Memorial Day

Services all over Miami County are planned for tomorrow at area cemeteries, as well as parades in Piqua, Covington, West Milton, Christiansburg, and Tipp City, in addition to an outdoor concert by the Troy Civic Band (“Honoring our Veterans”) and the 59th annual Memorial Day luncheon in Casstown!

The original purpose of Memorial Day, to remember all (now more than 1.2 million) who’ve died while serving in our armed forces, has certainly not been lost in Miami County.

In 1915 Mona Michael penned the following lines and started the tradition of wearing red poppies on Memorial Day to honor all of those who’ve died serving the USA…

Papaw's Hammer

A friend came to help on a major construction project and scoffed when I handed him an old wooden hammer that had seen better days. I tried to see what he saw… an ancient relic needing retirement, that would most likely give him a splinter. To us, the handle was molded for a perfect fit after years of my husband’s papaw using it for countless projects – I’d never considered using another.

That moment hit home, being forced to stop and consider all the tools and mementos surrounding us, just like so many other farmers, homesteaders, and artisans, whether tools we use daily or once a year, not simply because we have them, but because of the wisdom and memories they contain.

Someone asks what makes our butter so sweet? While our grassfed cows out on the fresh spring pasture may not hurt, the difference is truly my great grandmother’s churn, of course – what could be sweeter than having the time while at work churning with my children to recall all the old stories I’d heard about their experience as Slovenian immigrants, and how hard they worked to be sustainable? And every time we use that butter, what are we really eating? A commitment to quality spanning five generations, and plenty of TLC.

I believe that’s what we’re trying to hold onto with our commitment on the Virtual Market in supporting small, local families working to build their business and give to the community quality local products. If it were simply about buying and selling we’d all work at a large retail outlet for shorter hours and higher pay, and you’d shop exclusively at a big box store. Each vendor could continue to promote their business individually – but oh the potential if we all work together! Aren’t we stronger that way? It’s dwelling on that prospect of community becoming extended family that makes me envy the old-timers… threshing bees, quilting bees, barn raisings, and neighborhood potlucks at harvest. Swapping stories and recipes with you at pick-up gives me a hint of that same community, and I treasure it.

As I play with our children while my husband works with Papaw’s hammer, I glance up to see my great-grandmother’s irises in bloom, and smile to think of these “simple” people, who believed in the value of a hard day’s work, and struggled to improve their land, care for their family, and build their community by helping one another. How encouraging to know their legacy will continue to live as we build our own communities and further our own dreams, Blessed with their knowledge and the very tools they touched.

We're OPEN!!

6635 StudeBaker is back tonight, with two new organic sourdoughs – a Rustic Focaccia and “Barbara’s Special Bread”… spelt, sunflower and flax!

Plus Hamburger Buns from Rachel Lusk, just in time for grilling season to get into full swing! What could be easier than beef, chicken, or pork patties on the grill? We have them all!

And Live Simply Live Richly Farm returns with 6 varieties of Tomato plants, including Black Beauty!

Free TOUR at King's Poultry!!

And the time for the FREE tour of King and Son’s Bradford plant is almost here!! Mark your calendars for Saturday June 16th at 10am!!

Featured as a stop on the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s Farm Tour Series, we’ll have the opportunity to tour one of the ONLY federally inspected poultry processors in the state of Ohio!! Folks from as far as Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina come to utilize the King’s incredible facility and customer service – and they’re in OUR backyard?! Awesome!! :-)

See their pristine facility where they process flocks of every size, including the birds they raise with Non-GMO feed on their own farm – what better way to guarantee the highest quality products than by handling EVERYTHING from the raising to creating the brat recipes to carefully wrapping the final frozen package?!

There’ll be plenty of time to ask questions, visit their retail store, and maybe even learn how to improve your own efficiency in processing your backyard flock (or realize how well and affordably they can take care of that for you!)?

Gorgeous, fragrant, AND homegrown from our Newest Vendor?

They’re offering beautiful Spring Bundles now on the market – hand-tied and homegrown, it doesn’t get fresher or more beautiful than this! But these seasonal Spring beauties will only be available for a short time!!

What better way to ensure your home or office stays bright and cheery regardless of our crazy Ohio weather? :-)

New Cheeses, the return of StudeBaker, and more Produce!

New on the Market? Covington Cheese Co. has two delicious cheese varieties available again, Scarborough Fare and Caraway, but this time made with Certified Organic Milk!!

Each week we are seeing more produce added – Simple Living Farm has sweet snow peas to offer, plus more fresh herbs including Rosemary and Oregano!

Davidson Family Growers has added Cilantro back to their Market repertoire as they also again have plenty of their ever-popular Romaine to share!

And we were so glad to Welcome Back Pumpkin Patch with their asparagus (although it goes so fast!!), while we try to wait patiently for the bees to work their magic so they’ll be able to offer Honey again!!

Opening tonight with a Goodbye

As Katie was already a busy mom and wife with two lovely little girls, after baby Willow was born in December, it’s easy to understand how something like making soap would be difficult, when it requires so much precision and attention to detail (not easy or safe with three lively kids underfoot!)

Her job at Worch Memorial Library in Versailles also keeps her very busy, coordinating exciting classes and unique speakers for so many library programs – especially the Local Roots Seed Library (which EVERY gardener should check out!) and The Modern Homesteaders Group, which meets the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30pm! This month’s topic? Beekeeping, with Growing Small Grains and Pressure Canning/Food Preservation to follow!

Katie’s wonderful Lavender Chamomile Soap, lip balms, and Baby’s Bottom Salves will only be available on the market until the end of May!

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

My grandma always said that every day is mother’s day, and with 10 kids, she’d know!
I’m lucky she and my mom provided me selfless examples of how to be a good mother.

I am the mother of four children – our oldest just turned 7, and the youngest is 20 months – and I am grateful every day to have been so richly Blessed in my chosen vocation.

And this day is about more than just Mom… so many women, whether another relative, friend, teacher, neighbor, with that special mothering instinct have made a powerfully positive impact on our lives, and we don’t always have the opportunity to appreciate them as they deserve.

Congratulations to our youngest vendor!

Known to our market customers for his FFA project, Michael’s Poultry Pastured, Michael came away a big winner, and justifiably so!

Here’s the info mom Annette shared… "Michael has been working hard the last 2 years towards earning state agricultural proficiencies  through Miami East FFA.
He finally did it!  At this year’s Ohio State FFA convention, he won the following FFA Proficiency Awards:

1st in Organic
2nd in Diversified Livestock
2nd in Poultry

Thank you everyone supporting Michael and Michael’s Pastured Poultry.  He’s continuing to work towards a National proficiency next year!"

Annette Bair
Bair-Trax Dairy

:-)

We're OPEN with new winners and new products!

Susan Anderson, the April Refer-A-Friend Winner!

And Craig Hughes of Tin Roof Mobile Food for our Vendor Appreciation gift! Week in and week out, he’s volunteering himself to clean, pitch in, and help out regardless of how many other things should be demanding his attention on the farm. From the very beginning Craig has been a great believer in and supporter of this market – thank you!

I am so happy to share that we have more produce! Asparagus, rhubarb, lettuces… and more will be added all the time!

Can you believe Davidson Family Growers plans to have tomatoes available in the next few weeks?!

And Becky’s Buckeye Naturals has three new products debuting tonight – Laundry Butter (made with Lard from fellow vendor Phil and Matt Buehler Farms!), Beard Oil, and Beard Balm!! The best endorsement I can give the Laundry Butter? It cleaned our cloth diapers and ALL our farm funkiness! And even better – a little goes a long way – Awesome!!

Happy Shopping :-)