Athens Locally Grown

How to contact us:
Our Website: athens.locallygrown.net
On Twitter: @athlocallygrown
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/athenslocallygrown
On Thursdays: Here’s a map.

Market News

I certainly missed you all last week. I hope the winter weather wasn’t all bad news for you. I was housebound for four days, but we kept our power on, and I got to introduce my girls to the joys of sledding and snowball fights. The storm itself was pretty much exactly as was predicted, but the powers that be were proactive this time and so the damages were kept low.

And, since the weather doesn’t want us to get bored apparently, this week we get a nice taste of spring with temps on Thursday up in the 70s. Hopefully the plants won’t get fooled into thinning their leaves and setting buds, for surely there is more cold weather to come. In the meantime, though, I’ll be looking ahead to getting my gardens going again. There is a lot of work to do getting the beds cleared away and prepped for planting, but it’s work I enjoy.

One new product of note this week: Thom Leonard of the Independent Baking Co has listed a new variety of bread called “Carolina Grown”. This is a naturally leavened bread made from flour milled by Carolina Ground in Asheville. The wheat is grown in North Carolina, and it’s really pretty radical and exciting to have good bread wheat being grown in the Southeast. We’ll get him at the “Meet the Grower” table as soon as we can so you can sample his products and talk to him yourself, and you’ll find this new bread listed this week.

Thanks so much for your support of Athens Locally Grown, all of our growers, local food, and our rights to eat it. You all are part of what makes Athens such a great area in which to live. We’ll see you (hopefully) on Thursday at Ben’s Bikes at the corner of Pope and Broad Streets from 4:30 to 8pm!

Upcoming Events

Winter is traditionally the time of year for farming conferences, since, in the past, farmers largely took the season off. That’s no longer the case, as the bountiful harvest offered at our market this week can attest, but it’s still the time of conferences. There are two coming up in the net few weeks you may be interested in. The first is offered by Georgia Organics, and is being held down in Tybee Island on February 21-22 this year. Not only is it a great conference for learning (I attended my first GO conference back in 2002 before I even put a single seed in the ground at my then new farm), but it can’t be surpassed for camaraderie and socialization with people who believe like we do in the re-building of sustainable local food systems. If you want to attend, you can find more information at their website here: http://georgiaorganics.org/conference. The South Carolina Organization for Organic Living has a much newer conference, but is even closer to us. It is being held on March 1st in Greenville. It is only one day, but it’s a jam-packed one. You can find more information here: http://www.scorganicliving.com/2014_Conference_Classes.html

Other Area Farmers Markets

The Washington-Wilkes Farmer’s Market in Washington is open every Saturday 9-12 behind the Washington Courthouse. The Athens Farmers Market has closed for the winter. You can watch for news during the offseason on their website. The other area markets I haven’t mentioned are also all closed for the season. We’ll be here all year round, however!

All of these other markets are separate from ALG (including the Athens Farmers Market) but many growers sell at multiple markets. Please support your local farmers and food producers, where ever you’re able to do so!

We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible!