Session one of the 8th International Public Markets Conference, “Connecting a market to it’s community.” Tools and techniques from the Rust Belt to the Pacific Rim. An Illustration by Julia Kuo.

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I spent a lot of time over the last month preparing for the 8th International Public Markets Conference, trying to support Ohio City Inc. with interesting tweets and posts about market and food related news or innovations that caught my eye prior to the conference. As someone who previously did not know much about public or farmers markets beside the obvious, I went into this conference without any preconceived ideas as to what I might encounter. I had a vague idea of the issues surrounding markets and the impacts that they have on the communities around us, but it wasn’t until I attended the Cleveland Connects discussion this past Thursday that I began to see and hear about the actual local impact through the conversation of those experts and influencers of the urban farming and eat local movements here in … Read More »

OK before you read and say “what?” Really, I did start writing this when it was cold and it actually snowed. I guess winter is over but still hope you enjoy.

We have been lucky here in the mid-west to have had warm almost spring days pop-up throughout winter and snow coming late in the season. Winter may have been late, but he always comes.

I have lived in four season locales for most of my life and while I don’t mind the winter (I think this is because I’m always cold anyway), the winds and cold of it sinks in slowly and I wonder, like most, when the spring will come again. I guess the routine of winter, unlike other seasons seems just that – too routine. Too slow, very sloppy, and always cold. It’s the slowing down that I never … Read More »

So, winter is here after spring teasing us with warm days scattered throughout December and January. You know those days if you’ve lived in the mid-west – the kind when there is at least one crazy guy (or in this case a whole city) that’s wearing a T-Shirt and shorts even though it is still only 45 degrees out. Warm, sunny days in the middle of winter sometimes make people do crazy things.

And, as they say, so does love. Please do the craziest things for the people, projects, pets, stuff, ideas, rock bands, technologies, issues, etc. they love. I’m an optimist and a romantic (do you know an optimist that’s not?) and so I like the idea of love. I like the shades, the depth, the variations, the silence and loudness of it. The fact that “love” is sometimes accompanied … Read More »

When working on the website, and even before, I was told by a few friends and a sister, “You have to start blogging.” Why? About what? At first, the task seemed so daunting because the reality is, when you stare at a blank page, either physically on your desk, or the bright white sheet open on your computer screen, it is a challenge to fill that page with something meaningful and interesting and insightful. And, while I’ve come to realize that all those are great goals, sometimes I’ll hit those marks and sometimes I won’t, it’s the act of writing and reflecting (or perhaps that should be reflecting and writing) that has a great power, meaning, and process. So, while I’ve only posted a few blogs, I have a long list of potential topics to write about – including blogs … Read More »