Plattsburgh Online Ordering:  Online orders open

Good evening! The days are getting longer, and maybe this coming week will be the last of prolonged below-zero nights.

We are open for online ordering through Tuesday evening. Still have some mouth-watering good stuff!

Thanks for your support.

Northeast Georgia Locally Grown:  Locally Grown - Availability for February 18th, 2015

Hey Local Food Lovers,

Baby it’s cold outside. We’re getting the tail end of winter this week. Please be kind and pick up your orders as early as possible this week to keep our market managers from standing in the cold any longer than they have to (the low on Wednesday is predicted at 6 degrees, YIKES!).

That said, the warm spot of your week could and should be picking up some good Local Food. We have a special guest FARM on the market this week, LoganBerry Heritage Farm from up north of Cleveland are featuring their SOY FREE pastured eggs. We don’t see LoganBerry listed here often so show them some love and order an extra dozen this week. Give some to a friend as a way to let ‘em know you’re thinking about them. I think if anyone gave me a dozen fresh eggs, I’d know instantly that they really, really care.

This week we’d like to ask all of our CUSTOMERS to do a small something extra that will HELP US ALOT and should turn around and GIVE RIGHT BACK TO YOU.

It’s a 2015 CUSTOMER survey! This is the best way for us to get a read on what products each of you would like to see more of in the year ahead. Farmers can peruse this list and grow more of the items that they see are in high demand. The SURVEY also asks a few questions about other ways to improve LOCALLY GROWN and if there are ways you’d like to get more involved and help the market grow.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5ZTGCKH

The survey will be open for the next several weeks, but please TAKE IT TODAY! Cold weather is good for dreaming of spring and summer’s bounty. The sooner we know what’s in demand, the quicker we can start planting it in the field.

Locally Grown also has several new VOLUNTEER opportunities open for the right people.

The first is an “early market helper” at our Clarkesville Location to help us receive goods from farmers on Wednesday’s starting at 1:45pm until around 4:30pm (and they could stick around for customer pickup if desired). This individual needs a strong back as work would involve pulling coolers from our shed and once full from farm deliveries loading them onto a truck. It’s a fun job as it involves interacting with all the farmers during delivery. The volunteer will receive a small food stipend. If you or someone you know would be interested send an e-mail to soque@windstream.net.

The second is one or more people who’d be willing to help put together some BASKETS that we’ll fill with Locally Grown products for submission in several Hall County charitable SILENT AUCTIONS as a way to promote the market. We’re hoping someone with a creative flair would be willing to make these really zing giving Locally Grown a great impression around town. Here’s a photo of something we like, but feel free to bring your own creative ideas. E-mail Andrew if interested at Andrew.NGLG@gmail.com

That about does it for tonight. Stay warm. Enjoy the snow if we get it. And don’t forget to….

EAT WELL,

Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew

Conyers Locally Grown:  Available for Friday February 20

I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. We have some exciting new products listed this week. David and Shalley Carrell from Carrell Farm have listed some alpaca. The alpaca meat is a lean red meat that is outstanding. Double B Farm added a few new pork sampler packs to the list.
We hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor and appreciate all of your support. Please remember to share us with a friend.

Thank you,
Brady

Atlanta Locally Grown:  Available for Saturday February 21

I hope this finds you all doing well. The market is open and ready for orders. We will see you on Saturday at your selected delivery location; Brookhaven, Piedmont park or Sandy Springs.thank you for all your support,
Brady

Fresh Harvest, LLC:  Fresh Harvest - No delivery this week due to extreme cold!

Market News

Hello!

It’s going to be a cold week ahead, and we are therefore postponing delivery until next week. The low temperature on Wednesday night looks to be one of the coldest on record, and we are anticipating the worst in regards to crop survival. The farmers at Bear Creek Farm and Wedge Oak will be hard at work keeping their baby animals warm and hydrated

Please look for our next email one week from tonight on Sunday, February 22nd. Our next delivery will be Wednesday, February 25th.
Please stay warm and safe!
As always, thanks so much for your support, and we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday!

John and Tallahassee

Coming Events

Dawson Local Harvest:  New Additions

DAWSON LOCAL HARVEST for February 20th

New Additions to The Market This Week.

HI EVERYONE.

Got some new products available for all of you to consider. First up, some new Breads are being offered by MY DAILY BREAD including Sourdough, Challah and Pumpernickel Rye. Sounds scrumptious!

Also available this week is fresh, locally-grown Produce from LEILANI’S, with a couple of interesting Swiss Chards and crisp, tasty Romaine Lettuce among their offerings.

Take a look at The Market to see everything offered this week.

THE MARKET IS NOW OPEN!

REMEMBER! You can order until Tuesday night at 8pm. Pick up your order at Leilani’s Gardens Friday afternoons from 4 to 7pm.

You’ll find the DAWSON LOCAL HARVEST at http://dawsonville.locallygrown.net

We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible! We guarantee your satisfaction with all products in the DAWSON LOCAL HARVEST.

Have a happy and healthy week!

Alan Vining
Market Manager

Athens Locally Grown:  ALG Open for February 19

Green Fork Farmers Market:  Weekly Product List

Dear Green Fork Farmers Market Customers,

NEW this week—Bee Well Gardens joins us this week with beautiful potted paperwhites!

Also available this week:

Vegetables—Lettuce mix and spinach.

*Meat*—pastured chicken, lamb, pork, organ meats, soup bones, and parts for stock.

Eggs—pastured chicken eggs.

Specialty foods—fermented sauerkraut and jalapenos, salsa made from local and organic ingredients, sugar cookies, and olives directly from the grower in California. Figgieville will also have a new shipment of olive oil coming in soon.

Place your order from now until Tuesday at noon, and we’ll reserve your products for pickup on Wednesday from 4-7 pm. Or you can stop by to see what we have for sale on our tables.

Thank you, and see you on Wednesday!

Green Fork Farmers Market

Wednesdays 4-7 pm
Indoors, Year Round
At Nightbird Books

Savannah, GA:  Honey

A searing investigation of the honey market by Food Safety News found that 76% of all honey bought at grocery stores were treated with a process called “ultra-filtration,” which removes not only impurities like wax, but also all traces of pollen. And of the types of brands at grocery stores, the ones that were far-and-away the most likely to be ultra-filtered were generic brands.

There are issues with ultra-filtration in general. Many believe that pollen, and other so-called “impurities,” are actually beneficial to human health, and make honey a better choice than rival sweeteners like sugar. And there doesn’t seem to be any serious benefit to the process; it’s expensive and doesn’t significantly improve shelf-life, even though some manufacturers claim it does.

But according to FSN, the biggest reason to avoid ultra-filtered honey is that pollen is the only sure-fire way to trace the source of honey to a geographic location. As a result ultra-filtered honey is often used to mask the shady origins of certain kinds of honey, especially Chinese honey, which is subject to heavy import tariffs on account of its frequent contamination by heavy metals and illegal antibiotics. Chinese honeymakers ultra-filter their honey, and then ship it through byzantine paths, to sneak their sham product onto American grocery shelves without being hit with a tariff.

Food Safety News honey samples were sent to premier melissopalynologist and professor at Texas A&M University, Vaughn Bryant. What he found was that roughly three fourths of the honey contained no pollen, making it unidentifiable and unsafe. Of that average, he found that:

-100 percent of Winnie the Pooh sold in Walmart stores had all pollen removed.

-100 percent of honey from individual packets from KFC and McDonald’s had all pollen removed.

-77 percent of honey from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, and Target had no traced of pollen.

-100 percent of honey from drugstores like Walgreen’s and CVS Pharmacy had all the pollen filtered out.

He did find out, however, that honey purchased from co-ops, farmers markets and stores like Trader Joes contained the full amount of original pollen.

Many have called for the FDA to do more to prevent adulterated and smuggled honey from landing on grocery shelves, but the group has so far shrugged off the burden.

The EU, for its part, just changed labeling regulations to require that honey containers list “pollen” as an ingredient, when it is one, despite the objections of some honey farmers, who call pollen intrinsic to their produce.

One ounce of raw honey contains approximately 20 vitamins, 18 amino acids, 16 minerals, and a ton of antioxidants and phytonutrients. Raw honey is an antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal substance. It is also highly nutritious. It contains significant amounts of B2, B3, B5, B6, C, magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium chlorine, sulphur, and phosphate.

In the meantime, though, worried consumers do have a good option: buying honey from farmers’ markets and natural food stores. The FSN investigation found that few, if any, of the honeys sold there had been subject to ultra-filtration.

The Wednesday Market:  Order Now; A Poem about Winter

Good afternoon, all.

The Wednesday Market is open for orders. Please place your orders by 10 p.m. Monday. Orders are ready for pick up Wednesday between 3 and 6 p.m. Be sure to check the website for this week’s offerings. Here is the link: http://wednesdaymarket.locallygrown.net/market

Weather forecasters are predicting some wintry weather over the next two days for points north of us. With that in mind, here is a poem for you:

When it was Winter

by Eman Elbadawi

First, when the shadow stood
Behind the window
It wasn’t winter yet
Or it was winter –
No one could say for sure I knew:
It is winter
It’s very cold
But it dosn’t rain
And it seems it won’t.
Then suddenly it started to rain:
One drop
Two drops
The eye gazed
Behind the windows:
It rained
A hundred drops
A thousand
A million
A thousand million –
Until the world was clean!

As of this writing, it is anyone’s guess what tomorrow has in store for us. While my children would love to play in the snow, I hope that all we get is rain! No matter what Mother Nature sends our way, here’s hoping that you all stay safe, dry, and warm.

We’ll see you on Wednesday.

Thanks,

Beverly