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April 4, 2020 M@D Newsletter



Market at Dothan is open to accept orders.
Orders close Tuesday at 5pm
We use the word “Sustainable” over “Organic” because you can grow organic without being sustainable, but you cannot be sustainable without utilizing organic practices.


A Different Perspective
Market Chitchat
Grower Notes

Thank you for your continued support of our local farmers. We count it a privilege to serve you!


Open Letter from ER Physician

Editors Note – what follows was written last week by the E.R. Physician husband of one of our Market customers. Please share it as you see fit! We appreciate both Basford’s so much and encourage you to pray with us for all of our medical front line soldiers and their families.

Dear America,

I am sorry that you are struggling in this time of uncertainty and quarantine. Death does not care about your suffering, but I do. I want deeply to help you through it. I want to ease your suffering and free you from fear. I am not quarantined. I am an emergency medicine physician, and I am not alone. Along with me, thousands of healthcare workers and hospital support staff are braving work each day for you. We go to work because of you. We ask that you stay home for us.

I say braving because, like you, we are afraid. We are afraid because each patient that we touch may be the one that gives us this virus, this uncertainty, and this fear. We touch you because you are afraid, and at the very depths of what we do, we want you to be free from this fear. Each day, when I come home from work and I kiss my wife, I fear that this singular act of love will be the one that kills her. Every member of my hospital staff feels the same way. The fear is palpable. We fear for our own lives, but more than that, we are afraid because of our love for those around us. We deserve to be free from this fear, and that is why I am writing this.

You are right to say that this virus is not as deadly as Ebola or the bird flu. You are wrong to say that it is no worse than a bad seasonal flu. People in contact with this virus are more likely to contract it and somewhere between 5 and 10 times more likely to die from it than the seasonal flu. Not only do symptoms last longer that the flu, you can give it to your loved ones without knowing it, as some who are infected barely develop any symptoms; those that do succumb die of suffocation.

But you are young, America. You are not Italy, Spain, or China. You are healthy and vibrant. Your liberties and your freedoms set you apart. Your government has no right to make you stay home or arrest you if you don’t (they do have this right, though). You are unique in the world. You are right that this virus will likely not kill most of you. As I write this, current projections suggest that as many as 150,000 Americans will die directly from this disease before the end of summer. This number will be much higher if we don’t stay home, but so many of these deaths can be prevented by just staying home. The economy will recover. It will recover sooner if we end this plague now.

Social distancing isn’t about letting the virus fizzle out over time—social distancing will draw the disease out for quite a while, but that isn’t the point. The point is, that if we don’t let the virus fizzle out over time, our hospitals will not be able to take care of you, your spouse, your children, or your parents. If our hospitals are overrun with respiratory disease, we will not be able to take care of the healthcare problems that don’t stop just because the emergency department is busy with COVID 19. I will not be able to take care of your mother having a heart attack or your infant child with a seizure. When a drunk driver hits you on the way home from the grocery store, I will not be able to take care of you. I will have to tell your mother that her daughter died because I didn’t have any room to take care of her. You or your family might die because I am sick at home because I didn’t have a facemask.

In a few weeks, our capacity to take care of COVID 19 patients may overwhelm our nation’s hospital capacity. If and/or when this happens, people will die. They will not necessarily die solely because of COVID 19, but they will die from all of the other things that kill Americans—heart attacks, strokes, car wrecks—they will die because our liberties made it seem more important to prove that we are all Americans than to keep our families alive by just staying home.

If you care about your family, stay home. If you care about your freedoms, stay home. If you want this to end, stay home. If you care about America and the freedoms on which She was founded, stay home.

If you are still having pool parties and barbecues to prove that you are not afraid, shame on you. If are still holding church services to prove a point, shame on you. If you think that shopping or visiting your friend is more important than the health of your fellow man, shame on you. If you are so arrogant to believe that these rules do not apply to you, shame on you; you are the reason that I and my colleagues are afraid to go work. Surprisingly enough, though, you are also the reason that we still go to work.
Grace and Peace,
Jesse Basford

MARKET CHITCHAT

WOO HOO! NEW PRODUCTS!

