Citrus County Locally Grown:  Happy New Year

MARKET NEWS

Wishing you a Very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and Peacefilled 2015

With the New Year we are seeing an increase in locally grown organic winter greens. Check out 3 Rock Farm offerings

3 Rock Farm

Winter Greens are here at 3 Rock Farm! Besides the MicroGreens in 3 varieties, we are harvesting these vegetables this week. As always, everything is grown organically, from organic, NON-GMO seeds, here on our farm in Dunnellon:

Curly Kale
Baby Bok Choy
Arugula
Snow Peas
Lettuce Mix
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Scallions

This market, Citrus County Locally Grown, will remain open for orders until 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, January 7, 2015

Pickup is Thursday December 8, 2015

Our growers thank you for supporting local growers and businesses. Your orders make a real difference

Thank you for supporting your On-Line Farmers Market. Your purchases have made a difference to many families

Your CCLG Team

THE MARKET IS OPEN
The link below will take you there.

www.citruscounty.locallygrown.net/.*

Fresh Harvest, LLC:  Fresh Harvest - No delivery this week of January 4th, 2015

Green Fork Farmers Market:  Weekly Product List

Dear Green Fork Farmers Market Customers,

Happy New Year to all of you!

Stock up again at this week’s market, as we will not have a market next week due to the SSAWG agriculture conference. The next market will be Wednesday, January 21. We will then resume our regular weekly schedule each Wednesday from 4-7 pm.

Figgieville still has Kalamata olive oil on sale for an unbeatable price. Get this while it lasts.

Also available this week:

Vegetables—arugula, lettuce, kale, and spinach.

Mushrooms—Shiitakes

Herbs—Sage and a mixed herb bunch.

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

Eggs—pastured chicken and duck eggs.

Specialty foods—fermented sauerkraut and jalapenos, salsa made from local and organic ingredients, sugar cookies, sweet pepper/jalapeno jelly, and olives and olive oil directly from the grower in California.

Go ahead and place your order from now until Tuesday at noon. We’ll also have products available for sale at the market on Wednesday.

Thanks for all of your support last year, and we look forward to serving you again in 2015. You are the ones who make all of our hard work worth it!

Green Fork Farmers Market

Wednesdays 4-7 pm
Indoors, Year Round
At Nightbird Books
205 W. Dickson St.
Fayetteville, AR

To place your order, click on the link below to enter the website. Sign in as a customer, then click on the icon next to each product you wish to order. Proceed to checkout, review the list to make sure it’s correct, then scroll to the bottom and click on Place This Order. Make sure you receive a confirmation email—if you don’t, your order was not processed. Payment is at the market pickup with cash, check, debit/credit card, EBT, and Senior FMNP coupons. Ask about our doubling program for EBT and SFMNP!

CLG:  Opening Bell: Soap, Cauliflower, Bratwurst, Broccoli, Coffee...

Good afternoon,
Our Growers have been busy producing some wonderful food for 2015! Order now for pick up this Friday, January 9th. Lots of great products available, including some great bulk buys on broccoli. Be sure to share us with your friends on Facebook, especially those who are concerned about where their food comes from. We have several items priced under $3 that make great gifts for any occasion. And… CLG is the only farmers market in Conway open right now!

Available now!: ONLINE PAYMENT OPTION. When you are done shopping, just hit the “proceed to checkout” button in your cart. You will then see the option to “Pay Now” with credit card near the bottom. Just follow the prompts to add your card. Be sure to read the screen until you see “Thank you for your order” on the top. If you need help, please call 339-7958. A 3% online payment convenience fee will be added when your card is charged.

Check out all the Featured Products and use the SEARCH field on the main Market page to quickly find the items you want.

Come early on Friday for the best selection from the EXTRAS table.

The market is now OPEN for orders. Please check your email about 5 minutes after you place your order to make sure you get an order confirmation. Thank you for being a valuable part of CLG!

Have a great week!
Steve

How to contact us:

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. Instead…

Phone or text: Steve – 501-339-1039

Email: Steve – kirp1968@sbcglobal.net

Our Website: www.conway.locallygrown.net

On Twitter: @conwaygrown

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Conway-Locally-Grown/146991555352846

Savannah, GA:  Happy New Year.

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Honey
By Dr. Mercola

Honey has been valued as a natural sweetener long before sugar became widely available in the 16th century. Honey production flourished in ancient Greece and Sicily, for instance, while animals other than humans – bears, badgers, and more – have long raided honeybee hives, risking stings for the sweet reward.1

Honey is truly a remarkable substance, made even more extraordinary by the process with which it is made. This blend of sugar, trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids is quite unlike any other sweetener on the planet.

And while honey is high in fructose, it has many health benefits when used in moderation (assuming you’re healthy). Before I delve into those, here’s a brief “lesson” on how honey is made…

How Honey Is Made (Fascinating!)

It takes about 60,000 bees, collectively traveling up to 55,000 miles and visiting more than 2 million flowers, to gather enough nectar to make one pound of honey.2

Once the nectar is gathered, the bee stores it in its extra stomach where it mixes with enzymes, and then passes it (via regurgitation) to another bee’s mouth. This process is repeated until the nectar becomes partially digested and is then deposited into a honeycomb.

Once there, the honeybees fan the liquid nectar with their wings, helping the water to evaporate and create the thick substance you know as “honey.” This honeycomb is then sealed with a liquid secretion from the bee’s abdomen, which hardens into beeswax. As Live Science reported:3

“Away from air and water, honey can be stored indefinitely, providing bees with the perfect food source for cold winter months.”

There are more than 300 kinds of honey in the US, each with a unique color and flavor that is dependent upon the nectar source. Lighter colored honeys, such as those made from orange blossoms, tend to be milder in flavor while darker-colored honeys, like those made from wildflowers, tend to have a more robust flavor.4

5 Honey Facts You Might Not Know

Honey, particularly in its raw form, offers unique health benefits that you might not be aware of. Among them…

1. Honey Makes Excellent Cough “Medicine”

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists honey as a demulcent, which is a substance that relieves irritation in your mouth or throat by forming a protective film.5

Research shows honey works as well as dextromethorphan, a common ingredient in over the counter cough medications, to soothe cough and related sleeping difficulties due to upper respiratory tract infections in children.6

2. Honey Can Treat Wounds

Honey was a conventional therapy in fighting infection up until the early 20th century, at which time its use slowly vanished with the advent of penicillin. Now the use of honey in wound care is regaining popularity, as researchers are determining exactly how honey can help fight serious skin infections.

Honey has antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidants activities that make it ideal for treating wounds. In the US, Derma Sciences uses Manuka honey for their Medihoney wound and burn dressings.

Manuka honey is made with pollen gathered from the flowers of the Manuka bush (a medicinal plant), and clinical trials have found this type of honey can effectively eradicate more than 250 clinical strains of bacteria, including resistant varieties such as:

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
MSSA (methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus)
VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci)
Compared to other types of honey, Manuka has an extra ingredient with antimicrobial qualities, called the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF). It is so called because no one has yet been able to discover the unique substance involved that gives it its extraordinary antibacterial activity.

Honey releases hydrogen peroxide through an enzymatic process, which explains its general antiseptic qualities, but active Manuka honey contains “something else” that makes it far superior to other types of honey when it comes to killing off bacteria.7

That being said, research shows that any type of unprocessed honey helped wounds and ulcers heal. In one study, 58 of 59 wounds showed “remarkable improvement following topical application of honey.”8

3. Honey Improves Your Scalp

Honey diluted with a bit of warm water was shown to significantly improve seborrheic dermatitis, which is a scalp condition that causes dandruff and itching. After applying the solution every other day for four weeks, “all of the patients responded markedly.” According to the researchers:9

“Itching was relieved and scaling was disappeared within one week. Skin lesions were healed and disappeared completely within 2 weeks. In addition, patients showed subjective improvement in hair loss.”

