What You Can Do to Help

This Saturday, May 21, at 9:00 a.m., the ribbon will be cut to officially open Bounty of the Barrens Farmers’ Market for 2011. The market is now on the lawn of the Barren County Court House on Saturday mornings.

Three years into Sustainable Glasgow’s efforts to make Glasgow better by reinforcing the local economy, we are proud of what we have accomplished with Bounty of the Barrens Farmers’ Market, but we have only begun the work of building the durability of our economy, starting with our food system.

In a world where our drive to build a sustainable local food economy, starting with locally grown food at our outdoor market, is challenged at every turn by the marketing might, convenience, and momentum of the big box supermarket system of feeding ourselves, the volunteers at Sustainable Glasgow are largely outgunned. Still, we continue to fight against the odds. We love our community and we are convinced that the future of local food production is indistinguishable from the future of the land in Barren County, which, in turn, is not distinguishable from the future of our community as a viable place to live out our years in peace and happiness (Thanks Wendell Berry for pointing this out to us!).

Obviously this task is too daunting for a handful of Sustainable Glasgow volunteers to pull off alone. This is a job for us all, that is all of us who have decided to put down roots in this community and make it the place we dream of. We need everyone’s work and the intelligence of the collective. You do not have to win an election to participate in this transformation, you only need to find what part you have the skills, or resources, to play.

Here is what must be done.

Grow. Barren County is rich in fertile farm land. Right now our high schools are graduating hundreds of bright young folks who are looking for their mission in life. These two ingredients should be combined and nurtured by sunlight and support from “we the people who like to eat.” The opportunity is obvious. Many studies are now predicting that the long term value of many college degrees is not worth the cost. We need more local folks growing food for local folks on local farms.

Study. We are sensitive to what we gaze upon with our eyes and what we listen to with our ears. Why then are we so flippant about what we swallow? Don’t take our word for it. Read the label of something in a box in your freezer. Does it sound like the ingredients to a chemistry experiment? If you want to purchase less medicine, eat more local food and less things with more than four ingredients. That leads one to real, local, food instead of fake food-like substances. A good variety of real food is available at Bounty of the Barrens Farmers' Market.

Innovate. Rebuilding our food economy from the ground up does not just mean planting more vegetables in Barren County soil. A few visits to Bounty of the Barrens Farmers’ Market will reveal scores of other opportunities for someone looking to improve their lot, as well as the community. Watch the mad rush to purchase the very limited supply of cold pasteurized milk from JD’s County Milk and you will have to wonder why no Barren County dairy farmer has yet replicated that idea and product. Dare to come between local market patrons and the supply of peaches from the Jackson’s Orchard truck and it is obvious that more locally grown fruit will find a market here. A commercial kitchen operation would allow local producers to cook, can, and otherwise process their bounty when there is much and sell it the rest of the year. Opportunities abound for those who are looking for them.

Participate. Just show up at the market and become a part of it. Not sure if you even like vegetables enough to shop at the market? No problem, come and listen to the pure sounds of local musical artists who love the community so much that they just want to share their talents with us. Sit in the grass and give them an audience. It costs you nothing yet means everything to the artists. Mill about and chat with your neighbors and drink in the free milk of human kindness. Be late for soccer practice. Miss a few cartoons. Gain a new relationship with this place we call home.

Stick. This is the very easiest way to become a part of this movement. Just resist the urge to travel to Bowling Green, Louisville, Nashville, or farther, to acquire your food or other needs. Gasoline is $4 per gallon. Big box retail stores, even if they are called Kroger or Whole Foods, might suit your personal desire for nutrition, but nurture our home place they do not. Rejoice in the uniqueness of the local vendors at our market and while you are there soak in the pure joy of dining in a locally owned restaurant around the Square like Fine Arts Bistro or George J’s. For some added spice to your Saturday morning adventure, walk or bicycle to the market and leave the SUV at home! Free yourself from the wanderlust and siren song of the distant corporation and celebrate the joy of localism.

Together we can continue our progress toward a sustainable economy by uniting local land, local sunlight, local intelligence, and local work. Will you pick one or more of these tasks and join us?

Great Reasons To Buy Local

Source: eLocal.com

Bounty of the Barrens On the Square Starts Saturday!

In Glasgow there is no better sign that spring has arrived than the opening of our Bounty of the Barrens Farmers’ Market, and that happens this Saturday April 9, on the beautiful bountiful lawn of our Barren County Courthouse at the center of Glasgow’s downtown! For the Sustainable Glasgow team, this move has meant a great deal of work and planning throughout the winter but we are very excited about the new possibilities for improving our local food initiative at the new location. We are deeply grateful for the support and confidence we have gotten from Barren County Fiscal Court and other local officials who believe in us enough to give us permission to have the market in the center of town. Now, it is our job to show them that they made a great decision!

Of course it is April and, while there will not be a vast variety of fresh fruits and vegetables yet available during the first few weeks, there will be a lot of locally raised beef, poultry, buffalo, and pork. There will be baked goods, local milk and cheese, some early season produce, and some of the craft items you have come to expect at the market. Starting at 8:00 a.m., the white tents of Bounty of the Barrens Market will be arranged on the Courthouse lawn and the market will be underway. You can come early and enjoy breakfast at George J’s or Fine Arts Bistro with your family and friends before, or after, strolling around the vendor tents and purchasing your needed items. The Sustainable Glasgow team will be there learning from the initial experience at operating the market on the square and, together, we will learn and adjust and get the kinks worked out of the process during the early season so we can have it all well adjusted by late May when the market, the vendors, the local music, and you, the patrons, are all in full swing.

As with all events on the square, parking will be an issue. Please be aware of the parking available in the parking structure behind the buildings on the north side of the square, the City parking lot behind City Hall, parking behind US Bank, and the city lot on the west side of the square as well as all of the on-street parking available on the many streets leading to and from the Glasgow square. Most of all, please be careful as you leave and return to your vehicles as we all learn how to better mix pedestrian and vehicles around Glasgow’s downtown area! Local law enforcement folks as well as the Sustainable Glasgow team will be working to help drivers recognize the presence of pedestrians on the square to help everyone get to where they are going safely.

It looks like we will enjoy warm weather, copious blooming trees and flowers, great food from the restaurants on the square, and a wonderful opportunity to renew friendships with each other and the vendors who lovingly raise food and create local crafts for our enjoyment. Please make plans to attend the market this Saturday and help us celebrate the beginning of year three of Bounty of the Barrens Farmers’ Market at our new location!

Times Community Review Article

In case you missed it, Glasgow Daily Times in its Time Community Review, just did a fine set of articles on Barren County's biggest industry, agriculture. By special permission, the following copy of the article they did on us is copied below. Thanks so much to Glasgow Daily Times for allowing this reprint and for caring about our work enough to do this fine article explaining what we are trying to accomplish so well.

By Amanda Loviza

Glasgow Daily Times

Printed in the Times Community Review (TCR) 2011 Published on March 27, 2011

When the recession hit Glasgow in 2008 along with the rest of the country, a small group of people decided they wanted to do something about it.

We wanted to help build a more durable economy in Glasgow, said Billy Ray, superintendent of the Electric Plant Board. Ray is a board member of Sustainable Glasgow, an organization focused on creating a more sustainable economy by focusing on building a local movement in Glasgow.

The idea was that if residents spent more of their money in local businesses, buying produce from local farmers, etc., that those dollars would continue to circulate within the Glasgow economy and would make the city's economy stronger.

"Ownership matters," Ray said. "It makes a difference. Every time they pick up a fork, they are in effect voting for which economy is going to be more durable."

Sustainable Glasgow began with a group of five people who started talking about what they would do to improve Glasgows economy. They began meeting in each others homes, and decided their first goal was to foster a sustainable, local food economy, Ray said. Barren County was ranked one of the top agriculture-producing counties east of the Mississippi River, but local residents were not eating a lot of Barren County food.

Why are we producing so much food around here but not consuming it locally? Ray said was the big question.

In order to promote a local food economy, Sustainable Glasgow began the Bounty of the Barrens Market, a farmers market that stemmed from an earlier market at St. Andrews Episcopal Church. St. Andrews had begun their market after the tobacco buyout had hurt so many livelihoods in Glasgow.

It started out as kind of a justice issue and a community issue, said Suzanne Barrow, the vicar at St. Andrews.

The farmers market was something we realized people really wanted, said Barrow, now a Sustainable Glasgow board member. Sustainable Glasgow was able to build upon that market to create the Bounty of the Barrens, which was first held in the BB&T parking lot on West Main Street at the end of 2008.

From a physical health standpoint, local physician and Sustainable Glasgow president William Travis said that food bought from farms is much healthier, without hormones and antibiotics pumped into the animals. Theres also the benefit of being able to trust the source of your food.

One of the great things about buying food at a farmers market is that you can talk to the person who grew it, look them straight in the eye, Travis said.

Barren County farmer Joe Trigg sells beef and produce at the market, and said Sustainable Glasgow has done a good job of trying to be an advocate for farmers, which is easier said than done.

To emphasize gardening, produce production goes against the normal thing, said Trigg, also a board member. But Sustainable Glasgow wants Barren County farmers to lean their focus away from cash crops like corn and soybeans and focus more on produce that can be eaten locally.

Dr. Jerry Ralston, superintendent of Barren County Schools and Sustainable Glasgow board member, has already seen the positive benefits of providing local produce for consumption. Ralston has pioneered efforts to promote healthy, local eating in the Barren County school system. Barren County students eat apples and salads from local farms, and some elementary schools are creating edible schoolyards, where the teachers and students grow their own gardens on school property. Ralston said that consumption has increased dramatically since the schools started providing healthy local food.

I think its a way we can better take care of ourselves,?

Ralston said.

But Sustainable Glasgow still sees building a local food economy and having a farmers market as just the beginning.

I see it as a broad effort to not only bring the availability if local foods to a local market, but as a way to address local concerns, Ralston said.

Members of Sustainable Glasgow, especially Ray, would like to see the groups efforts expand into the development of biking and walking paths throughout the city. Sustainable Glasgow has started a push called Bicycles of the Barrens, submitting a plan to local government for a network of paths.

Unfortunately, that proposal has met with nothing more than a yawn from local government,?Ray said.

We have a long road to hoe to get this community to think about anything but wider roads, more vehicles,?he said. Kentucky was found to be one of the top five least-active states in a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released in February and based off data from 2007-2009.

Its a quality of life thing,?Travis said.

The organization has also started talking to local banks about the possibility of starting a local Slow Money movement, where banks would help residents invest in local businesses, so their money would remain in the local economy helping local businesses.

Rhonda Trautman, now mayor of Glasgow and a Sustainable Glasgow board member, said that it was the economic development aspect of Sustainable Glasgow that caught her attention. There are many studies that show that if a person spends one dollar in a local business, it circulates within the local economy much more than it would if that dollar were spent in a nationwide chain.

Its a multiplier effect, its just better for everyone,?

Trautman said.

Dan Iacconi, Sustainable Glasgow board member and director of the Industrial Development Economic Authority (IDEA) board, said that Sustainable Glasgow improves the local economy not only by creating jobs in the farming sector, but by attracting businesses to settle in Glasgow.

Prospective clients really appreciate that we have a grassroots movement committed to benefitting our community, Iacconi said. He added that it is a pleasure to showcase Sustainable Glasgow to prospective clients.

That commitment to benefitting the community is what drives the members of Sustainable Glasgow.

Its more than just a market on Saturday, its a way of life, Barrow said.

Ray said that having a sustainable community wont happen without risks, but he wants Glasgow to be as appealing as a small European town. He doesnt want people to feel like they have to travel thousands of miles for a scenic bike ride.

Why dont we just make it so we can live a vacation lifestyle here all the time??Ray said. Why not? Why cant we do that?By Amanda Loviza Glasgow Daily Times

When the recession hit Glasgow in 2008 along with the rest of the country, a small group of people decided they wanted to do something about it.

We wanted to help build a more durable economy in Glasgow, said Billy Ray, superintendent of the Electric Plant Board. Ray is a board member of Sustainable Glasgow, an organization focused on creating a more sustainable economy by focusing on building a local movement in Glasgow.

The idea was that if residents spent more of their money in local businesses, buying produce from local farmers, etc., that those dollars would continue to circulate within the Glasgow economy and would make the city's economy stronger.

"Ownership matters," Ray said. "It makes a difference. Every time they pick up a fork, they are in effect voting for which economy is going to be more durable."

Sustainable Glasgow began with a group of five people who started talking about what they would do to improve Glasgows economy. They began meeting in each others homes, and decided their first goal was to foster a sustainable, local food economy, Ray said. Barren County was ranked one of the top agriculture-producing counties east of the Mississippi River, but local residents were not eating a lot of Barren County food.

Why are we producing so much food around here but not consuming it locally? Ray said was the big question.

In order to promote a local food economy, Sustainable Glasgow began the Bounty of the Barrens Market, a farmers market that stemmed from an earlier market at St. Andrews Episcopal Church. St. Andrews had begun their market after the tobacco buyout had hurt so many livelihoods in Glasgow.

It started out as kind of a justice issue and a community issue, said Suzanne Barrow, the vicar at St. Andrews.

The farmers market was something we realized people really wanted, said Barrow, now a Sustainable Glasgow board member. Sustainable Glasgow was able to build upon that market to create the Bounty of the Barrens, which was first held in the BB&T parking lot on West Main Street at the end of 2008.

From a physical health standpoint, local physician and Sustainable Glasgow president William Travis said that food bought from farms is much healthier, without hormones and antibiotics pumped into the animals. Theres also the benefit of being able to trust the source of your food.

One of the great things about buying food at a farmers market is that you can talk to the person who grew it, look them straight in the eye, Travis said.

Barren County farmer Joe Trigg sells beef and produce at the market, and said Sustainable Glasgow has done a good job of trying to be an advocate for farmers, which is easier said than done.

To emphasize gardening, produce production goes against the normal thing, said Trigg, also a board member. But Sustainable Glasgow wants Barren County farmers to lean their focus away from cash crops like corn and soybeans and focus more on produce that can be eaten locally.

Dr. Jerry Ralston, superintendent of Barren County Schools and Sustainable Glasgow board member, has already seen the positive benefits of providing local produce for consumption. Ralston has pioneered efforts to promote healthy, local eating in the Barren County school system. Barren County students eat apples and salads from local farms, and some elementary schools are creating edible schoolyards, where the teachers and students grow their own gardens on school property. Ralston said that consumption has increased dramatically since the schools started providing healthy local food.

I think its a way we can better take care of ourselves,?

Ralston said.

But Sustainable Glasgow still sees building a local food economy and having a farmers market as just the beginning.

I see it as a broad effort to not only bring the availability if local foods to a local market, but as a way to address local concerns, Ralston said.

Members of Sustainable Glasgow, especially Ray, would like to see the groups efforts expand into the development of biking and walking paths throughout the city. Sustainable Glasgow has started a push called Bicycles of the Barrens, submitting a plan to local government for a network of paths.

Unfortunately, that proposal has met with nothing more than a yawn from local government,?Ray said.

We have a long road to hoe to get this community to think about anything but wider roads, more vehicles,?he said. Kentucky was found to be one of the top five least-active states in a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released in February and based off data from 2007-2009.

Its a quality of life thing,?Travis said.

The organization has also started talking to local banks about the possibility of starting a local Slow Money movement, where banks would help residents invest in local businesses, so their money would remain in the local economy helping local businesses.

Rhonda Trautman, now mayor of Glasgow and a Sustainable Glasgow board member, said that it was the economic development aspect of Sustainable Glasgow that caught her attention. There are many studies that show that if a person spends one dollar in a local business, it circulates within the local economy much more than it would if that dollar were spent in a nationwide chain.

Its a multiplier effect, its just better for everyone,?

Trautman said.

Dan Iacconi, Sustainable Glasgow board member and director of the Industrial Development Economic Authority (IDEA) board, said that Sustainable Glasgow improves the local economy not only by creating jobs in the farming sector, but by attracting businesses to settle in Glasgow.

Prospective clients really appreciate that we have a grassroots movement committed to benefitting our community, Iacconi said. He added that it is a pleasure to showcase Sustainable Glasgow to prospective clients.

That commitment to benefitting the community is what drives the members of Sustainable Glasgow.

Its more than just a market on Saturday, its a way of life, Barrow said.

Ray said that having a sustainable community wont happen without risks, but he wants Glasgow to be as appealing as a small European town. He doesnt want people to feel like they have to travel thousands of miles for a scenic bike ride.

Why dont we just make it so we can live a vacation lifestyle here all the time??Ray said. Why not? Why cant we do that?

Local Businesses -- The Nucleus of Glasgow's Economy

At Sustainable Glasgow we believe that our local economy, and thus, our happiness, can be made more durable by doing business with local people and locally owned businesses. That belief is at the core of our work and our mission. We think that ownership matters.

Last year, when we wanted to upgrade the stage for Bounty of the Barrens Market, two locally owned businesses stepped up and gave us the money and material necessary to build a better stage. That is not even mentioning the fine local folks who run the Glasgow division of BB&T bank, who gave BOTBM a home in the first place! Now that we are moving the market to the square, we are, frankly, embarrassed that we will be leaving that stage and that those local businesses will not get the recognition they deserve. Those businesses, Square Deal Lumber Company and HVAC Services, and BB&T should continue to enjoy the attention of all members and fans of Sustainable Glasgow.

HVAC Services is again showing their commitment to the community by offering to donate $1 (up to $10,000) to the local Boys & Girls Club for everyone who visits their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HVACServices. Once you go there, click on the “Like” button and you will automatically make a donation to this worthy organization! We urge all members and friends of Sustainable Glasgow to help out businesses like these who do so much to reinforce our local economy. This is how we Live Local!

2011 Bounty of the Barrens Market Vendors - APPLY NOW!

Over the weekend we finally completed the vendor application package for 2011. There is a permanent link to the download site on the left side of the page, or you can click here to download the application for 2011. Please get this rolling very soon, especially since some vendors will want to start setting up in about a month! We need your application and payment, and any questions you have for us as soon as possible.

2011 Bounty of the Barrens Market Plans Continue

As another page is turned on the calendar, plans for Bounty of the Barrens Market 2011 continue to fall into place. As you know, the market will be on the lawn of the Barren County Courthouse at the center of the Glasgow square this year. We feel this is the perfect place to bring consumers and growers together for commerce in our community, but the perfect place is also dependent on a lot of puzzle pieces coming together before the market achieves our goals.

This link takes you to an interesting story on the most critical element of a successful farmers market - a great variety of vendors! Right now we are hoping that more local farmers are contemplating the planting of crops that will include a wide variety of local foods that can be sold at Bounty of the Barrens Market. Very soon, this site will feature a new vendor application package on the left side of the page which will detail the latest market rules and specify what steps are necessary to become a vendor at the market.

One of the other things Sustainable Glasgow has gotten a bit behind on as we have worked to plan this year's market is billing folks for annual Sustainable Glasgow membership. The family fee for being a part of our movement is $25. Please accept this as our formal request for you to mail us a check for $25 for your family's 2011 Sustainable Glasgow membership dues. We do need your help, both financially and physically. We are always in need of more volunteers to help us realize our goals.

Stay tuned to this site for upcoming news about our movement!