Availability for February 26

Firstly this week, thank you to everyone who has been calling and writing your elected officials regarding the old state farmers market building! It has made a difference, but there is still a lot to do.

It seems that for pretty much everyone involved, the sale of the property was pretty much a done deal, needing only a little bureaucratic i’s to dot and t’s to cross. That may still be the case, but now the Athens-Clarke County government, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and the Georgia Surplus Properties Division all know of our desire to reclaim the property for permanent use as a farmers market once again. Various people in each of those places even agree that it would be a splendid thing. Trouble is, none of them can do a thing about it.

It will take an act of legislature for anything to happen, whether it gets sold or reclaimed. It was an act of legislature in 2005 that officially declared it surplus and ordered it sold, and that law is still in force. So, we need a new law passed that ideally would transfer the property to ACC for use as a permanent farmers market. Optionally, the new law could transfer it back to the Ga Department of Agriculture, but it’d be more direct to put it under more local control.

So, if you haven’t do so yet, could you contact your state representative and senator, no matter what districts you live in, asking them to propose and support legislation to do this? You can find contact info for your state legislative delegation by going to http://www.votesmart.org/official_state.php?state_id=GA&go2.x=9&go2.y=12 and typing in your ZIP code. I still think it’s a long shot, but I haven’t hit any hard walls yet, so you never know. We might just pull it off, and secure a wonderful resource for our community.

The longer days and warmer weather have started the spring greens rolling it. I see more spinach, lettuce, and radishes on the list this week, along with other great tastes of spring. Last week, for the first time that I can remember, we had more eggs than we could sell, so the larger flocks that our growers started last year are now beginning to produce for you.

Thanks for all your support! We’ll see you this Thursday from 4:30 to 8pm at the old state farmers market on Broad Street.