Lettuce Begin

We've been getting wonderful little handfuls of local greens and lettuce this past month. It's certainly not nearly enough for the needs of our customers at Rock River Lunch Bag and Rock River Cafe'. It's been brought to the Lunch Bag by Vicki from the local community hoop house and by Shelter Bay Tomatoes.

I love starting out the summer marveling at the wonderfulness of the fresh local produce. There's always a stark contrast between the fresh and local and the stuff I get to fill the void in the winter. I wish it was always fresh and local. But it's not.

It's an imperfect process, requiring creativity, energy, patience, and acceptance of the limitations of supply. One of our locations closes in the winter for lack of demand and lack of supply. We found that the menu had to shift so far from our intentions, that it just needs to stop.

We are ecstatic that the customers and the produce are coming back. I look forward to summer, and seeing the joy on visitors' faces as they also marvel at the fresh and local on their plates.