Hi Friends and Fans of ESH! Today, we bring you the Loudoun Made, Loudoun Grown marketplace. We know that our fans are so supportive of the farm to fork idea and all that it embodies. For the past several weeks you have likely heard that farmers markets suddenly had to find ways to safely stay open, and farmers and producers had to find ways to make up for lost business due to restaurant closures. This includes our little lettuce factory.
Since that happened, we all pivoted, and have changed the face of local farmers markets and shopping. So when our customers responded in major LoCo supportive fashion, people took notice. One group that took notice was the fine folks over at Loudoun Economic Development. They have worked hard and put together a pretty cool idea. They partnered with farmers and producers all over Loudoun County to bring you a phenomenal, single online place to find your favorite local products.
Think of it like an online farmers market. They give you a really great synopsis of how it works on their landing page. I highly recommend you read it through. But for now, here is a quick snapshot.
You go to their website LoudounFarms.org/marketplace, and you can search up the kind (or category) of products you are looking to purchase, or a vendor name. You purchase your items from each farmer/producer individually, and choose your pick up location and date individually. Then you go pick your goodies up with minimal contact. Some producers are participating in single location pick ups, and some are trying out a multi-vendor pick up site. No matter which pick up you choose, you can expect minimal contact. By minimal contact, I mean drive up, give your name/invoice numbers, the people put it in your back seat or trunk, you drive away. Boom. Done. Pretty nifty, amIright!
Endless Summer Harvest is participating in this online marketplace. We want to get nutritious lettuce and herbs into the hands of folks like y'all who appreciate the local farmer. And we want to point you to other producers who also sell nutritious products, or locally sourced products that you may not yet be familiar with.
What this means is that you now have two different online places you can find our lettuce. This new option offers a small selection of lettuce blends and a small selection of herbs and dressing. (Not all items are available on the LoCo site.) You still pay through Square. And now, you have two places you can pick up your lettuce: one being the farm, and the second for now being the National Conference Center.
The National Conference Center?!! Yes, the NCC! This is a temporary location that a select assortment of farmers and producers are going to participate in, to bring you all of your goodies in one place. One trip! This pick up day is on Fridays, starting this Friday, May 8th. Again, this location is temporary, and depending on if and to where the location changes, we may continue to offer this option. It all depends on how this experiment goes. We'll let you know if things change.
So, if you're a major fan of local farmers markets, but your'e still pretty squeamish about actually going to the markets, consider this a fantastic source to find what you're missing. Local LoCo fresh produce, meats, wines, lettuce, eggs, yarn, maybe pickles, who knows, the list could go on and on, just like the farmers market product diversity. This looks like a pretty perfect way to support your local farmers and producers, right from your home.
We humble lettuce factory family have no opinion about which website you use to purchase lettuce from us. Either will work. Both get you the same exact products you have grown to trust, know, and love. If you choose to order through Loudoun Made Loudoun Grown, that's cool. If you'd rather stick with this website that you are familiar with, that's equally cool. What will not change one iota is our farm stand hours of operation. If you choose to come to the ESH on site farm stand to pick up your lettuce (and we'd love that!), we are open Wednesday through Friday, 9am to noon. We are staying with those hours and days for the foreseeable future.
As always, if you have any questions, please utilize the contact us form on this website, or check to see if we are online and able to chat. We will get back with you ASAP. If we cannot answer your question, we will forward it on to the Head of Lettuce, our fearless leader, The Proprietress of ESH, Mary Ellen, and she will get back with you as soon as she is able.
Thank you from the bottom of our lettuce hearts for supporting us and other local farmers. It means everything to all farm families. We appreciate your time, business, and love. Thank you for allowing us to serve you and your family.