A Day In The Life

It’s that time of the week, again!!

Time for another vendor Day In The Life story!! This week, we get to read all about life on the farm with Lee and Jennifer Ruff of End Of The Road Farms!

They come to us from their amazing farm in Fletcher. If you were able to go on their farm tour, last year, you fell in love with their story, their family, and their farm.

If you were not able to attend that tour, you get to learn all about them in this story of their lives.

Thanks for all the hard work, Lee and Jennifer!! We totally appreciate your commitment!

For the past five years that we’ve been married and working on our farm at the end of the road, the only constant through the seasonal changes is daily chores, at least twice and sometimes four times a day. Our three children under the age of four adore being out and “helping”, which makes for a slower, albeit more enjoyable experience. We currently have three draft horses, a feeder steer, 2 cats, 29 laying hens, 85 replacement layers from 10-14 weeks old, and six pigs – one of whom, Maple Syrup, we’ll breed come fall, another, Ham, we’ll butcher, and the other four, Toady, Bob, Fred, and Kitty, are already sold. All our animals are heritage breeds who live on pasture 24/7. The chickens are divided up into 10 moveable pens, and they get moved onto fresh alfalfa and clover every morning when we take them their ration of feed and fill everyone’s water.

Our 8 month old daughter religiously takes her morning nap in the stroller each day, allowing me two-three hours to help weed, pick berries, hang laundry, or do whatever needs done most outside (with her in cloth diapers and no dryer, laundry is a daily priority).

Lee spends half of every day in the garden. There is always cultivation with the horses and hand weeding/hoeing to be done with over an acre of market garden to care for, in addition to the weekly and biweekly plantings of our more important and popular crops. When he is picking for our Thursday Virtual Market drop-off, our Friday CSA pickup, or our Saturday Troy market, he can spend the entire day in the garden. As he harvests something, he’ll bring it to me at the house where we have set up a washing and packaging area, and I can save him some time while the kids play or “help” doing things like trimming beet tops, washing green onions, or labeling bags.

Everyone gets checked again at lunchtime. Eggs are gathered, pigs and chickens get scraps for a snack, and everyone’s water is topped off. Before the youngest chicks gained a bit of weight, they kept scratching the hay down enough to escape practically every day, and the kids and I spent a good portion of our morning rounding them up, as Lee was always conveniently working horses when this happened. The day of the Great Escape, 37 out of 48 chicks that busted out… and they were so little you’d practically step on them before you noticed them in the thigh high alfalfa! The kids have plenty of lessons on the importance of following directions well, as sometimes if they stand exactly in the right position where Mommy tells them, they successfully catch all the little Houdini’s. I’m almost sorry they’re too big to sneak out anymore, we were getting so coordinated in our efforts!

Our draft horses are central to our 21 acre, organic homestead that we are trying so hard to make sustainable. At 30 years old, our Percheron mare, Jane, is irritated about the retirement we’ve forced upon her, but we can’t let her work herself into the ground as she’d like. That leaves the work up to Tony, a 16 year old Percheron gelding who prior to living with us was a Renaissance Festival jousting horse, and Wilson, a 6 year old Shire we’re borrowing from a friend for the summer. Lee and the horses do almost all our field work. When he’s not working in the garden or harvesting one of our field crops (sorghum, spelt, popcorn, soup beans, field corn for the pigs, naked oats for the chickens, and hay) that are divided into two acre parcels in a six year crop rotation, Lee’s daily projects right now are building new fence, clearing out our fencerows, rebuilding old horse-drawn machinery, or repurposing the equipment we have to make it fit our scale. He is also moving an old barn home piece by piece to repair our own dilapidated barn with the timbers and lumber.

The kids help me cook every day… we’re on a big noodle and pizza kick lately, as they love turning the handle of the pasta maker, and like to knead the dough before pressing their handprint into the middle of the pizza.

Evening chores we do as a family, and we appreciate how Blessed we are to eat every meal together, produce about 90% of our own food, and spend so much time working with each other. For two years now, Lee and I have been saying that the best thing to ever happen to us was me losing my teaching job, since we hadn’t thought we were ready to make farming our full-time profession, and yet God knew exactly what He was doing, as we couldn’t be healthier or happier!

