Weblog Entry

Sometimes I wonder, what am I gonna do
There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
(The Who – Summertime Blues)

So, it’s a rainy summer day with no sunshine in sight. I have always called these days, Summertime Blues days. I know we need the rain but it always draws me back to younger days, staring out the window, wanting to be outside running like the wind but all you saw was rain pelting the windows.

When I was older, in college, and home for one of my summer breaks, one of my pals ended up with a huge, old house for the summer. It was one of those houses that became the community house. It was on the outskirts of Wittenburg’s campus, and it was all of ours’ for the entire summer. What fun!! Everyone just kind of came and went. We would work our summer jobs, hang out at the house in the evenings.

It was the summer that I worked three jobs. I was a window designer for a store at our local mall, I worked in a pub, and I interned at the local newspaper. I remember one night, upon arriving at the house for a night of fun, I felt so tired and just sort of sank down on a random sofa beside one of my oldest and dearest pals.

He asked what was wrong with me since I was always bopping around, singing, grooving. I told him I was just tired from the pace of all three jobs. He looked at me and just said, You’ve got the Summertime Blues, Pammie (always my nickname back then). I just cracked up laughing because yes, it was the Summertime Blues but also it was the name I had given rainy days way back when I was young.

So…for this Summertime Blues day, I am going to make it a bit cheerier for all of you!! Instead of the one Market Love playlist winner, I am going to make it FOUR Market Love winners!!!! But, you can only have a chance to win if you all get your orders groovin’!!

We are having a great market, and we would LOVE to break even our best record!!! What better way to cheer yourself up, make your week easier, and win a Market Love playlist??

Let’s go…let’s do this!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

The Beat Goes On

And the beat goes on, beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain…La de da de de, la de da de da

(Sonny & Cher – Beat Goes On)

So here we are at Tuesday, again…the days go by, the weeks go by, we mark each move into the next by keeping a beat of sorts. Each of us has our own way of keeping track of the days, passing the time, making sure the beat goes on.

It’s sort of a natural rhythm that plays out. In the world of Cosmic Charlie, much of my beat goes on, daily, with who/what/where I will be baking, showing up, making it all happen. I know which (very few and very rare) days are my play days. I know who and what I am baking for, on each designated day.

I keep the rhythm of the days groovin’ with music, lots of coffee, lots of bread dough, a bit of wine, and a whole lot of love from my pals, to keep me motivated.

And so each day comes as an adventure all the while keeping up it’s constant and steady beat. Now we are rockin’ in the beat of Tuesday. This means that it is the last day for market ordering for the week. I begin marking this day with your morning Weblog, followed by a late reminder, a Last Call, and then the closing sign.

Pick up the pace, keep the beat, twirl your way into this day, Tuesday, by placing your orders. As the day goes on, so does the beat. Before you know it, I am singing the Closing Time song, while there are still frantic customers who forgot to place their orders.

So, start now…groove the beat…place your order…take a bow. Your local rhythm continues…

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Ruby Tuesday

When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you…
(Rolling Stones – Ruby Tuesday)

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday…or, I should say, goodbye, or almost goodbye, to seasonal produce.

I mentioned, earlier, that the asparagus season is just about coming to a close and to get those orders in! Order all that you can and freeze for the winter months!

But, I also just got word that our lovely, seasonal early spring garlic is at it’s end and will not be offered much longer BUT we have the very popular garlic scapes that have come on! Again, these are seasonal and will only be around for a short time!!

The strawberries sold out in the blink of an eye, for this week, and here’s hoping that Steven will have more for next week! Again, you have limited time for these so when you see them, grab your orders!

While I am sending reminders about the seasonal change…grab the fresh herbs and live plants while you still can!!

Greens have sold out but more will be added. Look for not only Strive to add more but also some of our vendors!!

The seasons change, the seasonal produce changes, and while we hate to say goodbye, we look forward to what the next wave of produce we get!!

Make sure to stock up, now!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Friday On My Mind

Monday morning feels so bad…Everybody seems to nag me…Comin’ Tuesday I’ll feel better…
(Easybeats – Friday On My Mind)

Yes, it IS Monday morning! Yes, I am feeling just as crazy as you all are feeling!! There is nothing more jarring than to try to just ease out of the weekend of bliss only to have to slam into a Monday morning at lightening speed. Hello…it’s the dawn of a new week.

