Farmers Markets

 No farms – No food.Tractor

Although it’s dogmatic I still like this (No farms – No food) bummer sticker/slogan a lot. It’s all to easy to forget WHERE our food comes from. Do our kids know where food comes from other than the grocery store? Some yes, some no.

farmers’ market (also farmers market) is a physical retail market featuring foods sold directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers’ markets typically consist of booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, where farmers sell fruits, vegetables, meats, and sometimes prepared foods and beverages. Farmers’ markets add value to communities.[1]  (Wikipedia) 

There are all kinds of Farmers Markets in the warmer seasons. They exist world-wide, reflecting each areas culture and flavors. When you stop to think about it Farmers Markets are about as old a tradition as they come.  A gathering of a few locals, selling food and wares, pretty much happening since sharing food began!. Time marched on and Trading Post came to be, then The General Store…take a million steps forward and we transferred that into mega grocery stores.  There are now some Markets attempting to bring us back to better health and making the shopping experience more connected-such as Whole Foods Markets.

Local Farmers Markets are a better ‘carbon footprint’ than any grocery store. Here’s why – The items are primarily all from LOCAL people, driving/transport is kept to a minimum due to the local factor. Now days you usually have an ‘organic‘ or ‘natural‘ element you can choose from, thus keeping pesticides and chemicals uses down. With small local markets the refrigeration is often coolers with ice, not those giant walk in cooler (which certainly DO have their place but also do take a LOT of energy to run.) Farmers Market food pretty much has to be fresh, and have had less time in storage. This equals a healthier food. Markets are generally outdoors, no energy needed for that solar lighting! Not to be left out is that the profit go directly to the farmer/grower/vendor. These are ALL bonus points for the individual, the community and the planet. . Recently a more sophisticated consumer is seeking out these factors/qualities more and more. The last really nice part is, if you attend your local Farmers Market regularly you will inevitably start-up a conversation, have fun food shopping, get to know a local farmer, and maybe a new neighbor! A local conversation and communication in-person, face to face. Now there’s a good old fashion true value!

 Hopkington Farmers MarketWe will be at The Hopkinton Farmers Market this sunday 1-5 pmBUY LOCAL, BUY FRESH!
Open every Sunday, June 16 through October 20 for the 2013 season.
1 pm to 5 pm.
Hopkinton Town Common
Street Parking.
Free Admission

Come get your produce, cheese, honey, meat, bread and wine (wine not every week), and ARTs, and/or some other special visiting vendor each week!!

(across from 11 Ash Street, Hopkinton MA)

map-Hopkinton

… and here he is!

Finally – you get to see the whole Botanical Beauty!   You read his story the other day… and now you get to see him as well. In case you are wondering about his less obvious  ‘parts’ – His  hair is dill, chest is a Cheromoya, thighs are star fruit, feet are small onions, pitch fork is Rhubarb, and he is walking on ginger root!  Hope he makes you smile, and think about sustainability across all the parts of your day.

In case you missed his story – it was friday’s posting! http://botanicalbeautiesbeasties.com/off-to-a-garden-party/

 

Heirloom Charlie

Shows, fairs, and general excitement!!!

OMG – can’t believe “show season” is here -we are off and running!

This weekend we are headed to what I expect to be grand at The Garden Symposium in the even grander location of The Equinox Resort in Manchester VT.Their will be wonderful nationally known speakers and a related vendor marketplace. Naturally, we fit in the second. We will leave all the words off about how great it will be and what an exciting season we are working on (check and watch the schedule grow on our calender page) In the mean time, we will just say WE ARE EXCITED TO BE “On the road again” –off to meet new friends and spread our motto of “Live Kind, Live Green, Live Creatively

Our hope is that on Sunday we can connect up somehow and have a little magic with The Beekman Brothers. They run a company called Beekman 1802-from their own website words “Two NYC guys who bought a farm and are sharing their experiment in living better lives, season by season, neighbor by neighbor.” The Botanical Beauties & Beasties  love that statement/mission. We want to chat with them!

Right now they are promoting  THE SAUCE THAT COULD CHANGE THINGS  (click on name)  Below is the page for this cool idea and product. Please help if you can. It helps all the small local American Farmers stay alive and that’s truly a wonderful thing. The Power of Tomatoes, people and good ideas!

heirloom tomato pasta sauce“We’ve got some really big news.

We are really excited about our new pasta sauce. ‘Cuz it’s gonna change the world.

No. Seriously. Not hyperbole.

Remember when we won that little show called The Amazing Race?  Let us refresh your memory:

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Wasn’t that awesome?

It was.

Here’s why. It allowed us to pay off the mortgage on our farm so that we could both devote ourselves full-time to growing Beekman 1802 and our community.

So what does The Amazing Race have to do with pasta sauce? A lot, it turns out. And it has even more to do with raising money for other American farmers.

It’s a little round-about-story, but first you need to know a little Race trivia:

Even though you didn’t see the finish till December, the race actually ended in June. Which meant we already knew we would be able to pay off our mortgage with the prize money early last summer. (We’re good secret-keepers, right? Keep that in mind next time you have juicy gossip.)

However, we also had a field full of tomatoes growing on the farm in June. Some of these tomatoes were a variety called “Mortgage Lifter” heirloom tomatoes. They’re giant, delicious tomatoes.

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Why are they called “Mortgage Lifter?”

Well,  in 1929 a man named Marshall Cletis Byles owned an auto repair garage in Logan, West Virginia. When his business began suffering during the Great Depression, Marshall (who went by the nickname “Radiator Charlie,”) decided to earn extra money by selling the best tasting tomato variety he could breed.

It took a few years, but Charlie finally bred his perfect tomato. He advertised that one single plant, with its 1-2lb fruits, could feed a family of six. And he wound up selling enough seedlings in four years to pay off his mortgage. In full.

Hence “Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato” was born.

Those of you who’ve followed our story know that before we won The Amazing Race, one of our primary goals was to pay off the Beekman Farm mortgage. So when we planted our garden in early 2012, we planted a ton of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, in hopes of developing a pasta sauce that would help us do just that.

And then we won The Amazing Race. Let’s revisit again. ‘Cuz it was awesome:

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(Did we really make that face on national television? There are “ugly cry” faces and “ugly win” faces, apparently. This was both at once.)

Anyway, last year was a really good year for tomatoes. Here’s one afternoon’s haul:

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So, since we’d paid off our mortgage…what were we going to do with all these tomatoes?!??!

Then it hit us.

We’ll use these tomatoes pay off another small farm’s mortgage! Pay it forward.

So we went ahead and kept developing the pasta sauce. We used the best tomatoes from our farm and other farms, fresh garlic and spices, and other summer vegetables. And we went ahead and stuck with the name: “Mortgage Lifter Heirloom Tomato Pasta Sauce.

Looks amazeballs, right?

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The only difference is that now we’ll use 25% of the profits from this sauce to help aid another farmer.We’re teaming up with an agricultural 501c3 so make that happen.

The other 75% of the profits will go right back into the business to hopefully develop a whole range of “Mortgage Lifter” food products that will not only help support American small farms with profits, but also by growing a sustainable food brand for small farms to supply.

But, like Radiator Charlie…we’re starting with the basics. The most perfect pasta sauce we could make.

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We hope you love it. Please give it a try. The more you buy, the more you’re directly helping American farmers. If you purchase enough, it will also help catch the eye of a few larger grocery chains. (Any grocery moguls out there? Wanna chat? Email us! )

Stay tuned for a recipe contest and progress of sales….

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE BEEKMAN 1802 MORTGAGE LIFTER HEIRLOOM PASTA SAUCE SAVE SIGNIFICANTLY ON PRICE & SHIPPING WITH ORDERS OF MULTIPLE JARS.”

Winter Solstice, 12-21-12, and the Last weekend of The Market!

The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. To our southern hemisphere friends hope you are happy to see the  “summer solstice!”  It is the winter solstice only in the northern hemisphere.Either way-Hurrah for the Solstice and the beginning of LONGER DAYS again!!!

The countdown to the apocalypse is on.Well sort of, we woke up and the world is still here, the world did not end as the Mayans feared it would….however, we are in some rough and turbulent times. The Fiscal Cliff- one would think that the left, right and middle could get it together and truly do what is best for the majority, the country and the land. I understand Politics are exactly that “Politics” but to what cost? Today our US legislators left for vacation – I really understand how they could do that. It is an embarrassment.

Since the world seems to be going on, and the weather is looking fine for tomorrow  – how about joining us for your last chance or those last minuet gifts!

Come and down and see us at The LAST (until next year) Providence Holiday Market! Local Arts, Local Goats fromThe Reynolds Barn – Yes, that means fresh wonderful goat milk soap and scrub! Reyonals Farm GoeatDelicious Local granola from Providence Granola which means  a twist of helping folks out as well as yum… Fraggles and Friggles is Local Jewelry to bedazzle, Beautiful Local Wreaths/Greens from Robin Hollow Farm made into beautiful holiday greenery gifts and home decor…and of course Local US – The Botanical Beauties and Beasties.  We still have some fabulous Note pads, beautiful Mini Art (cards) a few Wine glasses  of our “Marvelous Easy Peasy Ready to go Mug Gift ” sets: 4 Themes-1) Beauty 2) Words 3) Dog and 4)  Garden. All have amazing beautiful organic products inside them! Here’s a quick run down: ALL  are Dishwasher/Microwave safe 15 oz.  mugs/ have 3 bookmarks/have a gift tag already on them for you/ have a card telling about the Botanical on one side and about community and working together  on the other side and a bell to jingle as you give the gift! In addition to that each amazing beautiful LOCAL organic/all natural  products  that go with the theme. Beauty has skin care, Words has a metal Clarity spray, Dogs have salves for paws and drops for calm and room spray for you and Garden has a most beautiful lavender salve, a luscious cuticle and/or lip butter and a Quartz!

Mug Gift Sets