It’s the Holidays!!!

First up:  THANKSGIVING!!!!

And we have SO much to be thankful for in a world that is often topsy turvy…

Let’s start with our amazing store community – THANK YOU to all of you who care for your animals, your plants, your families and the wider world that we all share!  We’ve had so many conversations throughout this past year with so many of you as you share the challenges and the successes in and on your piece of the local ecology…The world needs lots of people who care!

THANK YOU to our amazing staff that is stepping up every time we need them to – whether it’s rearranging the front of the store, decorating for the holidays or creating TicTocs (is that how you say it?!?) and “short reels” – they’re taking us forward into the holidays in style!

And let’s also THANK the weather gods that are FINALLY letting the rains come in and gently break the drought.  We’re not out of the woods yet (hah!). but the leaves are off the trees so the ground is getting the moisture it needs to rehydrate.   This is still the time of year to help all of the weakened trees and shrubs that are in your yards – check out this link for a worksheet on Mineralized and medicinal composts - https://www.thegoodearthfgc.com/documents look for the download half way down the page…

Also…check out our Facebook page for some pics on working those same kind of mineralized composts in to the root zone of the weakened trees on Academy Hill -the town common- in Westminster https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodEarthFGC. Thanks also to everyone who helped to make that job a success – 15+ yds of compost is A LOT of compost and many hands made light work – THANK YOU specifically to JoAnn, Karen, Margherita, Mary, Peter, Tom, John, Carol, Kevin and Jordyn – and the intrepid DPW staff who did the real heavy lifting! – Dave and Justin.  Dave is a master of the excavator!

One quick programing note before I go further:  We’re hosting Wicked Cutz – the knife sharpener that does a fantastic job on any tool with an edge – for a “sharpen your kitchen knives before Grandma sees them at Thanksgiving!” event on 11/22, 9:00-12:00.  He’ll be set up at the back of the store so bring your knives and have pride in your kitchen skills on Thanksgiving!!!

Country Roads

Now on to the next topic – THE COUNTRY ROADS HOLIDAY TOUR!!  What is this you ask??  Let me tell you 😊   It’s a spectacular month-long event (11/8-12/7) that celebrates North Central Massachusetts in the best possible way – by introducing you to 21 small, local businesses (we’re one of them) and the lovely country roads that they’re found on (although Rt 2A is not so much a lovely country road – but easy to drive on!!). Every one of these stores – from the smallest to the largest – is putting their best foot forward to highlight the upcoming holiday season and how their business fits in to that collage. Stop in to our store to pick up your passport, get it stamped at all 21 stores and be eligible for a $1050 aggregated prize to be drawn after the event wraps up. While you’re visiting, check out all of our local vendors that we highlight in the gift shop, the houseplants, the birding supplies, the dog and cat treats and toys and so very much more. We’re happy to be part of this local economy project and are happy to answer any questions.

COUNTRY ROADS has been functioning as a community building marketing project for 20 years!  THINK about that!!  That’s a LONG time for this many small business owners to work together on the mutual goal of highlighting and expanding the potential of central Massachusetts’ small businesses.  You don’t become a small business owner unless you’ve got a spine of steel, a strong belief that what you do is what you do, and the will to work - hard…this doesn’t mean that collaboration is a natural skill set!!!  So – THANK YOU and congratulations to all of the small businesses represented on the tour – you rock!

Now for a quick word about local economy…since COUNTRY ROADS is all about local economy…I thought a bit of depth might be appropriate.  I know, I know – more details!!  But…this is important for all kinds of local community effects and stability. “When money circulates within the community, it creates a multiplier effect, benefiting multiple local businesses and individuals.”  Those are big words – and I hooked them from John Newby and his blog – Building Main Street, not Wall Street.  And that, of course, is the crux of the problem – EVERY time we shop on line or at a big box store, our money (hard earned!!) leaves the local economy and heads for Wall Street. 

If you’re curious, here’s John’s summation of the multiplier effect and it’s one of the clearest I’ve read (doesn’t mean that it’s an easy read!! and feel free to skip over to the rest of the newsletter!)

“Studies find the multiplier for local spending typically ranges from 3 to 7, meaning that each dollar spent locally generates an additional $2-$6 of economic activity in the community. The multiplier effect occurs because local businesses are more likely to spend their revenue within the community as well. 

To better illustrate how the multiplier effect works, let's follow a $100 purchase through several rounds of local spending, assuming a conservative 50% of each transaction stays local: First, the consumer spends $100 at local bookstore. Secondly, the bookstore spends $50 locally (wages, rent, etc.) Thirdly, recipients of that $50 spend $25 locally. Fourth, recipients of that $25 spend $12.50 locally. Fifth, recipients of that $12.50 spend $6.25 locally. That simple illustration led to total economic impact of $193.75. This simplified example shows a multiplier of nearly 2x. In reality, the effect would likely be stronger as some participants may spend more than 50% locally, and the cycle continues beyond 5 rounds.

Now let's compare this to a $100 online (or big box store – my note!) purchase: First, consumer spends $100 online. Secondly, perhaps $10 stays local as wages for delivery driver and so forth. Thirdly, driver spends $5 locally. Fourth, recipients of that $5 spend $2.50 locally. That total economic impact was only $17.50. These two examples show how quickly money can leave a local economy when spent non-locally. The difference in local economic impact between these two $100 purchases is $176.25 - more than 11 times greater for the local purchase.”

Ok -that’s more than enough of that kind of mental gymnastics!  But interesting you have to admit 😊 and it provides that wider economic outlook at what’s happening in our region and where COUNTRY ROADS fits in, why it’s important and how your decisions fit in too.

And – then there’s the practical world of feeding animals

as the winter looms and pasture’s thin…

Let’s move on to hay and its quality and availability… Hay is the backbone of every winter-feeding pattern for most of our livestock – and can be the backbone of small lot management year-round.  There are only two kinds of livestock that don’t use hay as the main part of their feed and those two are pigs and chickens – and even they can use hay as a supplement.  Everyone else, cow, horse, goat, sheep, alpaca etc. uses hay – or hay extenders of various kinds – as the bulk essential to keeping the animal’s guts healthy. 

Let’s start with the quality of the hay you’re feeding out.  Poulin Grain offers a free service of testing hay for basic nutrition.  This gives you the starting point for your decisions…  You can find the link to our hay report on the website -  https://www.thegoodearthfgc.com or stop in to the store and look at the printout.  If you’re interested in having your hay tested, pick up one of the test bags the next time you’re in. It has the information needed on how to take the hay sample and how to send it on to Poulin.  Poulin will respond to you directly with the results and Sarah (Poulin’s local rep) is more than happy to go over the details with you so that you understand what you have. You can also stop in and chat with us as well…

Now – for those of you who have goats and have a bit of time – I thought it might be helpful to let you know what my sister and I do every fall to augment our goat herd…we bag leaves!!!  Actually, we bag A LOT of leaves!!!  About 25 bags of sugar maple leaves (too late for them this year) and about 35 bags of oak leaves (plenty of time to grab some of these!).  Make sure the leaves are clean and dry – we windrow them and use a blower to move them around during the day before bagging them mid-afternoon.  And – sometimes – it’s just like pulling in a hay crop – you have to MOVE to get them in before the rains come in!  We’ve been doing this for close to 20 years and the leaves make a huge difference to the winter-feeding needs of the goats. The goats love the leaves!  (In fact, the dried leaves are often the first food that a new mother eats after birthing her kids so we always hold on to a few bags.)  The leaves keep them warmer than hay and the tannins in the leaves tone their guts against worms.  We haven’t had to worm our herd for years now – and we get a vet check annually to confirm. There’s even a goat farmer in Maine who’s been working with a SARE grant on what other leaves can be harvested and ensiled to make winter feed for livestock of all kinds.  Check out this link if you’re interested in this kind of information - https://www.mofga.org/resources/livestock/leaf-silage-for-ruminants/ and come in and talk to me if you’re curious.  It would be great to open up some other winter forage options in the region…

One additional note:  because of the drought – there’s very little second cut hay around.  Second cut is usually softer and more nutritious – or at least has more sugars in it – so animals are more likely to eat it with minimal waste.  Our herd is going to have to make do with first cut for most of them – with a very small amount of second cut for the milkers, pregnant does and as a treat for our 31-year-old horse (although her guts really need the first cut hay).  This means we’re going to have a lot of bedding!!  And more work in the spring for clean out!!!  Ah well, the joys of owning farm animals…  We do augment their hay with Poulin’s Mini-bite forage extender (Big-bites are available as well for bigger mouths!!).  We’re always happy to walk you through options if you have questions – stop in to the store and we’ll see what we can do to help J

And – at last – it’s time for some fun!!!

We’re going to really bring in the joy and color of the holidays starting the last week of November and going all the way until Christmas.  There will be all kinds of crafting workshops like wreath decorating, making roping, creating centerpieces, pictures with Santa – and Dominic the Donkey, ending with an Open House where you can meet some of the local vendors who provide so many of the wonderful gifts that you’ll see at the store.  We’re finalizing the schedule now and will post it to the website as soon as we can at - https://www.thegoodearthfgc.com/events-1 .  This is a great time to get a group of friends or family together and book one of the slots for your group – we can be flexible on numbers if everyone knows everyone else!!  Call the store to discuss details if this is of interest…

So – Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at The Good Earth!!

See you over the holidays!