I tip my hat to East Lake United Methodist Church. They gave me my first chance at being a vendor for my crafted goods.
But not only that, it has stayed in a changing neighborhood when many others would have sold or abandoned the church. Their motto being, In the Neighborhood for Good.I spoke with one of the members who was wearing a shirt with this very motto on the pocket.
There aren't nearly as many vendors as there once were. Some of that can be attributed to the numerous pop up farmers markets that are in various communities now. At the time I was a vendor there were few fresh vegetable markets in the area that offered fresh food at reasonable prices.
This is a very large church building with a very small congregation. They also have a 2nd hand store inside and they sell hot lunches everyday. They seem to get a large crowd for the lunches.
The church is beautiful inside and I'm sure it is expensive to maintain such a large structure. But, they've been holding on.
One of the members told me that the bell tower doesn't hold a bell and never did. The bell tower is now a cell tower rented to Verizon. Like he said, "you've got to pay the bills."
P.S. You may have noticed that the text is larger. It seemed to small and not dark enough in my last posts.
These are the fresh veggies that were in my box from the East Lake Farmer's Market this weekend. Tomatoes,squash,purple hull peas, green beans, redskin potatoes, and peaches. This is plenty for me. I'd been picking up every week but had to change that because it was more food than I was getting to. A half box is $15 which is what I get. A whole box is $30. Supporting local farmers and crafts people is my goal as well as getting fresh food when so many places have been deemed fresh food deserts.
Also included in my box was a pan of homemade rolls. I ate three of them yesterday topped with homemade strawberry jam that was in my last box.
The market will discontinue in October. Since I've been picking up the fresh veggies, I've been eating healthier. That's not to say I've abandoned fast food , but I seem to do it less often and at times I find the fast food tasteless and unsatisfying.
In addition to fresh food, various crafts people have their wares for sale. I've bought handmade earrings from one of the outside vendors and purchased items from inside the church's thrift store in the past.
Yesterday, I had to have these colorful hand embroidered kitchen towels. The photo doesn't do justice to the precise stitches used to form the images on the towel. The craftsperson told me that the towels were purchased and are part of the Martha Stewart collection but the images are hand stitched. The fabric seemed to be a mixture of linen and cotton. The colors and borders as well as the handwork would make a cute sundress for a small child. On the other hand who'd want their child wearing a casserole dish, teapot or drinking glass. It was just a thought.
Grow Alabama is an organization that allows the public to have fresh produce in season delivered to various pick up sites where the customer picks them up.
The levels include gold, silver and bronze. Each of these levels has a different price and amount of produce the consumer receives.
I chose the silver level. In it I will receive 6 different vegs/fruits. It is enough for 3-4 servings. The consumer is allowed to order 2 of something if one of the items is not to his liking. For instance if cucumbers are in the veg box and you don't like cucumbers, you can get two of squash, if squash is one of the vegs offered that week.
I bought one of the certificates for $49 that would allow me to have $99 worth of food over a four week period.
Below are the items I received during week three. As you can see there are only 5 different items. That is because I chose to have two orders of string beans in place of cucumbers.
I made sure that I showed you the bruises on the apples. They still turned out to be very good.
I won't continue in this program because:
1.The person I talked to on the phone about where to pick up had the personality of vinegar and lemon. The place I wanted to receive my produce was to get its deliveries at 2:30. I had to be at work by 4:00. At 3:00 the vegbox had not arrived. I called the office and the woman was not rude but she showed little concern. I told her I was new to the program and was not familiar with how it worked. I had to extract (as in dentistry) any information I needed to make a decision. Though I've never met her, she reminded me of the Carol Burnett character, Mrs. Wiggins.
Woman: I'll call the driver and call you back. Me: waiting, waiting, 3:10. She hasn't called me back. I call back and ask, "Is he coming?". Woman: He didn't answer his phone. Long pause ....waiting for her to give me further instructions. Me: What should I do? I've got to be at work at four. Woman: I can give you a credit. Long pause...waiting for her to tell me what a credit is and how it works Me: What is that? How does it work?
Getting information out of this woman was excruciating.
2. I never knew from week to week what I would be getting unless I called, though my e-mail address was on file. I had to ask for that also. 3. The list would say there'd be eggplant and then when I get my vegbox I didn't have eggplant instead I'd have two squash. I guess they ran out of eggplant and gave two of whatever was plentiful. 4. One week I received an e-mail that there wouldn't be a delivery. That was fine but the Woman put everyone's e-mail address in Cc instead of Bcc. Now everybody knows everyone else's e-mail address. 5. The following week there was no delivery because of the death of one of their employees. That's understandable. I respect that. 6. My last vegbox was last week. I don't plan to reorder.
I'd like to support the local farmers but I have not been pleased with the service especially customer service. Although when I called in last week a new person answered and she had much better customer service skills. I told her so. Still, this is more trouble than it is worth. Grow Alabama needs to polish its skills. THAT'S IT***
