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ALG Market Open for August 28


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’ve one VERY important note this week. This week will be the last week we will be able to accept EBT cars as payment for your order. One provision in the new farm bill was that retailers had to bear the cost of the card-reading equipment and processing of EBT payments. Farmers Markets are exempt from this rule, but they’ve defined farmers markets in a way that specifically excludes online markets like ALG — I just didn’t hire enough lobbyists, I guess. I’ve structured ALG to be a break-even business (at best), and just don’t have the money in the budget to pay for all the overhead now needed to accept EBT cards.

However, if you’re an EBT customer, you do have other (and better) options. The Athens Farmers market, on both Saturday and Wednesday, accepts EBT and also double your money thanks to grants from the Wholesome Wave foundation. Many of the same growers at ALG also sell at the Athens Farmers Market. They don’t have quite the variety we do, especially in the meat and dairy categories, but most everything else you can find at ALG you can also find at AFM. Also, I’ve been told that the West Broad Farmers Market accepts EBT, though I can’t find that verified on their website. Neither market operates year-round, so there is a gap in EBT acceptance. Perhaps by the time the other markets close for the year, I’ll have come up with a sustainable plan to bring EBT back to ALG.

Here’s an event you may be interested in: This Thursday, August 28 at 7:00pm in Room 171 of the UGA Miller Learning Center, author and activist Philip Lymbery will speak about his book “Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat” and the devastating impact of factory farming on our health, the environment, and animals. Lymbery is an expert on our food system, especially how that system is broken and in desperate need of repair. He is CEO of international organization Compassion in World Farming. “Farmageddon” (no relation to the documentary of the same name that featured ALG’s run-in with the FDA) is a wake-up call, exposing factory farming as one of the most urgent problems of our time — responsible for enormous food waste, damage to our health and the environment, and the biggest cause of animal cruelty on the planet. The event is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow the talk with books available for purchase on site. There’s more information on their facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/712035532212161/. It is sponsored by Speak Out for Species.

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 on Thursday at Ben’s Bikes at the corner of Pope and Broad Streets from 4:30 to 8pm!

Other Area Farmers Markets

The Athens Farmers Market is open on Saturdays at Bishop Park and Wednesday afternoons downtown at Creature Comforts. You can catch the news on their website. The West Broad Farmers Market is open throughout the week here in Athens, and you can find more information about them here: www.athenslandtrust.org. The Washington-Wilkes Farmer’s Market in Washington is open every Saturday 9-12 behind the Washington Courthouse. The Oconee County farmers market is open Saturday mornings in front of the Oconee County Courthouse. The other area markets I haven’t mentioned have yet to open for the season, so far as I know.

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!