4. Help Boost Your Energy

A healthy, whole-food diet and proper sleep is the best recipe for boundless energy, but if you’re looking for a quick energy boost, such as before or after a workout, honey can suffice. This is particularly true for athletes looking for a “time-released fuel” to provide energy over a longer duration.10

5. Reduce Allergy Symptoms

Locally produced honey, which will contain pollen spores picked up by the bees from local plants, introduces a small amount of allergen into your system. Theoretically, this can activate your immune system and over time can build up your natural immunity against it.

The typical recommendation is to take about a teaspoon-full of locally produced honey per day, starting a few months PRIOR to the pollen season, to allow your system to build up immunity. And the key here is local.

This approach only works because it has pollen of local plants you may be allergic to. Honey from other parts of the country simply won’t work. While research on this has yielded conflicting results, one study found that, during birch pollen season, compared to the control group, the patients using birch pollen honey experienced:11

60 percent reduction in symptoms
Twice as many asymptomatic days
70 percent fewer days with severe symptoms
50 percent decrease in usage of antihistamines
Interestingly enough, there were few differences between the two honey groups (those who took regular honey, versus those who took honey that contained birch pollen.) However, the birch pollen honey group used less histamines than those who used regular honey. The authors concluded:

“Patients who pre-seasonally used birch pollen honey had significantly better control of their symptoms than did those on conventional medication only, and they had marginally better control compared to those on regular honey. The results should be regarded as preliminary, but they indicate that birch pollen honey could serve as a complementary therapy for birch pollen allergy.”

Honey for Herpes

Good-quality honey offers several topical wound-care benefits that can explain some of its success as a remedy for herpes sores:

It draws fluid away from your wound
The high sugar content suppresses microorganism growth
Worker bees secrete an enzyme (glucose oxidase) into the nectar, which then releases low levels of hydrogen peroxide when the honey makes contact with your wound
In one study, 16 adult subjects with a history of recurrent labial and genital herpes attacks used honey to treat one attack, and a commonly prescribed antiviral drug, Acyclovir cream, during another. (It’s important to realize that neither the drug nor the honey will actually cure genital herpes. They only treat the symptoms.)

Interestingly, honey provided significantly better treatment results. For labial herpes, the mean healing time was 43 percent better, and for genital herpes, 59 percent better than acyclovir. Pain and crusting was also significantly reduced with the honey, compared to the drug. Two cases of labial herpes and one case of genital herpes remitted completely with the honey treatment, whereas none remitted while using acyclovir.12

3 DIY Honey Home Remedies

Honey is a humectant, which means it attracts and retains moisture, making it an ideal addition to moisturizers, shampoos, and conditioners. Along with its antimicrobial properties, honey makes a wonderful addition to homemade personal care products. The National Honey Board has a few you can try out for yourself:13

Honey Hair Conditioner: Mix ½ cup honey with ¼ cup olive oil. Work a small amount through your hair until coated. Cover your hair with a shower cap and let sit for 30 minutes. Shampoo as normal and rinse.
Honey Body Moisturizer: Mix 5 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons rose oil, and 2 cups almond oil in a medium-sized bottle. Apply as needed onto wet skin.
Honey Almond Scrub: Mix 3 teaspoons honey, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and 6 ½ tablespoons of finely crushed almonds. Rub the exfoliating scrub onto your face gently and rinse with warm water.
The Organic Consumers Association has also published this simple honey lemon cough syrup that’s useful to keep on hand during the winter months:14

Honey Lemon Cough Syrup

Lemon helps promote health by quickly alkalinizing your body, and honey will kill most bacteria while soothing your throat. This is a perfect choice for a quick cough remedy.

Put a pint of raw honey in a pan on the stove on VERY low heat (Do not boil honey as this changes its medicinal properties).
Take a whole lemon and boil in some water in a separate pan for 2-3 minutes to both soften the lemon and kill any bacteria that may be on the lemon skin.
Let the lemon cool enough to handle then cut it in slices and add it to the pint of honey on the stove.
Let mixture cook on warm heat for about an hour.
Then strain the lemon from the honey making sure all lemon seeds are removed.
Let cool, then bottle in a jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator.
This syrup will keep for 2 months in the refrigerator. To soothe a cough, take 1/2 teaspoon for a 25 lb. child and 1 teaspoon for a 50 lb. child, about 4 times a day, or as often as needed. Adults can take 1-tablespoon doses.

Is Honey a Healthy Natural Sweetener? How to Avoid Fake Honey

As far as natural sweeteners go, honey does have a place. The main thing to remember when it comes to honey is that not all honey is created equal. The antibacterial activity in some honeys is 100 times more potent than in others, while processed refined honey will lack many of these beneficial properties altogether. Your average domestic “Grade A” type honey found in the grocery store is likely highly processed.

It’s also been found that more than 75 percent of the honey on American supermarket shelves may be ultra-processed—to the point that all inherent medicinal properties are completely gone—and then smuggled into the country by the barrel drum. Nearly all of this “fake” honey is made in China. Some of these brokers will even create bogus country of origin papers. All 60 jars of “honey” tested by Food Safety News (FSN) came back negative for pollen, which is a clear sign of ultra-processing.15 According to FSN:

“The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies. The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others have also ruled that without pollen, there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.”

In their investigation, FSN discovered the following:

76 percent of honey samples bought at grocery stores (such as TOP Food, Safeway, QFC, Kroger, Harris Teeter, etc.) were absent of pollen
77 percent of the honey from big box stores (like Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, and Target) were absent of pollen
100 percent of the honey sampled from drug stores (like Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and CVS Pharmacy) were absent of pollen
The good news is all of the samples from farmers markets, co-ops, and natural stores like Trader Joe’s had the full, proper compliment of pollen, as did organic brands from common grocery stores. When choosing honey, be sure it is raw, unfiltered, and 100% pure, from a trusted source.

Honey Should Be Consumed Only in Moderation

Honey has many healthy attributes, but it is also high in fructose, averaging around 53 percent. Each teaspoon of honey has nearly four grams of fructose, which means it can exacerbate pre-existing insulin resistance and wreak havoc on your body if consumed in excess. So when consuming honey, carefully add the total grams of fructose (including fruits) that you consume each day, and stay below 25 grams of total fructose per day.

Keep in mind, though, that if you have insulin resistance (i.e. if you are taking drugs for high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, or if you’re overweight) you’d be better off avoiding all sweeteners, including honey, since any sweetener can decrease your insulin sensitivity and worsen your insulin resistance. If you’re healthy, however, eating raw honey in moderation could provide many of the benefits listed above.

Russellville Community Market:  RCM Opening Bell! Happy New Year!

Welcome to another RCM Market Week!

Happy New Year Russellville. A sincere thank you to everyone who has been with us for 2014! Welcome to 2015! This year we will strive to make the market even better for you, our farmers, and for the community of Russellville!

Be sure to check out the newly listed items this week! Lots of great, local products to be had!

Happy shopping! Eat Local!

Check out the “Featured Items” section as well as the “What’s New” section at the top of the market page for all the latest products available.

Be sure to “Like” our Facebook page for updates and food-related events in your community!

To ensure your order is placed, make sure you click the “Place My Order” button once you have completed your shopping. Remember, you have until 10:00pm Tuesday evening to place your orders.

Happy Shopping! See you on Thursday!

Russellville Community Market

FRESH.LOCAL.ONLINE.

ALFN Local Food Club:  The Market Is Open!

Sundays are pretty great, aren’t they? They’re the one day a week when anything is an option. You can sleep late and have breakfast at noon, or get up extra early just to enjoy the quiet. Personally, I use Sunday as an opportunity to cook a big batch of slow food to enjoy all week long. It’s also a great time to plan the next week’s menu, since The Market is open and packed with a myriad of locally grown veggies, pastured meats, and artisanal breads and cheeses. Just one click, and you can order everything you need without every putting down that cup of coffee. It doesn’t get much better than this!

-Rebecca Wild
Program Manager

Do you have questions or comments about this, or any, weblog? Thoughts on local food, goods, or events? Reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated!

Spa City Local Farm Market Co-op:  No Mountain Meadows this market

Please note that Mountain Meadows meats will not be able to deliver this market. If you’ve already placed orders for them, those orders will be deleted.

They will be back the following market on the 17th.

Champaign, OH:  Rock Stars Of Local!

I am so excited to bring you a few rock star headlines that will make you proud of the market that you love, AND, proud of it’s rock star vendors…especially two of our vendors who are in top position to take on a very high honor!

First…your rock stars who manage your market, were just featured in the newest edition of, Ohio Farm Magazine!! Amazing article, and I am taking it to our own local, Main Graphics, tomorrow, to have the article enlarged and mounted so that you can see it on display in our market area at the YMCA!! We appreciate any coverage that comes our way…it allows us to continue to get the word out and about our amazing market and the amazing customers and vendors who rock it, each and every week!

Now…a rock and roll drumroll for the next two vendors…they are both amazing, both have spent years building their separate businesses, and both are vendors, here, at our market, and I am lucky enough to have them both as vendors at the Mechanicsburg Farmers and Artisans Market!!! One is even my VP at that market…and your own assistant manager, at this market!

Wittenburg University just released the five finalists who are in the running for their 2015 EBAward!!! This is a HUGE Entrepreneur Business Award!! We have a past winner as a vendor…Freshwater Farms.

This year, it is our honor to announce that both Oakview Farm Meats AND Champaign Berry Farm are two of the five finalists!!!! We have rock star royalty among our vendors!!! The final decision will be made on January 29th! Let’s wish them both the very best and the best vibes…

This market continues to rock…and on some days, it makes me just want to cry…in a good way:)

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam

Champaign, OH:  Who Do You Love?

Come on baby take a walk with me…
Tell me who do you love…
Who do you love, now…
Who do you love, now…
Who do you love, babe…
I say who now, who do you love…
(Who Do You Love? The Doors)

I am feeling a whole lot of Jim Morrison, today, as I pack away Christmas decorations, get organized for a week of meetings and obligations, and get ready to begin moving into a new shop front in downtown Urbana. I have the music blasting at high decibels…this song just made me think of the market, how much we LOVE our customers, and really…let’s be honest, what is not to LOVE about our little market of love??

Who do you love is right…the love is in high gear for all of us!!

I hope that things are beginning to settle down for all of you now that the holiday hoopla is fading. We are in a brand new, shiny year…what’s not to love about that?

Your week will kick into high gear, tomorrow, and wouldn’t it be nice to take some time, today, to just leisurely place your weekly orders, not have to think about it, and then just breeze in, on Thursday, and pick it up, take it home, and be done? All with us taking the work out of it for you?

What about getting back to eating healthy? What about recommitting to local? What about needing warming coffees and teas to face this upcoming cold that looms? What about stocking your freezers with locally produced meats, fish, pizza dough…all for quick things to grab for dinner on the run.

What about stocking up on dairy, eggs, cheeses? All great for a quick breakfast, quick snack, quick dinner.

You will want herbs and spices to kick up the flavors of all of the wholesome food you will be stocking up!

Honey, maple syrup, molasses, jams, jellies, mustards, barbecue sauces…all must haves no matter what you are serving.

Baked goods…I know what you are thinking…NO MORE BAKED GOODS after all of the holiday baked goods. BUT…think about this…we offer healthy baked goods, all according to your tastes. We have vegan baked breads, pizza dough varieties, vegan treats. We have traditional baked goods, we have gluten free baked goods, and we have amazing cookies, pies, cakes…

With the winter winds and cold, why not treat your skin? We have amazing soaps and bath and body products, essential oils…all natural, all good for your skin…

You need your greens…we have those, although at this point in time, they are very limited quantity, due to the time of the season. But, we do have them…you just need to order, quickly!

If you are baking for your own home, we even have flour.

Basically, we’ve got it all, right here, in our little local market of love.

Who do you love? Well, how can you NOT love us and what we bring to your lives??

Peace and Love,
Cosmic Pam