Hope you enjoyed a bit of our story!

Lee and Jennifer Ruff, and our three little Ruffians

Love Will Keep Us Together

Just stop, ‘cause I really love you…
Stop, I’ll be thinking of you…
Look in my heart…
And let love keep us together, whatever…
(Captain And Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together)

Yes…your daily dose of 70’s pop music! But, who didn’t know every word to this song as soon as it came on the bubblegum radio station? I was even in a middle school talent show, singing a duet to this AND the song, Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart! My group had super cool bell bottoms, some sort of hats that our mothers made us, and groovy platform shoes. Feathered bangs, and heavily glossed lips…we were on our way!

Anyway, I heard this song on a Pandora station, earlier, and while I was singing it, I immediately thought of this little local market of love.

Love definitely keeps us all together, all groovy, all strong, week after week. It’s a love fest of customers, vendors, volunteers, and the YMCA. It takes a whole lot of love to keep this market running on the level that you have grown to trust, and we have grown to love.

I am opening the market, tonight, once again, for the week! Thank you, to all, who order from us, stay with us, spread the news about us. We are only as strong as our loyal customer base. We love you…it will keep us together!

Just a quick note…this market is your market right before the July 4th holiday. What?? July?? The 4th?? The time just continues to race. But, we are open until Tuesday so that you can get your thoughts together, your plans in order, and do your grilling/baking/spicing it up/vegging out shopping with us!!

Let us take care of all the holiday weekend needs!! You know you love us, you know we bring the local goodness, and you know you want love to keep us together…

Go, order, take the stress out the week, enjoy the holiday…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Bonus Time!

Hello, little local market of love customers!!

Guess what? I just got in from the Mechanicsburg Farmer’s Market AND an after market meeting. SO…I am giving you all until 10:30 for your last call of orders!!

Go, order, get your local groove on…

I will be closing things out at 10:30…make it all happen!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

A Day In The Life

This week’s spotlight is on our newest market vendor, Sarah, of Stillhaven Gardens!

Sarah joined our little local market of love, back in the winter, and we are excited to have her and her products!

She is not alone in her first market venture…she is always accompanied by her two cute sons when she delivers! They are helping, learning, and enjoying this experience!

So, we say welcome to Sarah…

I’m two weeks new to the market and already having a great time. Thanks so much to those who have already placed orders with Stillhaven Gardens! Every year I like to grow several new items, and the garden is always full of weird and wonderful edibles. You won’t find them all in my listing, but don’t be surprised if you discover a little something extra tucked into your order from time to time. This week the lettuce orders got a few edible borage flowers in their bags. Gardening and eating should be an adventure and I look forward to sharing it with you!

Thanks,
Sarah

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello...

Hello, hello
I don’t know why you say goodbye
I say hello
(Beatles – Hello Goodbye)

So, just last week, we said a sad goodbye to Steven of The Berry Patch! Strawberry season was way too short but we loved what he brought, and we were thankful for the season!

This week, just when we sadly thought of a week of no berries, I got a call from Cathy Pullins telling me to add her red raspberries to the market!! Yes, Champaign Berry is back with us with their fresh berries!!

Again…seasonal, local, amazing!

Get your orders in, quickly!!

Just as we said, goodbye, we gladly say, hello, to the next berry!!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

Bring It On Home To Me

Oh, oh, bring it to me…
Bring your sweet loving…
Bring it on home to me…
(Bring It On Home To Me-Sam Cooke)

This song takes me back to carefree, fun filled, classic songs kind of times. When I lived in Los Angeles, a million years ago, my group used to frequent little haunts of clubs out along the beach and roads of Malibu. We loved the little out of the way, long forgotten, old clubs. We could sit with bottles of wine, a round of food, and soulful tunes.

Back then, your market manager was usually broke, living life as a flight attendant, happy to have made networking friendships with club/restaurant owners. I could eat and drink for free, frequent the old, classic places, steep myself in the culture of a by gone time, and feed my soul.

Just like what this little market of love tries to do. We try to build that friendship. That bond. That soul binding relationship between producers, customers, community. We provide an umbrella of shelter, a local outlet of goodness, and a whole lot of love that brings it all home. Bringing you the best of the best in local, bringing you the trust, the nutrition, the friendship.

I open the market, tonight, after yet another AMAZING market pick up!!! We rock and rolled the produce, the greens, the seasonal berries, the goodbye to asparagus, the herbs, locally produced meat, fresh water fish, breads, dairy, cheeses…We have it all. We love it all. Go ahead…bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin’, bring it on home…bring us your orders so we can bring it on home to you!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

It's The Time Of The Season

It’s the time of the season…
When love runs high…
(Time Of The Season- The Zombies)

Well, it’s that time of the season to definitely show some love!! Love for local, love for the outgoing early season produce, love for the incoming seasonal produce…We’ve got it all, it’s the time of the season for…loving…

The market will close at 10pm, tonight!! You have 15 minutes to move it along, place your orders, and be done for the week!! You can even place your orders while watching the basketball game!!

Come on…take advantage of the seasonal love at this little local market of love…

I will check back in 15 minutes…make me smile!

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam

A Day In The Life

This week’s A Day In The Life spotlight is on one of our egg vendors, Laurie Cuddington!

Laurie started with out market as a loyal customer. She frequents as many outside farmers markets as she can. She became interested in selling eggs for this little local market of love, and you know her as…Anchor Acres!

Thanks for the submission, Laurie…it’s so fun to read everyone’s snapshot of a day in the life…

A Day in the Life of Anchor Acres – hard to find “typical”, but I’ll try to give a snapshot and some background. My chicken adventure is fairly new, almost two years now, and I keep thinking it will become more routine, but of course that never happens with real living beings. Especially when I get more (or just have to change something) somewhat often. :-) At the moment (and I do mean the moment), I have 49 chickens, 6 ducks, and a turkey. And a dog, and a new cat who just showed up recently. Right now, that means 9 waters and 9 food containers, two or more times a day. Also right now, the sun is dictating that roosters start to crow at about 4:45am – at least the roosters think so – and I currently have 12 roosters. :-P I often try to grab a power nap in the afternoons, because I am getting older and did not get to start my “adventure in agriculture” early enough in life, I don’t think. My husband has been active duty Navy for 29 years (and still counting) which has meant moving often and usually renting or living in base housing, all of which was never conducive to owning animals or even planting a garden. So, I have jumped in with both feet now that we have a lovely spot in Ohio from which we only have to move if or when we want to (because my husband will retire from the Navy in one more year). Even though my ability to grow or raise my own food has mostly been limited, I have always been tuned in to healthy food and the sick American food industry system. For example, I started grinding wheat to bake bread and make pasta and similar endeavors about 20 years ago. (Unfortunately, I have not steadily kept that up.) I looked forward to the day when I could do more. Now, I get to rise early, check all foods/waters and clean/refill as needed, and let appropriate creatures out to explore and find fresh natural food, shade, or whatever else they want to find. I then refresh bedding as needed, gather eggs a few times during the day, keep an eye on everyone, and generally shoot for my goal of happy, healthy animals. I make adjustments in waterers and feeders, feed (sourcing organic feed, for example, is actually somewhat challenging), fences, shelters, etc as they all grow up and as the weather changes. I also have expanded my garden and try to continually improve my gardening skills. Then, at the end of the day, the sun also dictates that I shut everyone in prior to dark, before the raccoons or other predators come out. It is a lot of work but very satisfying overall. Meanwhile, as I work on my own “homestead”, I seek to source as much as I can of the rest of my family’s food locally and from health-driven sources, which is why I became a very enthusiastic customer of this Virtual Market as soon as I heard about it, and then was very happy to progress to being even a minor vendor. I do not have enough eggs for everyone who wants them, but I love to make wonderful eggs available to as many folks as possible. Assuming success with my new ducks, I hope to be adding duck eggs to the market in a couple months, so watch for that. :-) One last thing, my mini-farm’s name… You may have guessed that “Anchor” relates to my husband’s Navy career, and it does, because that has been a huge part of my life. However anchor has a double meaning, because my other and most important “Anchor” that holds me firm through all of life’s tossing and turning is my hope in Jesus. The verse is Hebrews 6:19. :-) Thanks for reading! Laurie :-)

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