I'm in the mood for LOCAL!

Still time to get your order in today!!

New treats and old favorites on the market!!

Davidson Family Growers’ fresh cilantro

Turtle Brownies, the much-loved samples at pick-up, from Sugar Pie Bakery

A yummy bread sampler with 3 varieties from Jeanne’s Kitchen

The Buehler’s Lard for all your baking and frying needs

Luscious Lavender Lemon Scones from 6635 StudeBaker

Valentine’s Day specials from A Taste of Sugar Bakery

And news that’s sure to please… customer favorite STUDEBAKER PRETZELS are back!!

Tonight's featured vendor? Pumpkin Patch!!

It must have been a combination of the serene setting and their engaging company, but I could’ve happily sat on their porch all day, chatting and sipping iced tea that I normally don’t even like! It was delicious, as was my view.

With 7 total acres, their property is peaceful, utterly lovely… and Doc is the kind of generous, proud tour guide who gladly gives you a taste of everything. I soon learned he was also a gardener after my own heart, when he emphatically stated “Watermelon should be seeded, and tomatoes should be red!” Nell of course gave him the same look I’d seen my grandma give my jokester, gregarious grandfather a million times, which just endeared them both to me even more.

Living and gardening here since 1975, they said they’d always been growing things… from tomatoes they’d sell to restaurants (150lbs a week!) to heirloom melons they’d bought on a trip to Monticello – of course saving the seeds, to continue the strain Thomas Jefferson himself enjoyed. They even used to grow an entire acre of pumpkins, hence their “Pumpkin Patch” moniker, to provide the area schoolkids from Miami East and Piqua a fun field trip where they’d all go home with a pumpkin!

But he’s most proud of his honey, and Doc’s honey is special – not only is it raw and pure, but with his perfect set up, there is no need for it ever to be filtered, heated or strained. Standing in the building specifically for processing his honey, I was wholly envious how well he’d perfected a routine that worked, and afforded him “the best hobby” he ever had.

It all started when his 10-year-old middle son picked bees as his 4-H project, and Father and Son learned together at Bruckner, from the Miami County Beekeepers, where Doc has now been a member since 1982. Their 3rd son also helped care for the honeybees as a hobby, but it was good old dad who carried on after the sons went to college (I gave myself a good laugh when I got home and read what I’d written, that “dad carried on after sons went to cantaloupe” – Nell had been talking with me when Doc came out with yet another tasty sample, and as furiously as I’d been taking notes, it was easy to get a bit mixed up!)

Fresh veggies in January!

Tonight's featured vendor? Mike and Becky Smith - Simple Living Farm LLC!!!

Their focus? Grow healthy fruits and vegetables for area farmer’s markets and the CSA program they’d be starting the next year. They also began raising free-range meat chickens who are only fed non-GMO soy-free food!

Their delicious produce, including spinach, garlic, onions, tomatoes and those wonderfully sweet carrots, became Certified Naturally Grown in 2016, and they also constructed a large high tunnel in 2013. So many of you have been enjoying the rewards of their season-extending structure – all those radishes, lettuces, greens, carrots and herbs, produced in an unheated greenhouse through the winter… IN OHIO!!

I’ll never forget my first lengthy conversation with Mike at the Piqua market, discussing Big Ag, the importance of what we farmers were all trying to provide, and the risks of pesticides… so enthusiastic, he invited us to join them for a road trip to the Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania… I thought, “Wow, how nice talking to someone so passionate about beliefs we share, and this guy is really friendly… that will definitely change if we bring our two-year-old and my cranky pregnant self on a weekend excursion with them!”

Mike and Becky are also co-chapter leaders of the Upper Valley Weston A. Price Foundation. If you’re not familiar with the group, you’re missing out!! They host a great variety of speakers, all health and food related. We’ve heard fascinating presentations there, from making sourdough breads and fermented foods to gluten intolerance, the dangers of pesticides, and combating common diseases. Meetings are held at the Piqua Nazarene Church, 400 S. Sunset Drive, on the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm.

Time is running out!!

How are you taking advantage of this unbelievable weather?

When you need a little help from your friends...

And what an adventure for Craig Hughes, of Tin Roof Mobile Food, Kenny Adams of Adams Greenhouse, and Lee, my trusty hubby over at our End of the Road Farm!

I wouldn’t blame them if the next time I call for volunteers they run and hide… how is it always that an “easy” job so quickly turns into a fiasco?

Of course the fridge wouldn’t fit through the door! No problem, they just wiggled it, with an 1/8th of an inch to spare on either side, through a different door… only to find themselves locked within the kiddie playground!

The way they managed to get it through the gate was unique, but at long last they made it to First Place, where after another almost impossible squeeze, the appliances were in place.

And once Craig and Lee had the fun of making them showroom-ready last night, the appliances are now just waiting to be filled with all sorts of local goodies!

Yes! We have appliances!!

We look forward to working with the health dept, so we will soon be able to add new offerings from amazing area producers…

Chicken from local favorite King’s Poultry

Milk, yogurt and cheese from FreshStart Farm

Eggs from Adams Greenhouse

Cheesecake, Danish, and other goodies from Sugar Pie Bakery

Ordering closes at 8pm TONIGHT!