The Weblog
Athens Locally Grown has closed.
ALG Market Open for October 4
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
October already? Looks like a beautiful week ahead of us, just right for both the summer veggies hanging on in the garden and the fall crops coming in. Hopefully we can get more like this right on to frost!
Here’s something I haven’t talked about in a while… despite all of our best efforts, sometimes the things you order don’t make it into your baskets come Thursday. The growers try their best, but sometimes they aren’t able to fill orders for a variety of reasons. They almost always go into the system and remove the items they can’t fill by 2pm on Thursday, so by then you should be able to look at your order on the website and get a reasonable expectation of what we’ll have ready for you when you arrive. Even then, though, things can go wrong. A grower can leave a box at home, sitting on their kitchen counter, and when we go to fill your order, an item might be missing. We mark those items off on the spot, using our little hand-held devices, and try to tell you when we hand you your items. And sometimes, we mess up ourselves filling your orders and think we put everything in your box only to find a bag with your name on it at the end of the night. In that case, we take it off your order and automatically issue a refund to your account if you paid in person when you picked things up.
The majority of you are pre-paying these days, though, using cards online. That’s great for everyone, as it really streamlines the process. It’s a bit of a misnomer, though, because even though you placed your order on Monday or Tuesday, I don’t actually run the cards until the end of the night on Thursday, after all the orders have been finalized. That way, you’re never charged for items the growers took off, or didn’t bring, or that we left out of your box. You can see exactly what you were charged for, and what the status was for every item on your order, by looking at your order history on the Your Account page. There, you can see a PDF invoice for every order you have ever placed at ALG, a line-by-line accounting for every item, and the total you were charged (or paid in person).
And if you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them of me. Just reply to any email the system sends you, and it’ll come right to me.
Thank you 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 has returned to Saturday mornings at Bishop Park and Wednesday afternoons at Creature Comforts downtown. You can catch the news on their website. The West Broad Farmers Market has returned, and you can catch the details on their website here: www.athenslandtrust.org/west-broad-farmers-market/. The Comer Farmers’ Market is open on Saturday mornings from 9am to noon. Check www.facebook.com/comerfm for more information. Washington, GA also has a lovely little Saturday market, running Saturdays from 9 to noon. You can learn all about them here: www.washingtonfarmersmkt.com. Folks to the east can check out the Hartwell Farmers Market, which starts bright and early on Saturday morning from 7am to noon, and Tuesday afternoons from noon to 4pm. The city of Monroe has a downtown market on Saturdays, 8:30 to 12:30, and you can learn more here: www.monroedowntown.com/events/monroe-farmers-market. 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!