We can make it all a bit easier for you…we can do all of the work for you! Once you get settled into the crazy day, take a bit of time, make a quick list, go to our market site, and order away!! As soon as we see your orders come through, our work begins and your work has ended. It’s that easy!

We bring you local, we bring you nutrition, we bring you seasonal. We want to take a bit of stress out of your life!

Go dream of Friday while we make your Monday a bit easier!

A few things to brighten the week…

A reminder about the upcoming farm tour that I posted about at End Of The Road Farms!! Check the date, June 21, and try to get an RSVP back to me so that I can let the Ruff’s know how many to expect! What a fun day!!

Once again, there will be a lucky winner in the Market Love playlist drawing!! All customers who order for the week will get their names in the drawing!!

I will be drawing another Cosmic Coupon Of Love winner, this week! All Cosmic customers will be entered into the drawing!!

If you need your asparagus fix, get your orders in!!! The season will wrap up, soon, and this is the best asparagus, ever!!

Get on with your day and your week…we look forward to your orders!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Crazy Love

Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole, yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul…(Crazy Love, Van Morrison)

Have you ever had one of those weeks that once you got through the craziness of it all, you just stopped, reflected, were thankful for the love and just felt that all was right with the world and your whole being just felt a mellow calm?

That is how I woke up, this morning. Like most mornings, I got up before it was light, started my Cosmic baking in the soul kitchen, had my coffee and tunes to help me groove, and then went into deep thought.

When you are a lone baker, (we used to call it pirate baking), you spend a lot of time with yourself and your thoughts. Let me tell you, if the world leaders could all start kneading endless loaves of bread, they could probably all come up with so many thoughts to solve everything. Anyway, my thoughts took me back over the past week.

And, what a week it was!! On top of my crazy baking, I oversee this lovely online market, I opened up the Mechanicsburg market, and then, yesterday, it was opening day for the Springfield market. I, at times, felt a bit overwhelmed, but once the markets all opened, and with this market having an amazing week, last week, all I could feel was crazy love!!!

The local communities give us so much love. I feel that all of us in the market circuits have brought the meaning of farmer’s markets, eating local, buying local, know your farmer, know your producer, to whole new levels!! We are your faces of local. We don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk.

The lives of our farmers, producers, bakers is not an easy one. If that person adds a market or two, it adds a whole new level to their work. We are out there, in the early mornings, the late evenings, getting ready to bring the best that our producers have to offer. We do it because we believe in it and we do it because of our love for you, the customers.

We also seem to be building bridges with surrounding counties. I love this!! I love speaking with other counties, working multiple county farmers markets, making it all one big world of crazy local love.

This market is doing just that. It brings such love to my soul to see the customer base that continues to build not just from our county but from other counties. The word is out…we are out there. We are all working it to get the word of local out!

I thank my vendors for not only vending with this market, but, if able, to be out in the trenches at any of the physical markets. Together, we bring it all together, to tie it all to one big local family of crazy love.

It’s Sunday, lovely locavores…it’s a bit rainy and dreary, right now, so why not take a bit of quiet time, think about your week, think about what kind of local love you need, and get your orders in.

I will tell you that when I opened the market on Thursday night, we sort of set a record for the amount of sales coming in on opening night. Amazing!

Go, show us some love, let us show you what local love can do for you…

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Summer Breeze

Summer breeze, makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
(Seals And Crofts – Summer Breeze)

What an amazing, beautiful, perfection kind of day, today!! Perfect weather that made it hard to make myself stay inside instead of playing out and about.

These first days of summer weather are always the sweetest and the most tempting. You don’t want to focus, you don’t want to be confined, you don’t want to be in…you only want to be out and free with the sunshine pouring all over.

As I was leaving another amazing market, tonight, I was walking to my car and feeling so free and so happy that we are finally drinking in the sun after our long winter. I was thinking that it was amazing to see so many new and so many long time customers, tonight. The chat time that I get with each of you totally makes my day, my week! You are my Summer Breeze, always.

I had the honor of speaking to a group from Logan County who were interested in our market. As I started to talk and explain and tell them all about the market, I found myself getting more and more excited and proud! I loved sharing our market story, loved explaining how things are done, loved being able to make them see how our little local system works.

I finally just let sunbeams come out of my face and just told them, that hands down, I LOVE this little local market. It is my sun, it is my inspiration, it is my breezy summer day, always.

Customers and vendors should all be so proud of this little market. We have come a long way and it’s easy to forget that. But, tonight, I was filled with nothing but sunshine pride, as I looked around me.

Thank you, to all of you!! My final words to the group were this…you cannot do this with just one person. It takes a very special group within another very special group within a very special community.

Give yourselves a big round of applause you sunshine makers…we are part of a very special local group…

I open the market, this evening, with excitement to see what the week will bring! Take a look at all the products that continue to come on….

If you need strawberries, Steven from The Berry Patch, has amazing strawberries!! He snuck in, last week, so make sure to order before he runs out!! We may be getting near the end of asparagus season so order in huge quantities, while you can!!

Make sure to taste the season…get those orders in!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

A Fun Filled Invitation!!

Lee and Jennifer Ruff of End of the Road Farm would like to invite you on Sunday, June 22nd at 2 pm for a guided farm tour of their sustainable, draft-horse powered homestead. Samples of various goodies made from their sorghum, spelt flour, and pastured eggs will be provided.

Please wear comfortable walking shoes, as you’ll tour the crop fields, mobile chicken and pig pens, two market gardens, and horse paddock/pasture. We ask that children be well supervised, as this is a working farm as well as our home, and as such, buildings are off-limits. We look forward to sharing the afternoon with you, and hope you will join us with questions, enthusiasm, and an interest in seeing how and why we have chosen this wonderful farming life! Thank you!!

Directions from Urbana:

Take State Route 36 East into Fletcher (approximately 18 miles).

At the first stop light in Fletcher, turn left onto State Route 589.

Take the first right at the United Methodist Church – there’s not a street sign, but you’re now on First Street

Stay on First Street past the Yield and Dead End signs – this becomes our driveway!

You’ll see our house number, 455, posted next to the gate as you drive through, and we’ll show you where to park!

455 W. First Street

Fletcher, OH 45326

(937)903-5249

endoftheroadfarmoh@gmail.com (We do not have a computer at home, but do check email once a week, so if you have questions, we will get back with you as soon as we’re able! Thanks!)

This is going to be such a fun day!! I know I can hardly wait to take the tour and get to know this little family even better!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Boogie Shoes

I wanna put on my, my, my, my, my
Boogie shoes just to boogie with you, yeah
I wanna put on my, my, my, my, my
Boogie shoes just to boogie with you
(K.c. And The Sunshine Band – Boogie Shoes)

So, it’s that time of the week…time to announce the weekly Market Love playlist winner!!! Lots of names, this week!! All strategically written down, folded up, picked by my daughter, the Cosmic Co-Ed, and her long time pal…Cosmic Side-Kick..

But, before I announce the winner…does this song make you want to dance, sing, boogie? Can’t you just remember your bell bottom jeans, platform shoes, feathered hair, and if you are a girl, your Bonne Bell Lipsmacker lipgloss? Yeah….hello early teen years of yesteryear!

This was a very versatile song…you could boogie away at parties, pool teen dances, the skating rink…you just couldn’t sit still with this song blaring.

It was the 70s, it was disco, and we were all groovin’ it. It reminds me of the swim club we belonged to, teen dances, teen lounge, a jukebox…the thrill of a summer adventure. It also reminds me of a ton of neighbor kids, all piled into a station wagon, being dropped off at the local skating rink to skate the night away. Dim lights, disco balls and kids with sweet moves on skates.

I love a song that will transport you back to great memories, fun times, and the promise of a great summer!

Here’s to that great summer that is just ahead of us…and here’s a big shout out to this week’s winner…

Valerie Root! Congrats!! You can get your copy of Market Love, tomorrow, at order pick up!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Thank You!

I would like to thank each of you for placing orders, this week!!

We appreciate the local love!!

The market is now closed! We will see you on Thursday!!

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Last Call!!

Make it work!!

It is your last 15 minutes to get your orders in!!