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’m still out of state, and haven’t heard any Athens news for this little newsletter this week. I’ve been lucky enough to get to travel to Hawai’i and be nerdy at a Star Trek convention. My first day here, I did get to travel to the rainforest side of the big island and look at how hard they’re working to create a sustainable local food system there. They have some surprising similarities to Georgia there — my own little farm was the first agricultural use of land that had been decimated by years of cotton farming (much like a lot of the farmland around Athens). The rainy side of the big island was 100% devoted to large-scale production of sugar cane, much to the destruction of the natural ecosystem. When that industry collapsed, there was much work to be done to keep that land from being overrun by invasive species. Many people are working hard to plant mixed-species orchards, vegetable plots that rotate from place to place, and so forth. Mistakes were made — one of the first attempts to put the land to use was a mass planting of eucalyptus trees, and they planted them far too close together for the climate. As a result, there are tens of thousands of acres with tall, skinny, virtually unusable trees. One possible remedy being explored is hand thinning the trees and using the wood for fuel for energy production, a solution with problems of its own.

I got to see quite a few experimental plots where students of all ages were trying things out. Grade school children have proud plots of taro and sweet potato mixed with semi-wild stands of guava and other fruits. Farms of 100% pastured beef have sharply cut into factory-farmed beef shipped in from the mainland. Grocery stores have local fruits and veg front and center. Perhaps being on an island 2000 miles away from the rest of us give Hawai’i a stronger sense of identity and a desire for self-sufficiency than we do in Georgia, but they face many of the same challenges. It’s been a great experience talking with the people here and learning from them.

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 from the Athens Land Trust is open Saturday mornings and Wednesdays from 11am-2pm in the atrium at St. Mary’s Hospital. They have a website too. The Comer Farmers’ Market is open for the season on Saturday mornings from 9am to noon. Check www.facebook.com/comerfm for more information. The Oconee County Farmers Market is open on Saturdays in Watkinsville. Their website is www.oconeefarmersmarket.org. Washington, GA also has a lovely little Saturday market, running from 9-1. You can learn all about them here: www.washingtonfarmersmkt.com. If you know of any other area markets operating, please let me 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!