Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market

Newsletter for Friday, March 15, 2013.  The market's year round location is 3820 Westwood Northern Blvd. 45211.  This week only, market will be held inside the main (front) entrance of the church.  Next week, the market will return to its usual location inside the back entrance of the church.  Thanks to Cheviot United Methodist for allowing the market to be held at their church.

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THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHT

This week's spotlight shines on our esteemed Rock Guys.  The brother team of Chuck and Danny Reckman have been with the market for over two years.  They  -  well actually their stunning crystals, fossils, geodes, and other cool "rocks"  -  are a big hit with young and old alike.  Their popularity is evident not only at LEWFM:  the Rock Guys' reputation has spread into the broader community.  Folks who stop by the Green Township Branch Library are in for a treat.  The Rock Guys currently have their personal fossil and mineral collection on display there.  The display includes a number of items never before seen by the public.  Some of the unique specimens include spectacular quartz clusters; okenite, which you will be able to recognize because it looks similar to a cotton ball; a crinoid calyx, which is a fossilized sea lily; beautiful Herkimer diamonds; fossils from the famous Mazon Creek locality in Illinois, including fern, leaf, and shrimp fossils; and, ammonites, which are fossilized squid and can be recognized by its spiral shape.   
 
While the Rock Guys' collection is on display at the library, Chuck and Danny have posed a challenge for anyone who wants to participate.  They have included a fake mineral in the display case.  If you think you know which item is the fake, you can email your answer to Chuck and Danny at  therockguys513@yahoo.com      

The Rock Guys' collection will be on display during the entire month of March at the  Green Township Library, located at 6525 Bridgetown Road.  And of course, you can also see The Rock Guys each Friday at LEWFM, where you can peruse and purchase from their vast bounty of treasured "rocks," including varied fossils, geodes, quartz, wavellite, garnets, and many other cool items.  



For those of who you might not know: Danny is also a licensed massage therapist and he offers chair massage at LEWFM.  He is pictured here with one of his frequent clients.  After you peruse the beautiful collections of special "rocks" from the Rock Guys you might also want to treat yourself to a few minutes or so of relaxation. 

 

NOTICES

• Ora's Pottery will not be at market this Friday.
• Mohr Animal Acres attends market every other week.  They will be at market March 22 and every other week thereafter.
• Don Clark of Happy Bungalow will not be at market the month of April.
• Mt. Kofinas Olive Oil will not be at market the months of March and April.

LETTUCE LIVE MORE SUSTAINABLY

In last week's newsletter, we included some online sites that introduced the concept of zero waste in your home.  Now we move our focus to zero waste at farmers' markets.  While LEWFM is not yet zero waste, we have started the journey toward that goal.  And, as the saying goes, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."  We hope you will join us in this fun journey of Living a More Sustainable Life.  You will continue to hear more about this during the weeks leading up to the summer market season.  To give just a tiny sneak preview:  This summer's market will be called the Summer of Sustainability, with the kick off in May.  Each of the five Fridays in May will have a different topic pertaining to sustainability, with special guest vendors educating and informing customers about Living More Sustainably.  

AND THE LUCKY WINNER IS

The smiling face in the picture belongs to Joellyn Winkler.  She has lots to smile about because she is the February winner of $20 in Market Bucks.  Joellyn and her husband Jack had fun spending her prize winnings.  We saw her with a beautiful market basket which she purchased from the CENSUDI booth.  She then proceeded to fill it with lots of market goodies from the other vendors.  

If you would like a chance to win $20 in Market Bucks, stop by the Market Management booth to fill out your free raffle ticket each week throughout the winter market (through April).  And, if you bring a new person to market you will receive an additional free raffle ticket that week.  The last Friday of each month we will draw a ticket at random.  Winner need not be present at time of drawing. 

    

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We didn't get a picture of Joellyn with her new market basket, but we were able to snap this picture of another happy customer with the basket she purchased from Franciska and Marget.  They now have various sizes and the cutest shapes of baskets.  What a handy way to carry one's market purchases, or for any occasion when you need to transport items, and they are so attractive, too.




 

REMINDERS
While some of you are long-time readers of the newsletter, people who are new to the market are reading the newsletter for the first time; therefore, the Reminder section is included each week so new folks can see what's happening around the market and around town.

Garden Claw

Great deal for gardeners:  Limited time offer has been extended! 
There are times when something that seems too good to be true is actually true.  Granny's Garden School in Loveland is sharing their good fortune.  They recently received a donation of Garden Claws to be used for fund raising.  Usually selling for $25 - $30, Granny's Garden is offering them for $20, half of which will go to Granny's Garden School and, if you use code "LEWFM" when placing your order, the other $10 will go to Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market.  If you are unfamiliar with how awesome the garden claw is, watch the demonstration video here.

[it's the second video, further down the page, picturing the children with Granny]

After viewing the video you will likely want to order one for yourself and/or a friend.  You can order by credit card or by check.  You can pick up your garden claw at our market.  Details will be emailed to you after you place your order.  Remember to use code "LEWFM".  This offer is for a limited time.  For more information regarding ordering click here.

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Local Loans for Local Foods (Cincinnati's Slow Money group) will be hosting an event open to those who might be interested in making or receiving low interest local loans for the purpose of increasing our local food enterprises.  This is a no-commitment event, open to all who have an interest in attending.

If You:
• Have a local food enterprise and have dreamt about expansion "if only...” or
 are a local food entrepreneur who could make use of a low-interest loan;
• Have capital (it needn’t be much) that you are interested in lending to support our local foodshed;
• Are a community member interested in this initiative;
• Have a slightly different need or resource-to-offer related to increasing our local food sovereignty (i.e, land you would like to have used for producing food, or a farmer seeking land, or access to a commercial kitchen, etc.:

You are invited to attend this event to be held Sunday March 17, 2013 from 2:00-5:00 pm at Peterloon Estate 8605 Hopewell Road 45242
$5.00 Suggested Donation
RSVP is requested.  For more information click here.

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Learn How to Eat Local  -  Year Round:  For those who are interested in learning how to make food choices that are more environmentally sustainable, help is on the way.  It seems pretty obvious to most people that choosing to eat food that is grown within our local region is much more earth friendly than purchasing foods that are grown thousands of miles away.  If you are unsure of how to go about eating locally year round, you are invited to attend the upcoming Southwest Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (SWOEFFA) conference.  

In addition to learning to eat locally, the day long conference offers workshops on a variety of other topics (a total of 12 from which to choose) for both producers and consumers: Basics of Backyard Gardening, Cooking Without Waste, Permaculture, GMOs, Starting a School or Community Garden, and many more.  The keynote speaker will be Gary Cox, attorney from the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.  His topic will be "Give Local Food a Chance."  The conference is scheduled for Saturday April 13 at Gorman Heritage Farm in Evendale.  To save a bit on your registration, the early bird registration deadline is March 17.  You can register and pay by check or you can do so online with your credit card.  For more information and registration form click here.

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OUR VENDORS:  For a full listing of our vendors, their products, the weeks they attend market, and their services including:

• Chair Massage, where you can relax after a hard day
• Kids & Krafts (available starting at 4:45), where the kids can have loads of fun so you can leisurely shop the market
• Many food and non-food items
• and a list of vendors who accept credit cards

Check out our Vendors.

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WANTED:  VOLUNTEERS.  We're always looking for volunteers!  If you're available to lend a hand at the Market any time between 1:30pm and 7:30pm on Fridays, or during the week for more behind the scenes activities, check out the link below to contact us!

VENDORS:  If you are interested in becoming a vendor, you may email us through the link below.

Vendors/Volunteers Click Here!

Please share this newsletter with friends and family to help spread the word about LEWFM!

We hope to see you real soon at Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market!