September 27, 2013:  Meet Meg at the market this week and see how your business can benefit!

Founded in 2003, Local First Arizona (LFA) is a non-profit organization working to strengthen communities and local economies through supporting, maintaining, and celebrating locally owned businesses throughout the state of Arizona. We educate citizens, stakeholders, business leaders, and legislators about the significant environmental, economic, and cultural benefits of strong local economies. We focus on spreading the positive messages of buying locally and community building, and strive to build vibrant communities that make residents proud to call home.

LFA is currently the largest organization of its kind in the country with over 2400 members. As a non-profit network of local, independently owned Arizona businesses and supporters, we facilitate sustainable economic development by providing education, connections, market development. Join us and place yourself in front of customers who already know they want to find it locally. Let us help them find your business.

Contact: Meg Williams, meg@localfirstaz.com

Northern Arizona Director

For Local First Arizona’s website, please go here!

It seems this year the Verde Valley is experiencing a bumper crop of cucumbers.  There are many varieties available at the market right now, so here is a delicious recipe for

Vegan Chilled Cucumber Soup!

Non Vegan Chilled Cucumber Soup!

More recipes for cucumbers can be found here and here!

The US Food Stamp Program is at stake this week!  Please check out this article and petition in support of Food Stamps:

ARTICLE IN THE NEWS AND PETITION

Hunger shouldn’t be a political issue. We urge you to reject $39 billion in cuts to SNAP, and ensure that the 49 million people who are hungry in America – 17 million of who are children – aren’t left without life-saving, vital aid.

Why is this important?

In June, the House GOP tried to cut $20 billion from SNAP, the program formerly known as Food Stamps, and failed. Any rational person would say that they went too far – that we need to compromise. Instead, GOP leadership has doubled down on the crazy, and drafted a bill that doubles the level of cuts to SNAP. The GOP will likely bring the bill to the floor this week. We cannot – we must not – let it pass.

Earlier this year, I took the Food Stamp Challenge for the second time, living on $31.50 for a week to bring attention to the plight of those who live on SNAP. Despite what some critics like to say, the Food Stamp Program is not a government handout but it is a true safety net program that provides access to food for people who cannot afford to choose between rent, medicine, child care and transportation. And it is efficient: The National Journal recently named the SNAP as “one of the government’s top successes” and the GAO has repeatedly reported on the successes of this important program. According to the USDA, over 26 million people benefited from SNAP last year. Over 80% of food stamp benefits go to families with children. One in five food stamp households has an elderly family member, and one in four has a disabled member.

Increasingly, working families must rely on food stamps to supplement their wages in low-paying jobs. It’s time for a much greater public debate to take place around this issue. It’s time to end hunger in America – and we can do so starting by focusing on the Food Stamp Program. SNAP is our government’s first line of defense against hunger and malnutrition, and it should be better equipped to accomplish that task, not gutted for the sake of politics. Tell the House leadership that we need to End Hunger Now, not put millions more children and families at risk.

Donate $5 to the Relay for Life cause and receive 2 RAFFLE TICKETS for a Farmers Market Gift Basket this Friday!  Please see the Sedona Relay for Life representative, Danielle Holman, at the Farmers Market information booth to make your donation and for your raffle tickets.

Join other supporters of patients with cancer this Friday, September 20, 2013 6pm-6am at the Red Rock High School for the Relay For Life in Sedona Event!

Gift Basket Raffle Options:

Option 1:

Spend $7 with any vendor and receive one FREE RAFFLE TICKET to enter the drawing for a GIFT BASKET!  Drawings are held at 9.30am and 11am. Must be present to win!  For more information, please come to the Farmers Market booth on Friday.

Option 2:

Donate $5 to the RELAY FOR LIFE cause and receive two RAFFLE TICKETS for a GIFT BASKET.  For more information, please see Danielle Holman at the Farmers Market booth.

Join and walk the RELAY FOR LIFE EVENT this Friday, September 20th 6pm-6am at Sedona’s Red Rock High School in support of patients with cancer!

PK’s songwriting style careens wildly around the alt-country and folk genres like Hank Williams on a souped-up Vespa – rooted in tradition, but with a kind of laissez-faire European eclecticism that is decidedly modern.  In other words, fans of old-time music will find much to like, but this is not an attempt at a purist revival by any stretch!

With elements of folk, western swing, honky-tonk, and blues, and taking on a wide range of subjects from religion and sex to the zombie apocalypse, the songs are the star, delivered in an immediately-compelling baritone reminiscent of Cash and Presley but with a style all it’s own.

Here is P.K.’s website!

Sundays Noon – 4pm starting November 10th 2013  held weekly through the end of April 2014 at Wells Fargo Bank Parking Lot

We are the only market in Northern AZ open during the Winter Season and the customers sure appreciate it – set up in West Sedona right on the Highway at the SE corner of the Safeway Shopping Plaza intersection!

We have 26 spaces available – RSVP today!

Download your application here!

Please welcome  our new vendor PEPPERMINT JIM at the market!

Check out the many health benefits of peppermint.  Click here for an article on peppermint for stress reduction.

Click here for a history of the Crosby Farm.

Sustainably grown in Tuscon AZ.

2013 Verde Valley Farm Tour:

Besides satisfying my personal curiosity for healthy farming methods, there are some perks to this endeavor – socializing and eating!

Between sinking my teeth into a freshly picked apple and picking raspberries, I learned about natural methods of pest management like companion planting and crop rotation, discussed water use in drip irrigation and flood irrigation, water quality, and saw how fields are laid out to minimize water needs.  I noted solar powered wells, hand-made solar ovens and green houses, soil regeneration and a water conservation compost project through “Huegli Kultur”.  Of course, the GMO subject came up, in particular very hard to find and expensive GMO-free livestock feed.

More to see next year:  an heirloom tomato farm, a biodynamic vegetable garden, a biodynamic vineyard, a healthy bee operation and 2 organic fruit and nut orchards!

With gratitude, Katrin Themlitz

El Portal Garden near Schnebly Hill Road

El Portal Garden with Vernon Armpriester

Dahlia at El Portal Garden

Protected by the Buddha – Sprouts and Wheatgrass by Jaka’s Sky Hi! Sprouts

Jaka, owner of Sky Hi! Sprouts, at the green house growing healthful wheatgrass

Amaranth at El Portal Garden near Schnebly Hill Road

Ryan Schumacher and Andrew Crafter preparing winter garden

Ryan Schumacher and Andrew Crafter at Spring Creek Ranch with heirloom lavender and watermelon

Raised Beds at Spring Creek Ranch

Ryan Schumacher with heirloom melon at Spring Creek Ranch

Gourd at El Portal Garden

Freddy Munoz, owner of Da’Nede Farm, in 8 foot organic corn grown for making popcorn

The Colorado River starts in Rocky Mountain National Park along the jagged edge of the Continental Divide at over 12,000 feet of elevation. The river cascades, flows, tumbles, and rumbles through 1,450 miles of mountains, canyons, high plains, and low deserts on its journey to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. The entire Southwest United States completely depends on the Colorado River and its tributaries – the states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, and California use the river’s water for farming, drinking, growing lawns, and generating hydroelectric power.

Thirty million people in the Southwest use the Colorado River’s water for their material sustenance; millions more use the river itself for recreation and spiritual enjoyment. The river quenches our thirst, feeds our souls, enlivens our senses. And we are not the only inhabitants using this river – its waters, canyons, and habitats provide a vibrant but deeply threatened ecosystem for untold numbers of plant and animal species. All of these competing demands make the Colorado River one of the most contested and controlled rivers on Earth. Over the last decade, humans have drained all of the river’s water – all 5 trillion gallons – before it reaches the Sea of Cortez. The Colorado River is in very bad shape and deeply threatened.

Robert Redford is in Phoenix at The Science Center this Saturday, Sept 7th 2013 to raise funds, build awareness and engagement to RAISE THE RIVER!

Read Robert Redford’s latest article on the COLORADO RIVER here!