End Of The Road Farms

As you know, The End Of The Road Farms is having their annual Sorghum Festival, this coming weekend, on September 27th!!

I kick it all off, Lee and Jennifer will be joining us, Thursday, at market pickup, over at the tasting area, giving everyone samples and letting them know what to expect at the festival!!

YAY…we LOVE our local farmers!!!

Our vendors are a busy and active bunch!! We continue with the invitations and hope to see customers, vendors, and friends, taking advantage of all these fun events!!

This is from Lee and Jennifer Ruff:

Have you ever wondered how sorghum molasses is grown, harvested, squeezed, and processed using draft horse power?

If so, please join us at

End of the Road Farm

Saturday, Saturday 27th
2pm – 4pm

Sorghum samples, recipes, CSA information, pastured eggs,
and other organic, seasonal produce will be available!

We ask that you please remember this is a working farm, as well as our home, and we are happy to have you over as guests, BUT
To ensure this is a fun, SAFE afternoon for all, please understand:
Children must be well supervised
No public restrooms are available
Buildings are off-limits

Thank you, and hope to see you Saturday
455 W. First St. Fletcher 45326
Take St. Rt. 36 West out of Urbana – you’ll go
thru St. Paris and Lena, then pass Poor Farmer’s
Campground just before entering Fletcher
Turn left at the 1st stoplight in Fletcher
Take the first Right at the large white church –
you’re now on First Street which becomes our driveway! Follow it pass the Dead End sign,
thru the gate, and we’ll show you where to park!
Please RSVP to Jennifer at (937)903-5249 or endoftheroadfarmoh@gmail.com if you plan on attending to help us prepare! Thanks!!

Reserve The Date For State Of The Plate!

Hello, my lovely local market customers and vendors!!

This afternoon I come to you not as your market manager but as your representative of the Local Foods Council. As your representative, I come to you with an exciting news story, and the ability to make reservations to attend the event that is making this a very news worthy story!

Last year, we introduced, State Of The Plate. A look at our local food system, your local growers and producers, and our goals and visions that we, as your local front, would like to see happen.

As your local market manager, you know that I support local, I believe in seasonal eating, I believe in always buying as much from my hard working, local growers and producers as I can, and in turn, giving them the huge shout outs and praises that they deserve!! I love this community, I want our local front to continue to grow and be strong, and I want to see our hard working local front succeed on so many levels!!

I think that I can speak for so many when I tell you that being a local provider is not an easy lifestyle. It is hard work. It is endless work. It is work that brings tears and then it is work that brings the highest of highs. It is passion, it is drive, it is compassion, and it is love.

I run two markets and a shop front. I allow only local producers. It is not enough to talk the talk of local. Local, to me, is not about just sort of, kind of, or occasionally. I demand that you walk the walk.

I am honored to surrounded by so many people who support this local way of life. All levels of support.

I now bring to you the news article, written by our own local hero of the local media and HUGE supporter in all of our local endeavors. The article is written by Gary Schenkel. You will notice familiar names as speakers, and then I am so proud to say that so many of our vendors, right here, your tireless vendors, will be offering their products as part of this event.

This announces our second State Of The Plate. I will be taking reservations, at each Thursday market order pick up!! I will be turning names and money into the Chamber, each Friday, up until the deadline of Oct.2!! Please plan to be a part of this amazing day…

*Local food dinner to be served in historic barn

Submitted Story

A professionally catered dinner of locally grown and produced food, served in a restored barn that is on the National Registry of Historic Places, and an opportunity to talk with the people who grew the meal’s ingredients.

That’s the unique experience in store for guests at the 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12, State of the Plate local food dinner. A social time with snacks and cider will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Reservations are being taken for the limited-seating event, which will be held at the Pretty Prairie Farm of Todd and Jill Michael, 4440 Prairie Road, Urbana.

To make reservations, stop by or call the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, 107 N. Main St. (937-653-5764), by Oct. 3. Reservations may also be made during the Champaign Locally Grown online farmers’ market order pickup, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays through Oct. 2 at the Champaign Family YMCA, 191 Community Drive.

Cost of the dinner, catered by Amy Forrest and Lori Forrest Garrison of In Good Taste Catering, is $15. The event is being planned by the Champaign County Local Food Council, a cooperative effort of the Community Improvement Corporation and the Champaign County Chamber to help expand markets for local food producers.

