, and conversation. You could look around the room, at the candles, at the people, and hear the strains of Joni Mitchell and just know love. Feel love.

There were times that I was in love with the West Coast. There were times that I was not. There were times I felt as if I had met souls like mine, and there were times that those souls felt like strangers. Both sides, always.

The one thing that always kept it all together, for me, back then was the feeling of friendship, love of friends, the connection, the fun, the banter, the late nights of wine, dinners, conversations, music…the bonds that helped build my time on the other coast.

Just like the bonds that have been built and continue to build in this little local market of love. The ease, the need for local products, the friendships, the trust. This time of year, season, always seems to put such a glow on all of these. But, really, at our little market of love, this shine, brightly, all year, in every season.

I am opening the market, tonight, for one more week, before we take a break for both Christmas and New Year’s. That’s right…after next week, we will not see you until 2015!

Take advantage of all that you might need to get you through the upcoming weeks of holiday celebrating.

We are here, ready to make it all easy, ready to help, and ready to send you on your way…with much love.

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Last Call!!


We are at that point….time for last call of the market, this week!

Make your selections, place your orders, let your local love shine!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Baby Please Come Home


The snow’s coming down…
I’m watching it fall…
Watching the people around…
Baby please come home…(Baby Please Come Home-U2)

Hello, Christmas in the 80s:)

So, life in California at Christmas…this song would blast in all of the shops, the clubs, everywhere.

As a flight attendant, I was zipping in and out of the airports of LAX, SFO, Orange County. Busy times, loads of holiday flights, crowds. I was working a ton of LAX-JFK flights. I was lucky enough to be part of the New York All Night crews. We were junior crews, running the big jets, meeting and greeting the passengers, flying all night, landing at 6am in NYC

Christmas excitement was everywhere. We rocked the city, got a bit of sleep, boarded planes, the next day, and found ourselves in the heart of San Francisco, for another round of Christmas. The months of December were a whirlwind of bi-coastal Christmas fun. I had friends in every city to meet up with, flight attendants to roam with…decorations in each city. A Christmas wonderland of celebrations.

But, in all of the fun, I always had that tiny feeling that I wanted to be in my hometown, celebrating with familiar faces, familiar places, and being a local, again…

So, yes…being a local and buying local, and supporting local makes an amazing feeling at the holiday season…think about this as you are ordering, tonight, and into next week. When you make it about local, you make it about your heart, your soul, your love.

Baby, please make it local…we can help you in all of this!

We are open until 10pm, tonight!! Get your orders in, feel good about keeping it local, and give the gift of local love!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Sparkle!


And because we don’t have enough products to dazzle you…along comes Laura Miller with a new product to add to her Elm Tree Essentials line….

From Laura….

Tooth Powder is on the Market! What is Tooth Powder you say? A healthy alternative to chemical laden commercial toothpaste! Made from Redmond Bentonite Clay, Calcium Magnesium Powder, Aluminum-free Baking Soda, Organic Peppermint Leaf Powder, Organic Ceylon Cinnamon, Organic Cloves and Organic Stevia. Store in a glass jar. Wet toothbrush and dip in powder. Brush as usual, rinse well. Not intended for consumption. All ingredients are food supplements or spices!
There are two options…one with a glass jar and one without!

A Visit From The Sugar Shack


The Stadlers will be in the house, and out of the Sugar Shack, to bring us a sweet filled tasting, Thursday night, during market order pick up!!

A word from Shary Stadler…

Valley View Woodlands, one of our local vendors, will offer tastings of their delicious products during this week’s Thursday market hours. Tastings will include maple syrup, maple cream, and maple candies. These maple products, which make great gifts, will be available for purchase.

We look forward to having them with us, Thursday!!! Perfect gift buying opportunity!!

Christmas Wrapping


Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas…
Couldn’t miss this one this year…
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas…
Couldn’t miss this one this year…
(The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping)

I know that we all celebrate the upcoming holiday in different ways, honoring different religions, and traditions…this song is one that is on my playlist and brings back the early 80s, for me…

I know it will be of no big surprise that my holiday playlist is of the eclectic kind. Full of fun, full of fun tunes. This always, always, takes me back to the early 80s, working as a mall rat at the local mall, loving all of the hustle and bustle of the crowds, the lights, all of my fellow mall rats, working out way through Christmas break in various retail shops.

We would work long holiday hours, close up the store fronts, and all race out to have a night of fun, only to return to the same store fronts, the next morning, to excited shoppers, canned Christmas music, Santa Clause, and gift wrapping. I loved those days!!!

Anyway…Christmas Wrapping, a play on words, all about the girl who was racing through the year, full of deadlines, crazy life, chasing the elusive boy, exhausted, and just trying to get it all accomplished in the holiday season.

Sound familiar?? We all do our own version of the Christmas Wrapping song…but one thing that should not be stressing us all out is the local food/gifts/shopping part.

You know we have it all…from baking supplies, to dinner supplies, to locally produced meat/chicken/fish, to baked goods, breads, spices, herbs, coffees, teas, garlic, honey, maple syrups, crafts for gifts, soaps and bath products, fresh produce, molasses, gift sets, gift certificates…it is totally all here…all for both daily use, AND, gift giving!

We can wrap it all up for you…just so you can go off to do your own version of Christmas Wrapping…cue…the music!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Local Thoughts For A Local Holiday


Happy Saturday morning, local market customers!!

