Need New Account starting tonight!

*You’ll need a new account to shop on MCLG starting August 2nd – tonight!

How to Sign Up:
1. Go to MiamiCountyLocallyGrown.com (capitals don’t matter)

2. Click on SHOP at the top of the screen.

3. You will be taken to our “store” on the Open Food Network (OFN) sales platform. Click on Login at the top of the screen.

4. You will be prompted to enter your email address (this will be your username) and to create a password. (This site does allow credit card purchases online, so you may want to select a secure password if you plan to shop with credit card.)

5. Select Remember Me if you don’t want to enter your password each time.

How to Shop:
1. After clicking SHOP from miamicountylocallygrown.com, and landing on our store on OFN, products from all of our vendors will show up.

2. Use Filter By to find products or use the Search Box. Add products to your Cart and click Checkout when you’re done.

"You shoes, you lose!"

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We just returned from a family vacation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula a few days ago. I have great-great family members buried in the town cemetery and have been going up since I was born.

In attempts to console ourselves about the end of vacation, we always end up tossing around the question “what’s good about Ohio?” on our way back from up north. It’s hard to leave the cool, sunny weather; the small town where you don’t need a car; beautiful woods at every turn; fresh, locally-caught whitefish; copious amounts of wild blueberries for the picking…

There is one big advantage to living in Ohio though – and that’s the growing season. It feels impossible to get a good salad up there, although sweet cherries and those wild blueberries are fantastic and plentiful. But vegetables! We need them! Deep red, heavy tomatoes; crisp, bright peppers; tender and crunchy leafy greens – we really are in the heart of farmland down here. Only once you’re elsewhere for a period of time do you realize what’s missing.

And something that came from being barefoot in all those beautiful woods was a raging and fierce case of poison ivy for my daughter. Many of you have probably noticed that she rarely has shoes on at the Market, and I tried my darnedest to keep her shoes on up there, but clearly to no avail. She literally cannot walk on her left foot and has to hop to get around – a gigantic blister seems to be swallowing her pinky toe.

Imagine rest area bathrooms with piggy back rides and bare feet – yick! Not fun. One would think this might convince her that shoes have their place, but frankly I doubt it. She once wrote a book explaining why “you shoes, you lose!”, which she planned to brandish in stores and other places requiring shoes.

Anyway, that poison ivy episode could happen anywhere there are woods I suppose, but I’m going to add it to my reasons I’m glad to be home!

Erin

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Manual Labor, the Dignity Thereof

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I was brought up in the school of thought that getting a college degree is the foundation of financial security and fulfilling work. In many ways, that of course is still true. But what is omitted from this picture is the necessity and diversity of other kinds of work requiring no college degree, that are equally important to the healthy functioning of any economy. I did in fact get that college degree (two, actually), but my life has turned out much different than expected.

Through a convoluted path, I’ve ended up owning/developing/caring for a 25-acre farm, mainly because it had belonged to my grandmother, and I didn’t want it to pass out of the family when she left us. So here we are, 18 years later, and a great deal of sweat equity and financial commitment to build some land enterprises have become a small part of the local food movement.

It is not glamorous, and most of the work is solitary. But this constitutes the bare bones of doing something mostly on principle, and for very modest financial gain. At the end of the day, I am deeply satisfied to do work that truly matters, that does benefit others, even though confirmation of that fact comes infrequently with grateful visitors and customers. I am playing the long game.

My brother works for the Longshoreman’s Union in Long Beach, California. This has given me a great appreciation for the importance of manual labor, which tends to be looked down upon in our society. The same applies to farming, a very manual occupation. But let us stand up for all the people whose work is indispensable, keeping the foundation of our economy going strong.

Caroline McColloch
Chez Nous Farm
cheznousfarm@gmail.com

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The Market is open!

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Hi everyone,

So this is the last week we’ll be using this sales platform/ordering site.

Next Tuesday, August 2nd, when I open the market at 9pm, it’ll be on the new sales platform. There will be a message here telling you where to go.

Jennifer did a phenomenal job setting this all up on locallygrown.net, and this platform served MCLG very well for quite a long time. We’ve just found that there are some limitations that prohibit us from growing the market in the direction we’d like. So we’ve found a new platform, Open Food Network, that has some capabilities that we didn’t have before.

You’ve all been so supportive and helpful to me as I’ve tried to follow in Jennifer’s footsteps. Now I’m asking you to keep supporting MCLG as we make this transition.

If anyone needs help with ordering on the new site, our email and phone number will remain the same. Please reach out anytime!

Erin

Closing for orders!

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I’m sorry everyone – I forgot to send a reminder today about orders closing for the week.

I’ll leave the Market open until 10pm in case anyone wants to get any last minute orders in.

Erin

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Raccoon Invasion

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From the American Heritage Dictionary: vermin n., pl. vermin 1. Any of various small animals or insects that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health, as cockroaches or rats.

Contrary to a Disney version, there’s also the saying, “nature red, in tooth and claw” hinting at a darker side, at least from the human view. Although I do think a gazelle on the African Savannah being pursued by lions might agree with the tooth and claw part.

I had my first encounter with raccoons recently – the first time in 18 years living at Chez Nous Farm. Accustomed to leaving various doors open in summer, I awoke to three juvenile individuals wreaking havoc on the breezeway early one morning. Though quite traumatizing them with a good deal of yelling and the nearest broom I could grab, I knew they’d be back and that the flower garden and two greenhouses (especially those precious raspberries!) were all at risk of significant damage.

Forthwith, I learned how to repair and operate live traps thanks to help from my more experienced next-door neighbor. And once captured, knowing I would have an unpleasant chore to do, I borrowed a .22 rifle from my contractor. Right off, one of the three coons was trapped and dispatched, and the trap has since been untouched. This might not be the end of the story yet…

One of the harsh realities of a farm is that death is not an uncommon visitor, and this ‘ole pioneer woman has steeled her nerves to do whatever must be done. I have buried horses, dogs, cats, chickens, and goats. Nonetheless, I do have a squeamish side, and a tender spot too, having rescued certain spiders or barn swallows fallen from the nest…

Lastly, any conscientious person who eats meat must morally reconcile oneself with the death of an animal. My view has been the lesser of two evils: unlike factory-farmed animals who lived horrendous lives if that could be called life – the ones raised locally with species-appropriate diets, fresh air and water, and good pasture – had the best life they could get until the last day.

Caroline McColloch
Chez Nous Farm
cheznousfarm@gmail.com

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We are open!

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We’re open – have a great week everyone!

Pruning: a Science and an Art

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Anyone who has ever seriously cultivated tomatoes knows how the vines can become a kind of out-of-control monster like that plant in Rocky Horror Picture Show. They are so prolific that too many days of neglect makes you throw up your hands and let nature win. Personally, I’ve sworn off growing tomatoes at present.

So what did I do? Set up shop with 230 raspberry plants…HA. Raspberry canes are at least as aggressive as tomato vines. The science of pruning is as follows: cut back the “suckers”, e.g., small starts, leaving the biggest canes, and the plant will use its energy exclusively for the best producing parts. Also, the lowest leaves tend to be insect bait and provide cover for all sorts of unwanted bugs. Remove all of that, and more light and air can circulate, which deters pests.

There is also an art to pruning. Every cut (and there are hundreds), requires a decision, and some can be somewhat subjective. It comes down to a kind of dynamic judgment, not a formulaic thing that requires no thought.

It occurs to me that the concept of pruning has parallels in the realm of the spirit as well. This business of cutting away unnecessary parts of one’s life (whether deliberately or by “misfortune”) though painful, often results in a renewing of strength and purpose which could not come by any other way. “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12). And a corollary in James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Caroline McColloch
Chez Nous Farm
cheznousfarm@gmail.com

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Michael's Pastured Poultry - update!

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Often times I’ll be standing in line and someone will say, “I enjoyed watching you grow up”. I’m always a little bit shocked. Sometimes I’ll actually know the person and other times not! They’ve watched me grow up through blogs on MCLG, through newspaper articles, and Facebook posts. It might be a picture
of me showing a cow at the fair, or an article on my business, Michael’s Pastured Poultry, or my accomplishments through FFA.

I reflect on those days and all the memories made and smile and thank all of you for supporting me. I would never have reached my goals without the support of awesome customers like you! I can’t thank you enough!

Many of you ask my Mom, ‘What’s Michael up to?” My plans are to eventually step into managing Bair-Trax Dairy and add my pastured poultry business to the farm. Before this can happen there are a few requirements from Mom and Dad. One requirement is to go away! Can you believe that? My parents wanted me to experience something other than the dairy, work for someone else, be out on my own, and make sure I actually wanted to come back to the dairy.

So, I did! I’m in Colorado currently, interning for a year on a farm in the Aspen area. Their main enterprise is a vegetable CSA and poultry. I am spending lots of time at farmer’s markets and learning to process chickens. A big thank you to King’s for processing my chicken. I have definitely learned that is something I don’t want to do.

I’ve spent numerous weekends helping neighboring ranches brand cattle and I’m learning how to move irrigation and how to irrigate properly. I’ve also had some time to go on some incredible hikes and I’m hoping to have time this winter to learn to snowboard.

Don’t worry! Thanks to my Mom and Dad, Michael’s Pastured Poultry is still providing Certified Organic, Pasture-Raised, Non-GMO and soy-free chickens for you and your family! My parents keep me abreast of what’s happening and we discuss any changes or new products that we want to try. If you haven’t tried the new brats – hot Italian and tomato basil – you should! We also added drum quarters, which are the drum and thigh packaged together. I haven’t had them, but my Mom says she loves them on the grill!

I’m learning a lot and making lots of new friends and memories. I miss home and the dairy, so I’m still planning on being back. And I look forward to continuing to grow Michael’s Pastured Poultry… all because of you! Thank you!

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We're open!

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We’re open for the week!

The countdown is on for the new site to be ready. We have only three more ordering weeks using the current system. Then on August 2nd, we’ll open the Market as usual by 9PM that evening, but on the new site. It’s exciting!

The new site will take credit cards using Stripe, which is well-known and very secure. You’ll still be able to pay with cash or check in person of course.

It’s very easy to sign up on the new site, but we can walk customers through the process during pickup on August 2nd.

Thank you so much for your support!