During the dinner six local farmers and entrepreneurs will talk and answer questions about the beginnings, growth and success of their food production businesses. They include:

•Ethan Deselem of Springfield, who founded Deselem’s Royal Quality Gardens of Ohio in 2013, after studying environmental science at The College of Wooster. He specializes in chemical-free produce sold at area farmers’ markets.

•Pam Bowshier of Urbana, who founded Cosmic Charlie Bread five years ago, specializing in artisan vegan breads. She continues to sell at farmers’ markets, where she started out, and has expanded to supplying retail stores and restaurants, and opened her own shop. She also serves as manager of the Mechanicsburg Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market and the Champaign Locally Grown online farmers’ market.

•Mark Runyan of Urbana, who operates Oakview Farm with his father and son, raising grain for feed and pigs for meat and breeding stock. They sell pork, beef and chicken at their retail shop, Oakview Farm Fresh Meats, and at local markets and the online Champaign Locally Grown market. Runyan and Bowshier will also talk about their cooperative marketing efforts.

•Brett Tossey and Paden Green-Tossey of Marysville, who launched small-scale hops production in 2011, supplying local craft breweries.

•Dave Smith of Urbana, whose family in 1983 began transforming a former chicken farm into what has become Freshwater Farms of Ohio, the state’s largest indoor fish hatchery and only Ohio producer of fresh trout products. The farm, which has become a tourist destination and home of the annual Ohio Fish & Shrimp Festival, features a year-round market. The farm also offers consulting, supplies and stocking fish for recreational ponds and water gardens.

•Todd Michael, the dinner host, long-time co-owner of Michael Farms and now owner of Michael Family Farms with his son, Kyle. Michael will talk about his current operations in food production and marketing as well as the history of Michael Farms, started more than 50 years ago by his father, Doug Michael, and which has grown to supply fresh vegetables to major grocery retailers and foodservice distributors throughout Ohio and neighboring states.

About the Pretty Prairie Barn

The rectangular, Pennsylvania Dutch section of the barn was built in 1840, and in 1896, a 12-sided, 42-foot diameter barn was added. The dodecagonal addition remains the largest of its kind on the National Register of Historic Places. The barn was used for steam threshers, storing hay and housing work horses. A third addition, built in the 1950s, housed beef cattle.

Todd and Jill Michael bought the farm in 1996, restoring the barn and house, which also was built in 1896. Most recently the barn hosted their daughter Kathy’s wedding reception. They now rent it for weddings and special events.

Submitted on behalf of event organizers.

Don’t forget…you can get your reservations to me, each Thursday, or you can call or stop in the Chamber office to place your reservations.

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Turn, Turn, Turn..

To everything, turn, turn, turn…
There is a season, turn, turn, turn…
(The Byrds, Lyrics by Pete Seeger-Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything There Is A Season)

Yes, this is always my official turn of the seasons song that plays in the Technicolor soundtrack of my brain:)

I have been living in denial, happily still in the sunshine mode of the summer months. Still wearing my cutoffs, walking around like the long days would last forever.

Well, my little fantasy world had to come to it’s reality, this morning. First, it IS the first day of autumn! Second, I was out, early this morning, to investigate a big mischief making party of my cat and her edgier field cat buddies. It was just daylight, I had a ton of bread in the ovens making my kitchen a cozy haven of warmth, coffee, and fresh bread.

When I looked out one of the windows, I noticed the trio of mischief makers and grabbed a flannel shirt and my cup of coffee to go investigate. WOW! Hello, fall morning chill!! I walked to the top of the driveway, saw that they were all excited over a ton of nuts that had fallen to the ground, and I turned to walk back inside. But, as I turned, on the very top of my drive, I took in the view. It was definitely the look of autumn. A bit of fog was coming off of the ponds in the field, the fields were giving off a golden haze, the leaves had a tint of color on the trees, and in this time of the year, I can see the hills and fields that go on and on behind my house. A beautiful view, a beautifully chilly morning, a definite turn of the season. One of those mornings that you were glad to be a part of.

Anyway, yes…here we are at yet the cusp of another season. But, as each of the seasons changes, our little market of love continues to work it’s magic, each and every week, all year long.

You will want to make sure to take advantage of all the produce, berries, and apples before they leave us for the season. You can begin your fall menu planning with all that we offer. Your market is here for you, with each turn and each season!

Today is Tuesday…the market will be open until 10pm, this evening! Take advantage of fall goodness, new vendors, old favorites…turn to us, we are always here for you!

In the course of today, you will be getting a couple of emails concerning market/vendor announcements and happenings. These are important and you will not want to miss the upcoming events!! We seem to be more than just your market, these days…we seem more of a family, more of a friendship bond, and more of a locally, love filled, united local front:) You all make me proud, customers and vendors, alike! Thank you for giving me so much to report on. It shows what an active, involved group we all are!!

Get your orders in!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Hey, Hey, My, My...

Hey, hey, my, my…
Rock and roll can never die…
There’s more to the picture than meets the eye…
Hey, hey, my, my…
(Neil Young – Hey Hey, My My)

More to the picture than meets the eye…definitely perfect to describe this little market that continues to grow, thrive, and make it’s mark, each week!!

We are so much more than just a market. We are so much more than just local products. We are so much more than just a little market hoping to make it’s way.

We have arrived. We make it happen, in big ways, each and every week. We continue to add new customers. We continue to bring in new vendors. We continue to make our loyal vendors happy, and in turn, they bring us the best in their bag of tricks, each week. We continue to make our loyal customers, our new customers and our sporadic customers, happy, each and every market!

We are so much more than meets the eye because we are your new face in shopping. Your new face in local. Your new faces that greet you, each and every week, with either amazing product, amazing customer service, or amazing local love!!

This week, I am excited to bring you two new vendors.

Bad Seed Mustard, and Blue Jacket Dairy with the most DELICIOUS cheeses from Bellefontaine!! Bad Seed has all of his products on and ready to order!! Blue Jacket will be adding products as the weekend progresses so that you can begin ordering!!

One other thing that this market loves to do…we love to promote each other!! And, tonight, it makes me happy to promote and remind you of the Ohio Shrimp and Fish Festival out at Freshwater Farms!! You love their products so plan to go out and support their festival!! They do an amazing job, Dave and company are all about supporting local, and many of your favorite vendors, from this market, will be vending out there, all weekend.

I will see you out there…but for now, the market is open, make sure to order, and show all of the old and new vendors a whole lot of love!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

When Being Bad is Good!

Happy Thursday evening, my lovely customers of our local market of love.

I am getting ready to open up the market for the week!! A few things to say before that happens…

This weblog comes to you as an announcement and introduction of one of our newest vendors!! Get ready to be excited and totally blown away by his products!!

His name is Sam, he contacted me way over a year ago about how to start the proper steps to get where he is, today, and, tonight, I am proud to say he now has his products on the market for sale.

I had him write a bit of a bio so that you all can learn about him, his history and his products…

Go, be bad…it’s all good:)

Bad Seed Mustard Company started out like any other food, In the kitchen. My late Grandmother, Phyllis Powell, came across a recipe of an old fashioned sweet and hot mustard made from habanero peppers back in 1981. Over the course of many years she made the mustard tweaking it every time until the mustard we have all come to enjoy, Perfect Burn, was created. The Perfect Burn became a staple condiment within the family. In 2006 she passed the recipe on to me.

My journey into the mustard business started as a young child. I’ve always envisioned myself as a self starter; an entrepenuer of sorts. At the age of 9 I had my own window washing business in the booming metropolis of Saint Paris, Ohio. My dream of starting a business continued on as I enrolled at Wright State University, graduating with a degree in Finance and then graduating with my MBA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

It wasn’t until 2012, fresh off a deployment to Iraq, did the wheels start turning for “Project Mustard”. I began making the my grandmother’s original recipe and selling it at the Springfield Farmers market. Over the next year I researched how to make my product commercially available and completed the FDA Canning Certification at Ohio State. This past summer was spent developing brands, networking, and cooking my mustards out of Ohio State Universities Pilot Program Commercial Kitchen. With some luck, hard work, and a lot of help (thanks Pam) The Bad Seed Mustard Company was born. Our intent is to provide our customers with a unique flavor using locally grown ingredients with no artificial preservatives or additives. I believe that once you try our varieties, whatever heat level you desire, you’ll agree that the Bad Seed Mustard produces “The Worlds Most Versatile Mustards”.

Samuel Powell
Director of Everything
Bad Seed Mustard Company LTD

Local Love

Show yourself, and us, some weekly love!

Get your orders in by 10:00pm, tonight!

You're Gonna Make It After All!

Love is all around, no need to waste it…
You can have a town, why don’t you take it…
You’re gonna make it after all…
You’re gonna make it after all…
(Theme song from The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

So, I’m not going to lie…I hum this song, a lot. I grew up watching this show. I really wanted Rhoda’s apartment but the whole concept of the girls living the big city life really appealed to this girl.

And, this song popped into my head, today, as I was downtown, wearing one of my many hats, both figuratively, and literally. I am on several different downtown boards with offshoots of different committees that I head. Anyway, today, it was the downtown Holiday Open House I was about. Since I head up the promotions on that committee, I was around town handing out posters, rack cards, and answering questions.

One thing that I notice about the local downtown is the attention they give to customer satisfaction. When I am dining at a local restaurant, I love that one will know what wine I drink. One will know that I am a strict vegetarian but not vegan. One knows exactly how I like my coffee. One knows I won’t take dessert but I love a good cheese plate with my glass of wine.

Other businesses know that I am a busy girl and support all that I am doing or involved in. Most know my style of dress, and if I am in a funk or having an off day, and dress in a muted version of me, they are quick to ask if I am feeling okay or if I am sick.

My point is that in my adventures in town, this theme song playing in my head, it occurred to me…customer friendliness and satisfaction are alive and well!!

I began to reflect on this little local market of love. A little local market of customer service. Just like the downtown businesses, we strive to make each customer happy. We strive to get to know them, make them a part of the local family, anticipate their orders, their needs, their expectations.

We love to give love to our local customers!! We hope this is reflected in our actions, in our smiles, and in our total gratitude that you are choosing us, each week, to bring you the best of the best that we have to offer.

I cannot tell you how happy I was when I left town and had this local love fest going on.

You all are the best, you give us your best, and in turn, we hope that you see our best, each and every week.

You have until 10pm…get the love vibe going…we are hear, all evening, taking your orders…

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Sugar Mountain

Oh to live on Sugar Mountain…
With the barkers and the colored balloons…
You can’t be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon…
You’re leaving there too soon…
(Neil Young – Sugar Mountain)

Although the title of this weblog would be against what my food beliefs follow, it is also one of my favorite Neil Young songs, and Neil Young is who I listen to, each and every year when the fall weather starts to creep in.

I have chatted about growing up in the West End of my town, the special bonds that I still share with the friends who were part of my childhood and teen years, and the eclectic, free kind of lifestyle we all lived even with being so young. We had such a close knit community, it was the 70s, and it’s just how the times were for us.

In a special place, nestled in an almost magical woods, there was a secret place that we all would hike to as a coming of age rite of passage, almost. We would hike down rocky paths to the most breath taking site of water, water falling, total seclusion. The early and mid fall were the most magical. We would go in our groups, make it a day, camp for the night, always loaded with old boom boxes, or cassette players, for our tunes. It always seemed to be Neil singing to us.

The secret place housed so many of us, in those years. Our fun, our mischief, our music, our bonds of friendship. When the weather turns to fall, I immediately let myself drift back to those colorful, sunny days with Neil Young drifting in the air, and my band of friends all together, in our sparkling secret local place.

Sadly, that local tradition, the local loveliness is no longer. Bulldozed the woods, filled in the secret water falls. All for new neighborhoods of the 90s. Neighborhoods that were built around our small, local neighborhoods, neighborhood grocery…suddenly, all phased out when bigger was better, newer was better and local was out.

Now, look at things…people all crying over the fact that progress took the beauty of our favorite places. That’s what can happen if you don’t protect all that is local. It can be gone in a minute, never to be had, again.

I feel strongly about all things local. Obviously, this is why I feel so passionate about this little local market of love. It’s our market, it’s your market. We are the faces of local, you are the faces of local. Together, we have made quite the local statement with this market. I hear it on the streets, and in meetings. I hear it from local businesses.

We are local…and this fills me with love.

Today, is the last day for market ordering for the week!! Don’t miss out!!

