Welcome Spring!

Easter was in March this year, and what a beautiful, sunny Spring day it was!  Last week we cut the lawn for the first time this season, and this week it is sleeting, windy, and gray outside.

Lots of activities going on at our nearby farm.  There are many new lambs frolicking in the haystacks. Our friends are visiting with their horse and pony and volunteered to bottle feed an orphan lamb they named Ladybug.  A new batch of chicks are being raised and some more eggs are being incubated.

We always wanted a greenhouse at the farm in Ohio, so that is another new addition this Spring. Maybe you will find some fresh herbs and young trees for sale at Homer Village Market this year!  Perhaps we will even have enough surplus eggs to share. Be sure to check out the link to the store's website to see what's new! Also you can find us on Facebook!

Snowstorm Came and Went

We finally got substantial snow early this week.  Three days later, the snow is almost all melted.  So here are just a few pictures of the snow on Tuesday, 2/16.  This was a very heavy, wet snow weighing on the evergreen boughs.

Is This Really Winter?

We are having a very mild Winter in 2015-2016 in central Ohio!  It is already February, and we have had only one snowfall that required shoveling--a rather minimal snowfall, at that!

Recently, we had temperatures in the high sixties, more like Spring.   We are getting ready for another cold week, but not any colder than normal for this season.  We have had plenty of good cookout weather, and it will be sunny and maybe as warm as the forties this weekend!

Beginning last fall, Homer Village Market began offering propane tank exchange for your backyard barbecue.  We have the lowest prices in the area!  You can exchange your empty tank for a full tank for $19.99 (plus tax) or purchase a full tank without an exchange for $49.99.  We also carry charcoal and starter fluid for grilling.

If you plan to fire up the grill this weekend, you can stop by to get any of the following.  These are great oven-baked or pan-sauteed also:

• Lamb Chops (local, grass-fed lambs)
• Wild-caught Louisiana alligator white-meat fillets
• Johnsonville mild Italian sausage
• Johnsonville smoked bratwurst
• Wild-caught Mahi-Mahi fillets (South America)
• Wild-caught Yellow-Fin Tuna fillets (Vietnam)
• 12-oz. "porterhouse-style cut" pork loin chop (USA)
• 8-oz "flatiron" pork shoulder steak (USA)
• 8-oz Norwegian salmon fillets (farm raised in Norway)
• 5-oz Alaskan Salmon Burger patties (wild-caught salmon)
• 5-oz Garden Veggie Burger (Morningstar Farms)
• Quarter-pound, natural casing, spicy, Hot Franks (Ozzie's brand)
• All natural, Andouille Sausage (Aidell's brand)

We have some delicious cookies, cheesecake, and ice cream for dessert, and plenty of appetizers! 

Our beverage selection, besides Pepsi products, includes your favorite beer, wine, sparkling wine, or mixed beverage as well as classic, glass-bottled soft drinks:  root beer, orange cream soda, black cherry cream soda, ginger beer, and green apple soda.

Stop by for a family-size Take-n-Bake pepperoni pizza for a quick and easy meal at about half the price of a pizza delivery.  These pizzas are getting rave reviews!

Hope to see you soon!

Time for Wine

There seems to be a season for everything.  Fall and Winter gatherings call for wine to share with friends and family.  As the sun sets earlier and the temperatures fall, a glass of wine can be appreciated for it's beautiful color. festive glass, tempting aroma, and warming cheer!

At most retailers, wine (and beer) prices fluctuate throughout the year in Ohio, but they often rise with the approach of the Fall and Winter holidays. Many enjoy giving and receiving a gift of wine! Now is the time to stock up on your favorite wine--before the prices rise for the holiday season. Be sure to buy from a retail store that sells wine at the State Minimum Price, such as Homer Village Market.

For those wondering exactly what "State Minimum Price" means, it is the lowest price a retailer is allowed to sell (a regulated product) to the consumer. So that the State government can be assured of some minimum level of sales tax (for budgeting purposes), the Ohio retailer is required to add a markup, specified by law, to the price they were invoiced by their geographically-assigned distributor. Retail stores can sell at higher prices, but they cannot sell any lower than the State Minimum Price in effect at the time they purchased the product from the distributor.

Notice that the price of your favorite wine or beer changes up and down throughout the year though it may remain static most of the time. If the distributor's price goes up, the retailer is not required to reprice the inventory already in stock (although some retailers do so in the case of a price increase--but then they are not really selling at the State Minimum). If the distributor's price goes down, the retailer is prohibited by law from lowering the price of the bottles already in stock before the price decrease, because to do so would be a violation of the State Minimum pricing law).  This is the main reason you might find the same wine label at two different prices at two State-Minimum retailers (or even two different prices for two bottles of the same label on the same retailer's shelf).  The retail price depends on what the retailer paid at the time they placed their order from the distributor.  It pays to shop around!

If you like dry red wines such malbec, cabernet sauvignon, chianti, and red zinfindel at value prices (under $10 a bottle), as I do, there are several brands whose promotional prices are very good right now compared to the normal retail price several dollars per bottle higher. Stock up now before the price goes back up again.

• Trapiche (Malbec - Mendoza region of Argentina) $7.99 (recently priced at $9.99 then $8.99)
• Dynamite (Zinfandel - Sonoma, California) $9.99 (rises to $12.99 around the holidays)
• Ruffino (Chianti - Italy) - $8.99 (usually at least $9.99)
• Fetzer - Alexander Hill's (Cabernet Sauvignon - California lower foothills) 1.5 liter $9.99 (usually $12.99 or more)

To save even more, purchase a case and receive a 10% discount.  Most of the time, you can mix and match 12 regular size bottles of different labels or 6 of larger size bottles and get the 10% case discount.  (Generally excluded from the case discount eligibility would be those bottles of wine where the retailer purchased less than a case at a time and had to pay a per-bottle surcharge to the distributor.)  

Stop by the Homer Village Market to see which wines are on promotional prices right now.  We have wide range of brands and varieties of wine to fit all budgets.  If you enjoy sparkling wines, sweet reds, sweet whites, dry reds, dry whites, or something in between, stop by and see what we have on the shelf and in the cooler.   Don't see your favorite?  We can let you know the current price and place an order for delivery in-store often the same week, but no later than the following week.   Not sure which wine to try?  We can help you decide based on your preferences.  Hope to see you soon!

Where Has the Summer Gone?

School is already starting for some area kids!  It seems like the Summer has been in full speed mode! Not one "lazy day of Summer" that I can recall.

July was the rainiest month since last October!  Farmers were challenged to manage their fields between drenching storms that seemed to never end since Spring.  Children on Summer break from school were sad that their sports were being rained out and trips to the swimming pool were infrequent.  Weather has improved greatly in the final week of July and first week of August.

Here it is mid-August, and the Hartford Fair is enjoying its 157th year of festivities.  Tonight will be the demolition derby event, which a lot of local folks not only like to watch, but also ride!  In less than two hours, beat-up vehicles will be getting even more bruised and battered to the delight of a cheering crowd of onlookers.   The Homer Village Market is located on the route to the fairgrounds, so maybe I'll see some of the derby vehicles heading to the demolition event--or at least hear them roaring down the road.

This week Monday was the "lamb cookoff" competition, and one of our local youth won a prize for her entry!  I can't wait to get the recipe and try it myself.  Once the Hartford Fair Board publishes the winning entries, we will put a link here so you can enjoy some good country cooking recipes.

This past weekend (August 7-9) was the annual Pelotonia bicycle ride to raise money for a cancer cure.  This year, nearly 8,000 bicycle riders (supported by thousands of volunteers at rest stops) made their way from Columbus Commons along several routes of varying distances and difficulty (from 25 miles to over 125 miles) including steep inclines and rolling hills.  Hundreds of Pelotonia riders traveled the 100 mile Bennington Chapel Route, which started in Pickerington, stopped at the Homer Library, among other rest stops, and finished at Kenyon College in nearby Gambier, Ohio.  Millions of dollars have been raised for donation to our local cancer research institute.  You can learn more about their cause on the Pelotonia website.   It was a beautiful day for a ride, and here are a few pictures as they passed through the intersection in Homer.

Earlier this summer, my biggest thrill was seeing the blooms in the yard.  All that rain did some good, apparently!

Well, I hear some really loud mufflers!  Going to check it out right now and see if I can snap a picture or two of these wild rides heading to the fair tonight!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!  Please stop by the store to say hello and see what's new!  We have had some really delicious boneless ribeye steaks and ground angus for grilling.  Plenty of sweet corn and other fresh vegetables are for sale at farm stands in our vicinity right now!

Can You Feel the Excitement in the Air?

When the kids have summer recess each year, I don't even need to look at the calendar.  I can feel it in the air.  More kids are smiling, riding their bikes, fishing at the creek, or swimming under the bridge if it's a hot day.

Graduation parties are happening several weekends in a row beginning as early as Memorial Day weekend, and you will see a lot of Facebook images of beaming new grads wearing their caps and gowns.   Soon those grads will be starting new jobs.  Some will take the summer off to relax, vacation with family, and make plans for the future.

Each year at this time, I remember my own high school graduation day and also college graduation, twice.  The season brings back such fond memories of family, food, friends, and big plans for the future.

Whatever you and your family do to celebrate, have fun and enjoy the moment!  Some families will soon experience the "empty nest syndrome."  This is something I have not personally experienced, but I can imagine how my parents and grandparents must have felt when all of us kids were away at college.  No more family meal time.  No more sitting around the television together in the evenings.  No more rushing to and from school activities.  It must have seemed as though time was beginning to stand still.  Or maybe it was a welcome relief from the hectic pace of having a full house, trying to meet everyone's needs, keeping up with all that extra housework and cooking!

If you are planning celebrations, please remember to stop by Homer Village Market for refreshments. You can find a variety of things to make your gatherings special including:

• steaks, chops, sausages, chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers for the grill 
• buns, condiments, chips of all kinds
• cold beer, nice wine selection, wide variety of non-alcoholic beverages
• bags of ice, charcoal, hickory wood chips
• ice cream, cookies
• appetizers such as cheese, summer sausage, hummus, chip dip, salsa, pickles and olives

Enjoy your Summer!

April Showers and April Everything

April is a busy month for everyone.  Besides preparation for Spring holidays, vacations, tax deadlines, kids sports, senior prom, opening-day baseball games, crop planting, and turkey-hunting season, the warmer weather brings new chores such as lawn mowing, landscaping, and window washing.  Let's not forget changing wardrobes from the Winter sweaters and coats to the spring lighter-weight clothes....and that could mean shopping, especially if that long winter of hibernation created any changes in your comfortable sizes!

Spring weather in Ohio is unpredictable.  One day it could be cold at night, foggy in the morning, and 30 degrees warmer during the day.  The next day could be cloudy and chilly all day, and the weekend could have thunderstorms and showers all day and night.  One thing is for sure, the trees start to bud, the flowers begin to bloom, and the grass turns green and begins to grow.

This colorful landscape, the warmer temperatures, and the thrill of the school year's end in sight creates a lot of enthusiasm.  One can practically feel it in the air.  People have a little more spring in their step as they go about their daily routines.  People are smiling, birds are chirping, and branches are softly swaying in the Spring breezes.

Kids are riding bicycles and skateboards, campers and boats appear ready to launch, and shiny sports cars are whizzing through the intersection.  Motorcycles and long-distance bicyclists begin making their first appearance of the season.

With all the excitement and anticipation, please remember to drive defensively.  Last year around this time, there were several serious collisions on the State highways that pass through Homer and Utica. Speed and distracted driving seem to be the usual causes of these accidents.  Rural highways are typically one or two-lane, narrow, curvy, and high-speed.

Therefore, there is no "forgiveness" if a driver goes left of the center line or swerves off the right side of the road into the ditch.  There is not much a driver can do to avoid wrecking when either of these events happens. That's why it is so important for everyone to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel, leaving plenty of distance between vehicles. That can be difficult to do, especially with such beautiful landscape views on both sides of the road and all the exciting things about Spring to think about--not to mention cell phones, eating and drinking in the car, and traveling companions providing further distraction.

At the risk of being criticized for driving like an "old lady" by cautiously approaching intersections and hill crests, please let's just remember all of us have only this one life here on earth.  No one's precious life is more important than anyone else's.  We can each look out for ourselves, but we can also look out for the "other guy" by driving defensively.  Sometimes accidents can be anticipated and avoided with a little extra caution, a little less speed, and a watchful eye on the traffic all around us. Remember there are distracted drivers on the road all of the time, and even more in the Spring and Summer seasons.