Your market manager is about to head down to her moonlighting position of Santa Land merry maker, but before I head out, I wanted to share a holiday write up by our own Charlene…

She summed up exactly how we feel at this little local market of love. The love of local can totally extend into the gift giving season!! In fact, I hear more and more people say that they are keeping it local, this year. When keeping it local, make sure to look at our market. You can shop for everyone on your list, right here, right now…

Think about it as you read…

And, the gift giving can extend to gift certificates to our little market, for gifts that can last throughout…

Also…during this busy, hustle and bustle month of fun, don’t forget that you still need your veggies for staying healthy…Don’t forget to remember that both End Of The Road Farms AND CRSI/Strive are our go-to year round veggie people!!

Ok…I leave you know in a haze of coffee, Christmas tunes, and good cheer as I rush off to Santa Land…

Oh, and just FYI, today’s Santa will be someone very familiar to us all…can we give our very own Paul Wadsmith a HUGE thank you?? Come downtown, today, to catch him in action!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

And now…words from Charlene…

Greetings Customers.
We all just have 2 weeks to shop the Virtual Market before Christmas 2014 is upon us. Let’s make this Christmas a shop local year.
The Virtual Market can help make Christmas giving simple. So many product offerings are great for gift giving for hostess gifts, teachers, family, and friends or designing your own gift basket. Mustards from Bad Seed Mustards, Jams jellies, sauces, Champaign Berry Farm and J.C. Growers. Honey –Homecomer, Maple products – Valley View Woodlands, Sorghum- End of the Road Farm. Salt free Herb blends and mixes by Swisher Hill Herbs. Dried Garlic, peppers and black beans by J.C. Growers. Coffee from, the Depot and Herb Teas from Swisher Hill Herbs. Tea Tree Essentials have you covered with soaps and Swisher Hill Herbs offer Essential Oils, balsam and lavender Sachets.

Baked goods! You name it we got it! 126 offerings. 7 pages of breads, rolls, biscuits, cakes, cookies, bars, donuts, pies and pretzels! 6 baking vendors. Cosmic Charlie Breads, Sunshine Gardens, Littler Farm, Nanette’s, Homecomer tradition and “Gluten Free “baking by Live Simply, Live Lively, give them a try!
Want to do your own baking? Organic Spelt Flour from End of the Road Farm ,Whole Wheat Four from Oberly Bros Farm and Frozen Berries from Champaign Berry Farm. You will need eggs. Don’t go to the Super market for eggs. Seriously! Right now we have 3 vendors who sell eggs. End of the Road Farm, Homecomer Tradition and Oakview Farms.
Oh yes, we have Dairy products ,milk and yogurts by Star Dancer Creamery and no party is complete without a selection of Cheese’s from Blue Jacket Cheese.
We are almost there! Now here’s the meat of it all. We are fortunate to have two Meat producers and Freshwater Farms who furnish fresh trout and other fish products. Oakview Meats raise their own pork and purchase local beef and chickens and Nettle Creek Farm and Ranch raise chickens. Check out their frozen selections. What’s for dinner? You choose.
Under the listing Farm Crafts Anchor Acres has an offering of beautiful handmade scarves.
Did I say this Virtual Market has it all! We have dog treats from J.C. Growers and Oberly Bros farm has ears of corn to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeders.
Buy Local! Eat Local! Live Local! Think Global!

Stand Back


Stand back, stand back…(Stand Back-Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac)

Happy Thursday, and welcome back to another amazing week of a market opening!! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, Thanksgiving came and went, and then your lovely little market of love was front and center, last night, as Cosmic Charlie and Oakview Farm Meats debuted their very popular slider sandwiches as part of the food service at the annual Monument Square District Holiday Gala! But, not only did we enter into a new ring, we took the market with us!! We promoted, we had product, we had local vendors with us both as guests, as local celeb bartenders, as servers. Charlene put together an amazing gift basket of Locally Grown products! We sparkled, we dazzled, and we made great strides in putting this market up on a new level.

It was exciting to combine both of my worlds…the downtown Monument Square District and this market!! It was the perfect night, with the perfect food, with the perfect combination of local. We were out, in full force, and I couldn’t have been more proud.

Stand Back…we have only just taken our next steps!!!

It is Thursday, I open the market for you, and I look forward to seeing each of you, next week, at order pickup!!

Stand Back…let’s rock this week!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Thursday Invitation!


I bring to you a Thursday night soap event at the virtual market pick up…

Usually we do tastings but tomorrow night, your favorite soap maker will be set up to display her products, gift boxes, and more!!

Here is a word from Laura…

I am so excited to set up soap at the YMCA this Thursday during Virtual Market drop-off/pick-up time! Our amazing, oh-so-popular soaps and limited time gift baskets will be available for sale. We use organic oils and only use essential oils for the scents. This is a great opportunity to smell the various scents and meet the face (at least one of us!) behind the soap J I will also have our Tooth Powder for sale along with some samples for those of you that may not be ready to commit just yet! Give the gift of soap this Christmas…everyone uses it! Perfect size for stocking stuffers! Our customers truly love our soap…if you haven’t tried it yet, now’s your chance. Great for shaving with and some customers even use it for shampoo! Looking forward to seeing your lovely faces J

Blessings,

Laura

PS: If you haven’t been on our Facebook page, or ‘liked’ it, now is the time to do it! We are currently doing a huge Giveaway (12 bars of soap and 1 bag of Tooth Powder!!!), just ‘like’ and comment on the Giveaway picture post to be entered. Ends Dec. 12th. Be sure to share the news with friends and family! www.elmtreeessentials.com

Laura Miller

ELM Tree Essentials

937.524.5411

www.elmtreeessentials.com