Come get your local food economy!

I was forwarded a link to this article recently and I wanted to share it.

Can local food jump-start the economy?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/sustainable-food/can-local-food-jumpstart-the-economy.html

Basically, this article says that yep, sure enough, local FOOD businesses in particular are a great way to stimulate a vibrant, locally based community. Well...NO KIDDING!
I always tell people, when they ask me, why in the heck I'm crazy enough to think I can make a living selling food???...The thing is, everybody has to eat! I worked for 10 years in the gift industry selling "stuff." Nice stuff, stuff that provided jobs for very needy folks overseas (not to mention a core of folks on Whidbey Island as well...), but in the end it was just "stuff." Nothing that anybody HAD TO HAVE to actually survive the day.
Food on the other hand, well again, we all gotta eat! This is why is seems so strange to me that we, as a society, have so undermined the value of what farmers do. As the saying goes - No Farmers No Food. It's a pretty simple equation.
For me, as a small farmer, with products that sometimes are on par with but are oftentimes much more expensive than the current equivalent at the grocery store, I understand that for many folks eating an entirely local or organic just isn't in the budget. That's okay! I don't need everybody on Whidbey Island to adopt the 100 mile diet and storm my fields! The weekly $5, $10, $20 purchases. Even the monthly $5, $10, $20 purchases are what keep my small local business stimulated! And hopefully, provide you with something that you can not only feel good about buying - but enjoy eating too!
So now, off my soapbox and on to the important info I know you are all looking for. WHERE AND HOW to buy all this great local food, especially in December in the middle of a deep freeze???
At the Bayview Farmers Market Holiday Fair! Today! Saturday, Dec. 12th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Bayview Hall.
While I must admit, the selection of green stuff at market today has been, unfortunately, nixayed by the current hold Jack Frost has on my fields (cabbage popsicles anyone?), I will have a selection of stored and cold-tolerant veggies to bring home for dinner tonite. Plus a wealth of great local food gift items to share for the holidays. So coming to market today -
- Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes! Still have several selections....
- Jerusalem Artichokes - greatly cold tolerant! We will have a small basket dug out of frozen solid ground!
- A few rutagabags as well! Again, greatly cold tolerant. Now if the ground would unfreeze we might actually be able to get more. (We had to give up when we broke the shovel!).
- Winter squash. Stored inside!
- Dry beans.
- Gourmet garlic!
On the holiday gift list...We will have:
- Dried garlic flakes, gourmet garlic gift boxes, garlic braids, garlic roaster bags, Rockwell Bean seed packs and the ultimate Willowood Farm "Holiday Feast" gift box featuring a mix of straight from the farm goodies all packaged in an attractive, reusuable, wood slate box.

So we hope to see you out at market today!

Thanks for all your support of local food.
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie