MARKET IS OPEN FOR ORDERING!

The Market is open Thursday Noon – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled until Thursday noon-ish. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

MARKET NEWS
My sincerest apologies for the late opening of market. Two of my little granddaughters are visiting this week and I soooo forgot what day it is! Please enjoy the market, and I will try to have a little news on Sunday morning!

Our market listings are growing, and I know this makes for a memory-hogging email, so I thought I would add the market link here, instead of including all of the listings. I hope this is helpful for you.

CLICK HERE NOW to Shop Gwinnett Locally Grown!

Enjoy your shopping, and don’t forget to share this email with a friend!

Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

If you are interested in Goat’s Milk and can pick up any day but Tuesday, contact Nik The Goat Guy at 404-542-0981. Goats have to be milked every day and a week-end pick-up would be lovely. Please contact him first though, we can’t accommodate walk-ins due to hosting private events almost every week-end!

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to return phone calls. Remember to interact with us on Facebook and follow us on Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

SUNDAY MARKET REMINDER

This email is a gentle reminder that ordering through Gwinnett Locally Grown will close tomorrow (Monday) 9.a.m.

The Market is open Thursday Noon – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019.

Thank you for your orders and be sure to tell your friends, family and co-workers about good, healthy local food!

See you Tuesday!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

MARKET IS OPEN FOR ORDERING & JUNE MOTHER EARTH MEATS DEADLINES

The Market is open Thursday Noon – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled until Thursday noon-ish. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

FARM NEWS
Camp registration is now open for July. For information, go here. To book your reservation for your 5-14 year olds, go here.

GROUP BUY NEWS – MOTHER EARTH MEATS
For those of you who like to order Mother Earth Meats in bulk, this month’s final order date is Saturday. Please note that Tracy has moved to Saturday deliveries, which will be the last Saturday of this month. This is an effort to keep prices down, so he is setting up a delivery route instead of shipping FedEx. If you have not ordered in bulk before, you can find the instructions in several past web blogs on the Gwinnett Locally Grown website, just scroll down through the blogs. Basically, go to his website at motherearthmeats.com and be sure to use Rancho Alegre Farm’s address as the delivery address (2225 Givens Road, Dacula.)

MARKET NEWS
The remodeling of our store is proceeding. Your orders are now in individual crates stacked on shelves with your invoice attached to the outside of the crate, which eliminates the overflow onto other people’s orders and gives the store more space. There will be help available in moving the crates so you can offload your items into your bags. With this heat, it might be helpful if you bring insulated bags, but we have a healthy supply of grocery bags available if you forget.

We also have an additional refrigerated unit, so feel free to order as much milk and as many eggs as you can consume! The store will eventually have shelves which will allow us to sell even more products than we currently have available. This expansion is extremely exciting!!!!’

Leah Lakes, our veggie vendor, will return for next week’s market. They are on vacation enjoying family which includes a graduation. Congratulations Leah Lakes family members!

We have duck eggs available again as an add-on at market Tuesday (we are out of goose eggs for the season). Also, don’t forget that if you are interested in Goat’s Milk and can pick up any day but Tuesday, contact Nik The Goat Guy at 404-542-0981. Goats have to be milked every day and a week-end pick-up would be lovely. Please contact him first though, we can’t accommodate walk-ins due to hosting private events almost every week-end!

PRODUCER PROFILE
Benji from Anderson Farms has uploaded more pork inventory and will be delivering Tuesday. I especially love his ground pork – the way he raises his hogs produces healthy pork fat, and I tend to mix hamburger and pork together for things like lasagna, pizza, etc. because I think it makes for a fuller flavor. I also add my own spices to ground pork to make my own sausage, because my husband and I have widely diverging tastes, so it’s easy to satisfy us both by dividing a pound in half and adding custom spice blends.

Please share with me your favorite way to fix pork chops! Our recipe section on the Gwinnett Locally Grown website is now enabled, you can add the recipe there, or bring me a copy, or email me, and I will add it.

Benji also will be delivering leaf fat for those of you who render your own lard! Here are excellent instructions, plus information on why lard from properly raised hogs such as Benji’s is very good for a person. This product typically sells out very fast, so order early.

Love ribs? I do! Here is a tip on fixing St. Louis Ribs: There is a thin membrane on the back of the ribs that needs to be removed before cooking. All these years of eating off the farm, and I never knew that! Here is a great YouTube video that shows how and why. Now that I’m doing it, I can tell that there is definitely a difference in taste and texture.

I know people are extremely passionate about their barbecue, so if you’d like to share your recipe, I would enjoy that, and I’m sure others will too. I leave it to you to use your favorite barbecue sauce with the St. Louis Ribs.

Our market listings are growing, and I know this makes for a memory-hogging email, so I thought I would add the market link here, instead of including all of the listings. I hope this is helpful for you.

Shop Gwinnett Locally Grown listing now!

Enjoy your shopping, and don’t forget to share with a friend!

Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to return phone calls. Remember to interact with us on Facebook and follow us on Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

MARKET REMINDER

This email is a gentle reminder that ordering through Gwinnett Locally Grown will close tomorrow (Monday) 9.a.m.

The Market is open Thursday Noon – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled until Thursday noon-ish. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

MARKET NEWS
Great news! The automated reminder I sent out last Tuesday about remembering to come to market to pick up your order worked! Please do not solely rely on the reminder in case I forget, or my internet goes down or something, but I will always try!!!

Don’t forget if you are interested in Goat’s Milk and can pick up any day but Tuesday, contact Nik The Goat Guy at 404-542-0981. Goats have to be milked every day and a week-end pick-up would be lovely. Please contact him first though, we can’t accommodate walk-ins due to hosting private events almost every week-end!

See you Tuesday!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to return phone calls. Remember to interact interact with us on Facebook and follow us on Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

MARKET IS OPEN & FARM PRODUCT NEWS!

The Market is open Thursday Noon-ish – Monday 9 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. ONLY, at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

SUMMER CAMP REMINDER
Just a reminder that Summer Camp At The Farm is open for registration. The deadline for June’s camp is Friday! Register your 5-14 year olds here.

MARKET NEWS
Sylvan Falls Mill and Leah Lakes Farm are on vacation.

Legacy Alpaca is back with various colors of Alpaca yarn, some in their natural color, and some of which have been dyed using natural materials. We have Mother Earth Meats chicken back in stock, and Russell has butter again.

We have duck and goose eggs available again as an add-ons during Tuesday pick-ups. Duck eggs are $3.50 for half dozen, and goose eggs are $2 each or 3/$5. They are from Sally at Treffynnon Farm in Conyers.

I have turned on the recipe section of our website and will be experimenting with how it works over the next few days. I know we all have favorite ways of cooking the food sold by our farmers, and soon we’ll be able to share them!

Thank you for supporting local farmers and artisans :-)

See you Tuesday – Happy Shopping!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to take phone calls on a working farm, especially one that also hosts tours and private events. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

YOU ARE AWESOME! - Sunday morning market reminder.

This email is a gentle reminder that ordering through Gwinnett Locally Grown will close tomorrow (Monday) 9.a.m.

The Market is open Thursday Noon-ish – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019.

SUMMER CAMP REMINDER
Just a reminder that Summer Camp At The Farm is open for registration. The deadline for June’s camp is Friday! Register your 5-14 year olds here.

MARKET NEWS
I will be sending a market pick-up reminder through an auto-generated part of the Gwinnett Locally Grown website Tuesday afternoon. Please mention at market whether you receive it or not, I have done it a couple other times and never received a notice myself. The program said it had gone out, but if it doesn’t, I need to know in order to contact the tech guy. Thanks!!!!

We have duck and goose eggs available again as an add-on when you come Tuesday to pick up your order.

YOU ARE THE MOST AWESOME CUSTOMERS IN THE WORLD!!!
I am so grateful that you are all so understanding about delivery challenges! Since I became manager in October, we have all had to deal with ice and snowstorms and swarming termites (always on a Tuesday it seems!) deliveries that have gone awry, computer malfunctions, predators scaring chickens so badly they won’t produce eggs until they’ve settled back down, early reoccurring frosts that ruined produce plantings, frozen water pipes in barns that have to be fixed immediately, power outages ruining products right before delivery, etc. All of you without exception have been very understanding when I’ve had to zero items out from your order and for this I thank you!

Farmers usually work on tiny margins, usually can’t afford adequate staffing, and never, ever have enough hours in the day (just some of the reasons so few people want to farm.) One of the good things about farmers’ markets and CSAs is that customers are more in tune with what it takes to produce local food, and this includes getting back in touch with what grows in a particular season. Sometimes farmers can extend the seasons with greenhouses and floating row covers, but in the end, we are all at the mercy of the weather. In the winter, we never had enough eggs because chickens need a lot of sunlight and warmth to produce eggs, when the really hot weather hits, there may also be a dip in production. Sally, who has been providing us with duck and goose eggs lately, has mentioned this will be particularly hard on the geese. But hang in there, we will be having tomatoes soon…and I may have even found organic peaches!

Thank you for everything, you are awesome!

See you Tuesday!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

MARKET IS OPEN FOR ORDERING NOW!

The Market is open Thursday Noon-ish – Monday 9 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. ONLY, at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

MARKET NEWS!
As I write this, Russell is planning to make Mozzarella and Bococinni tomorrow to replenish his inventory from last week’s accident, so it is listed on market as available this week. He does not have butter however, so for those of you who are “hoarding” it like I am, it’s time to dig into our personal stashes in our freezer!

I have had some inquiries about how to order milk. It is listed under Locally Grown -> Dairy -> Raw Pet Milk. For those of you new to raw milk, it can only be sold in the state of Georgia as “For Pet Consumption Only.” This state required label has nothing to do with the quality.

FARMER PROFILE
I have asked our farmers to let me know when they are interviewed or profiled in a magazine, newspaper or on a website, or have a website of their own, so I can share the information with you and we can all learn more about the farmers we support. Lisa from Bo & Lisa’s Lil Patch sent me the link to information about her/their farm. You can read it here. Some of our farmers also have FaceBook pages, so as I collect the links, I will share them here.

Lisa’s page is doubly cool because it’s the Certified Naturally Grown website, which also gives us information about the CNG program. This is basically a grass-roots program that uses the same rules as the government-run Certified Organic program, but with much less paperwork to contend with. Paper trails for farmers (or for any self-employed person really) are one of the many things I refer to as a “time-sucker” – another thing (usually needed but not necessarily showing a black & white return for the time spent) that stretches the work-day far beyond daylight hours. I personally fully support the CNG program.

Have a wonderful week!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to take phone calls on a working farm, especially one that also hosts tours and private events. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

MARKET REMINDER

This email is a gentle reminder that ordering through Gwinnett Locally Grown will close tomorrow (Monday) 9.a.m.

The Market is open Thursday Noon – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019.

Have a safe and pleasant Memorial Day…See you Tuesday!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

MARKET IS OPEN FOR ORDERING NOW!

The Market is open Thursday Noon-ish – Monday 9 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. ONLY, at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

MARKET NEWS!
Don’t forget to order this week! With market closing on the morning of a holiday, please consider ordering early. Pick-up will be the same time as usual, no delay from the Monday holiday.

We have been having record sales, and I thank you for your patience as we try to process your orders in a timely manner. We have brochures and I have business cards if you would like to share the news about good, locally grown and artisan-produced products available through this market!

Have a wonderful week and a safe week-end!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to take phone calls, especially in the spring on a working farm. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.

SUMMER CAMP AT THE FARM

This email is a gentle reminder that ordering through Gwinnett Locally Grown will close tomorrow (Monday) 9.a.m.

The Market is open Thursday Noon – Monday 9:00 a.m. After that, ordering is disabled. Pick up your order Tuesday 4:30-6:30 p.m. only at Rancho Alegre Farm at 2225 Givens Road, Dacula, GA 30019. New to The Market? Learn about how it works here.

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FARM NEWS
Because so many people have been asking about summer camp, I am sharing the details here. We will be announcing through social media when registration is open (FaceBook/Twitter, monthly newsletters for the farm, and I will make a note of it in this blog.)

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RANCHO ALEGRE FARM SUMMER CAMP 2014
Multi-Age Campers:
Our junior camper sessions are open to children ages 5 through 11 and are limited to 20 campers per week. This gives children of multiple ages the chance to learn from one another, mentor others, and develop skills at their own pace. Spots for senior campers ages 12 – 14 are also available.

Sessions:
• Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Junior Campers: 5-11 years old: $145/week
• Senior Campers: 12-14 years old: $100/week

Sibling Discounts:
All campers’ siblings get a 10% discount for the first week they are enrolled (regardless of which session), and 12% for the second week.

Session 1: Week of June 16th: A Day on the Farm
Campers will learn about farm chores and experience activities such as animal care, milking goats, collecting eggs, feeding animals and more.

Session 2: Week of July 14th: Living on the Land
Campers will learn self-reliant homesteading skills such as gardening, cheese making, baking and other homesteading skills.

• A minimum of 6 campers per session is required.
• Final registration is due by Friday, ten days prior in order to guarantee session.
• We will notify the public when registration is open via social media. Please do not call the farm.

See you Tuesday!
Debbie Moore
Market Manager
grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com

Fresh Wishes,
Pilar Quintero
Market Host
Rancho Alegre Farm

Please contact grow@ranchoalegrefarm.com for questions pertaining to Market or Raw Milk. It is very difficult to take phone calls, especially in the spring on a working farm. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Meetup to get notification on all our wonderful events and news.