Better late than never :-)

At this point I’m sure it’s no shock that I’ve always loved writing. What’s most interesting for me currently is not only having had an outlet and reason TO write, but to get feedback from many of you! When I first had a story or vendor feature that seemed longer than normal, I questioned my husband whether I should (sigh) attempt to shorten them. His reply? “The people who want to read it are going to, and the people who aren’t will ignore a long email same as a short, so just go for it.” I knew I loved him.

And I so enjoy your reactions! The number of folks who emailed or talked at Pickup with tales of their mothers’ saved collections of butter papers, aluminum foil, bread and cereal bags, rubber bands, bread ties, etc. was unprecedented! Or those who grew up on a farm, or with a garden and canning all summer, or your own experiences teaching inner city youth – one gentlemen said he could relate to the stories of my Dayton students because he’d been at Belmont. If you didn’t have such relatable stories to share with me, I wouldn’t be encouraged to continue.

Last Tuesday at Market Pickup, one woman struck me in particular, as she said she feels it’s truly the land that connects us all, just in different ways. When she generously said I’d be missed, I told her I feel the same about all of you – you’ve never failed to amaze me at the end of each Market night that you’re all just, well, NICE, individually and collectively. It’s a pleasant place in which to work, and I told her it’s just so lovely what a nice, good group of people we have.

She said it’s that connection to the land – either folks grew up on farms, or wished they did, had or have a small garden, can relate to living off the land or are interested because it’s so far from what they know, or they simply appreciate the work which goes in to producing their food…

Food could be possibly the single unifier of such a diverse group (never more evident just how diverse from the last election til now). And I can watch folks who couldn’t agree on Anything in another setting all willingly choose to come to the same place to shop for local food – that’s very powerful to me. And it’s a refreshing time to have to step away, having been able to witness this beautiful group all making one singular, similar choice, irrespective of anything else.

But I must apologize for throwing many of you for a loop last night – since I almost always open Market with an email, when things went haywire and I just literally clicked the “Allow Customers to Order” button, many didn’t realize the Market was truly open for orders as they received no email! I got wrapped up going over things with Erin as our volunteer Marinda Mucci put everything away, and all of a sudden the folks who hold a meeting at 7pm in our pickup room began to arrive, before we were anywhere close to wrapped up!

So going home thinking I’d just finish up there was, well, futile – we’d packed up in Kentucky and left yesterday morning at 7am to drive back in time (thank the Good Lord Cincinnati was just normal hectic) to get invoices printed, highlighted, and me packed up to meet Erin (late! Ah!) at First Place, thankfully before all vendors showed up except poor Sugar Grove Maple, who was delivering more of their ever popular, always delicious maple syrup and sugar.

So since it’d been just another crazy Market day for the Ruff’s, when I showed up with all these little faces glad Mommy was home, well, many things did not happen last night, least of all the Market email!!

But yes, we’re Back for another happy week, and I’ll see many of you this upcoming Tuesday for Turkey pickups!! Yum yum yum!!