We have new sizes of milk added back on, new varieties of baked goods for the fall weather, herbs and garlic blends for your fall cooking needs, end of the season produce, maple syrups for your hearty breakfasts, locally produced meats for your fall soups and stews, dried beans to add to dishes, coffee to take the chill off of your mornings, new products coming on Thursday, a new vendor which excites me, eggs are back in full force, lettuce is back with a new crop from End of the Road Farms! Tons of upcoming festivals and farm tours and open houses and an upcoming Local Foods Lunch which I will be giving more details on, soon…

We have it all…and, we can make it even more than it already is just by all of you embracing the local love.

Give us a look, place your orders, and let us take care of the rest..

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Born To Be Wild

Get your motor runnin…’
Head out on the highway…
Looking for adventure…
In whatever comes our way…
(Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild)

I am a fast paced person. I always have been since the youngest days of my life that I can remember. My grandmother used to love to encourage me. She wanted me to go, explore, run, be quick, be strong, know myself. We used to have these really super great conversations when I was young, in their backyard, while swinging on this huge porch swing that my grandfather built for her. We would have long chats over ice cold RC Cola, store bought oatmeal cookies, and Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Gosh, I miss that woman.

Anyway, she encouraged me to never let one second of the day go by in idle motion. (I admit, I do cheat with my afternoon power naps in the sunshine)…She, like me, loved taking adventures and creating. Also, like me, she hated the mundane. She hated wasting one minute on things that did not interest her, with people who annoyed her, or taking time out to think of the grocery, watch television, household tasks, or any other activity that took time away from the things she was passionate about.

This morning, I had a minute of time and was up in my daughter’s room, tidying some things that were cast aside when she departed for her semester away. I saw a big pile of fashion magazines, and with a morning of free time, thought I would sink into my favorite chair for a look. That lasted all of 5 minutes. I was bored, my mind was racing, I was thinking of all that I wanted to accomplish, today, and how this type of activity was sucking the life out of me. Not to mention the prices on each of the magazines.

Maybe I was bored because I am at an age where I am very secure with myself, I know my look, I have a business that I love, and I, unlike many of the articles I glanced over, just take life and run with it.

Which leads me to the theme of this weblog, today. I am a free bird of sorts, I like my life to be as action packed as possible, and mundane events, like grocery shopping, simply slow me down. And, I am pretty sure I am not the only one who feels this way.

Why spend time driving, parking, mindlessly pushing your cart, looking at endless labels full of bad ingredients, of products trucked in from who knows where, and at prices that are insane. And, once your cart is ready for check out, you may or may not be greeted by a friendly, helpful face. Oh, the whole process drives me bonkers.

So, enter our little local market of love. You can shop as quickly as you like or as slowly as you like. You can put in a single order or five orders. You can shop from your phone, wherever life finds you at that moment. Not a cart to push, not a crowd, not a mean face, no preservative laden foods…you get hard working vendors and lovely volunteers to get your orders. AND…it takes almost no time from your daily schedules!!!

You can shop WHILE you have your adventures!!

Like a true nature’s child, we were born to be wild. Shop our market, and then get right back out there. You can thank me at order pick up night:)

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Love, Love, Love

There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made…
No one you can save that can’t be saved…
Nothing you can do but you can learn to be you in time…
It’s easy…

All you need is love…
All you need is love…
All you need is love, love…
Love is all you need…
(Beatles – All You Need Is Love)

Today was a very solemn day in our history of events. I posted about it on my Cosmic Charlie page, and then at some point, today, I read a passage on a friend’s Facebook page and it just seemed to ring volumes. The passage is from one of my favorite movies, of all time. The movie is, Love, Actually, and the opening scene is in Heathrow Airport, and probably one of the most powerful scenes in the movie.

It speaks of love and how love is really all around us. On a day, like today, that lives on in a gruesome history, this passage makes us all see that love just may be all that we need, all that may get us through, and that maybe it really does trump all.

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around,”

So, there you have it…I hope that you can show some kindness, some love, and some compassion, on this day and on each and every day.

This little local market is our little local spot of love…let’s all work, together, to make it show…

I open the market, tonight, a bit late…I had a downtown Monument Square District board meeting. I am not only your market manager but I am everywhere:)

So, the market opens, show some love, make some orders happen, let’s all groove along in happiness…

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam