Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market Opening Day

For those of us working on making the market a reality, it came a lot faster than we expected, but Saturday, May 29, Bounty of the Barrens Market officially opens for the 2010 season. The music will be back with Bob and Joanna Harvey kicking off the new season and christening our new Square Deal Lumber/HVAC Services/BB&T stage! The produce, local baked goods, local honey, eggs, beef, pork, etc., etc. will be there as well. The white tents will be there. Most importantly, your friends and neighbors, whom you might not have seen since the market ended last year, will be there as well. All we need is for you to be there to make it a happening!

We are proud of the market and how well it has developed in one year, but no one should forget that the market is not the end of Sustainable Glasgow's work, it is only the beginning. We are determined to make our community more self-sufficient and more enjoyable to live our lives in. The market is designed to bring together producers and consumers for commerce. We don't want to just operate a successful farmers market. We want to create a sustainable food economy where more of our local farmers change from commodity crops to food crops that can be counted on to feed our community. We want more local beef and dairy farmers to find ways to sell directly to the people who live here, for a fair market price, instead of selling their products at a loss to distant middle men. We want local restaurants to thrive by purchasing from those farmers and constructing menus from local ingredients instead of the latest convenient fare from a wholesaler's truck. We want local hospitals, nursing homes, and schools to enter into relationships with local producers so that each enjoys the benefits of trade within our local area, such that the dollars remain in the local community and get circulated for the improvement of all local businesses. We believe ownership matters and that owning our own food economy may matter more that just about anything else.

So come and join us this Saturday, and every Saturday through the summer, at Bounty of the Barrens Farmers Market. But, stay with us to push our movement forward toward a community that rediscovers the beauty and peace of living in a place where we invest in ourselves and enjoy the benefits of that investment as we spend our lives in the company of each other.