Our little town will make it if more people shop locally!

Today at the Farmer's market, I was relieved. For quite some time, I have been worried about the long-term survival of our small town. We are a little town of about 5,000 people. That census figure counts the 1500+ college students that just started showing up for the fall semester over the past couple of weeks.

I live uptown on main street and there is a very different atmosphere in our little town when the students leave. The locals come out more often but I know the chamber of commerce and local development agency are worried about the drop off in sales for our local merchants. The loss of sales tax revenue has impacted the state, county and local governments and they are cutting across the board.

Today when I got to the Farmer's market a little earlier than my normal time, I was happily shopping when a crowd of Chinese foreign exchange students showed up. There were at least 20 of them and the first thing I noticed was how closely together they all stood. They crowded together in front of the organic vegetable and meat stand and the owner quickly approached me.

He asked me if I wanted some of his produce as he knew they would clean him out. I had already gone over my $10 budget and was ready to go so I told him I was looking for some meat. My normal meat farmer wasn't there so I didn't pick up any pork or beef. I couldn't afford this farmer's wonderful looking grass fed beef, but am thinking I may splurge next time. I know I could cut it up into smaller portions. I seem to recall that my meat portions should only be the size of a deck of playing cards.

This is the first year that the Farmer's market is in this location and I am hopeful it will remain there. They are also open now until 6pm and that is helpful for people like me who are still working.

For many years the Farmer's market was only open from 11-2 and I could never get there. If I did, I usually showed up on the wrong day. More and more people are talking about this and as they also work, they are able to get there now.

Some of the Items I purchased today were:

3 small yellow summer squash .75
4 pounds of red potatoes 2.00
1 red onion .50
2 pounds of green beans 3.00
4 pounds of roma tomatoes 2.50
12 ears of sweet corn 3.50
1 pound of cherry tomatoes 1.50

With the college students returning and the college promoting locally grown foods, the Farmer's market will do well this year. I will have fresh produce, save some money and stock up for the winter.

I do have to buy another box of peaches to freeze, but so far I have dehydrated or frozen:
20 pounds of blueberries
15 pounds of peaches
4 pounds of green beans
1 pound of peas
8 green bell peppers
4 red bell peppers
12 jalapenos
8 pounds of carrots

My pantry is getting fuller and fuller and I am prepared for whatever the winter brings. If my hours are cut, and changes are 50/50 they may be, I will be okay. I do know that my little town has a lot of people like me who are also putting things up for the winter. Canning jars are in short supply and the local grocery store can't keep gallon jugs of vinegar on the shelf. The farmers market was doing a brisk business when I left and it was early yet. I know we will make it through.

The Right Direction

Today when I was volunteering at my local food co-op, I was reading one of my favorite daily blogs, Get Rich Slowly. J.D. Roth is a great guy and has inspired me to get more frugal and increase my income. He is reviving one of his older blogs about animals and donating the money to a charity.

After reading his post, Building A Money Making Blog: Preparation, as is my habit, I took some notes and read the comments. On of the commentators turned me onto Lee Wind's blog, The Zen of Blogging, which contributed to more notes and I finally got it. Consistency and focus are key in staying on course and moving in the right direction in life, why not in a blog.

I will be two score and ten on my next birthday and I still love pens and paper. Tactile and audible pencil lead scratching helps me plan and so I sharpened one up and made a few notes to finalize my plan. As part of my plan I needed to come up with a few reasons why I wanted to blog and ways my blog would pay me.

1. Making a few extra dollars from my writing would be nice. I intentionally work a part-time job at a place I love to give me a lot of free time. I live on a very limited income but would like to visit my grandchildren more often. I have received royalties from a series of genealogical books I have co-authored, but more money and visits to the grandchildren would be a good thing.

2. I love reading, learning new things and sharing what I have learned. I had way too many books before I downsized but I have been a lifelong learner. Sharing lists of resources, books, blogs, primary documents and files is something I will definately do in each post.

3. Making the blog a priority and fitting my passions has to be a part of the plan. I will post each week and on living in a rural area. It is a very general topic I am passionate about there is a lot to write about. There are a lot of subtopics, Supporting Local Foods, Entrepreneurship, and Preparing for Emergencies are three I know for sure I will cover.

4. Other rural dwellers also need a place to share their stories. There are a lot of other people like me who have made the conscious decision to either stay, return or investigate a quieter lifestyle. I would like them to come here and feel at home.

Now that I narrowed down the general topics and made a decision to commit to doing this, I just have to figure out how to get the traffic here. In an email I subscribe to, Yaro Starak of Entrepreneurs Journey and a regular contributor to Problogger.net recommends at least five "Pillar Articles" so that search engines send more visitors to find you. With my three main topics, I think three pillars will create a very strong blog. I just have to get writing and decide on two more. Stay tuned.