Red round radishes
Leeks
Spring Onions
Asparagus

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More covid-19 procedures: This week we added a couple of things to our arsenal against infection. We now have a hand washing station at the Market Shed and now have masks. Of course the masks are not medical issue but they do the job of keeping the bulk of our own germs close to us and not you. And if nothing else they are cute.

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I guess it’s ok to mention that your Market manager has been in contact with other farmer’s markets around the state because our business model and new pick up procedures are working so well for the current situation. Some of this came to fruition Friday when Elizabeth Thompson who runs the farmer’s market in the Decatur area visited us Friday. They are working to implement a similar system for their farmers and customers. Unfortunately covid did not allow most of you to meet this delightful lady. We wish her and her market family there well as they take this bold step!

On a different note, we learned from our locallygrown.net developer that he’s been swamped helping other new locally grown markets like ours around the country get up and running.

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More closures ordered by the Governor: If you are wondering they do not affect Dothan Nurseries or Market at Dothan.
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What follows is a “tweaked” reprint from last week’s newsletter for the benefit of our newbees.

I. Order Payment:
1. Voluntarily prepay by 6 pm Thursday if possible using this PAYPAL link. This eliminates passing paper currency back and forth or handling of debit/credit cards on site. Your invoice will be marked PAID and pickup is fast and easy.

2. You may use PAYPAL curbside on Friday. Not quite as efficient as we have to verify receipt but it does work.

3. Debit/Credit – yes, we still take cards using our regular system. We just have to get within 6 feet for you to put your card in the chip reader. We do our best to avoid touching your card or you touching the equipment which means we sign an “x” for your signature.

4. Cash and Checks – please put them in a plastic baggie or bank bag. If you want to put them in your trunk/tailgate that would eliminate the need to come near the drivers window

II. Curb Service. It’s OK to pull up next to the building. In fact we recommend it as tractor trailers sometimes need to share that space. Have your trunk/ hatchback open and we’ll load you up!

GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.


AVALON FARM:

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Leeks! Decided to start offering the leeks. They are approximately an inch in diameter and will be sold in groups of 3. Fresh dug, with all those lovely leaves. Google “leek leaf uses” and you’ll get things like: stock/soup, chips, salad toppings and wraps! Let’s not waste them!

Spring onions. Apparently there are a myriad of definitions of that term. What I’m calling Spring Onions are young, not fully mature bulbing onions. An order will consist of young Kinston Sweets and Creole Reds.

Red round radishes are a nice size finally. They are listed again. There are some purple and green mini daikons growing alongside them that are just starting to bulb.

Asparagus are showing up daily but not in full production yet. A few bunches will be listed in the hope of better production this week. (Keep your fingers crossed.)

All the transplants of tomatoes,  peppers and eggplants are out in the field. Have some new greens transplants to plant out still. And it’s time for the 2nd succession planting of summer squashes. 

Be safe. Don’t eat all the goodies the first day! 
Big cyber hug from Wendy, Avalon Farms.

HORTONS FARM: What a day! We got to witness one of nature’s marvels in our front yard today. As a beekeeper having a swarm is embarrassing because it means I failed to prevent it. On the other hand, they’re just so cool to watch! These bees didn’t like my husband’s almond tree and moved to a flowering crabapple in the shade. I’ll be collecting them and rehoming them to a hive in the pasture a bit later today.

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FOOTNOTES

We would love to hear from you! If you have a favorite recipe, want to write a product review, have an idea or request for an article or information, let us know! You can reply to this newsletter or write marketatdothan@gmail.com.

Market Schedule
Order Saturday 5pm to Tuesday 5pm weekly for Pickup the following Friday
Dothan Pickup: 10am – 12pm, Dothan Nurseries, 1300 Montgomery Highway, Dothan, AL 36303
Daleville Pickup: 11am – 11:30am, Parking area behind Daleville Chamber of Commerce
Enterprise Pickup: 12pm – 12:30pm, Grocery Advantage, 1032 Boll Weevil Circle, Enterprise

Our Website: marketatdothan.locallygrown.net
Our Email: marketatdothan@gmail.com

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We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible!