Like Mickey Mouse likes to sing, dreams do come true. I’m learning that our much-loved Farmer’s Market is more than a farmer’s market; it’s an incubator for community and creativity. Success and new energy are popping out all over the market and spreading well beyond.

I should say I have deep feeling for people who have a vision or dream and fight for it, rather than run and hide and accept a life where money and security are the foundations of their life, not bliss.

Casey is one of those people.

Casey Face, the gifted and determined dreamer I’ve been following for months, has taken a massive step towards operating a Cafe and Wine Bar in the space at the Hubbard Hall Arts And Entertainment Center in the middle of town. The Round House Cafe once occupied the space lost to the city during the pandemic.

She met this week with the Hubbard Hall Board of Directors and presented an amazingly detailed and thoroughly researched seven-page proposal on which she had worked very hard for months. One of the board members told me it was a great hit with the board. It’s seven pages long and has grown quite a bit since she first started renovating a beat-up one-horse trailer and planned to sell coffee and tea in the mornings.

Her new plan offers Hubbard Hall and the town something we all miss and would love to see. Casey’s proposal included a marketing plan and a menu list. It may have been one of the most professionally outlined and detailed business plans in the town’s history.

She writes, “Canteen Coffee Co. is dedicated to crafting delicious food and beverages using fresh and locally sourced ingredients from nearby farmers and small businesses. We aim to establish a welcoming and inspiring space for our community.” She means it, too.

She calls Canteen Coffee a coffee shop of the future, a coffee shop and a wine bar that “prides itself on a straightforward menu crafted from fresh, local ingredients. Additionally, it will feature a market section where patrons can grab takeaway items such as salads, sandwiches, bottles of wine, local cheeses, artisan bread, farm-fresh flowers, penny candy, and more.”

I’ve been following Casey’s dream with her for months now.  She’s attracted a score of creative food makers to work with her. It’s a much bigger dream than she originally planned, but she is making it happen.

I credit the Farmer’s Market for incubating her research and exploration, her burgeoning connection to farmers, cheese makers, coffee and muffin makers, artisan bread and muffin bakers, and a dozen other people who will be working to provide atmosphere and food and drink she’s talking about. One thing I know about Casey is that if she says she will do it, she will do it.

I’m not a wine drinker, but I would be thrilled to stop by for her coffee sandwiches and salads. Maria feels the same way. She can’t wait for a wine bar nearby. I’ll be tagging along.

Casey is coming to the farm this week to look at some fabrics and other materials Maria has offered to give her for her cafe. We’ll be happy to help. I’m curious if the Hubbard Hall board will accept her offer; it’s not my business, but her proposal is sure a knockout. I hope it flies. Casey’s dreams have mushroomed since I first met her and saw her horse trailer. She is close to triumph; her husband and family are behind her.

And don’t worry about the horse trailer. She’ll be going to special events.

(Above. Casey dragged her coffee, tea, and muffin display across the county and public spaces for over a year while plotting her coffee canteen.  She admitted she wasn’t making any money, but was also learning a lot. Casey sucks up ideas like a hungry shark. This is where I first saw her and asked if I could follow her dream.)

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I’ve been following Keen Mcllvaine of the Covered Wood Bread Co.,  another dreamer who is about to break through and get her wish for a bakery to make her excellent artisan bread. She has me addicted to her seeded grain bread and focaccia bread, which are mainstays in her artistry as a bread maker. I’ve never had bread that tasted like that, and now she will be baking right down the road from us, just outside of the village of Cambridge. A lot of people are in for a pleasant surprise.

Keen will be moving her stoves and bakery to a new vegetable stand that sells fresh vegetables (delicious and healthy ones) in a renovated old country store. Keen moved here from Washington D.C. several years ago with her husband Jordan, who makes raw honey from his bee hives. Keen is already selling her bread all over the county but has wanted a bakery from the beginning.

Keen was weary of leaving D.C. for the sticks, but I suspect she will learn that some dreams are much easier to make true here than in a big city. Here, we all get to know one another fast.

She’ll leave the farmer’s market in the late Spring to open her bakery.  This is a big deal for our little town, another outcropping of energy, hard work, and determination for the farmer’s market, the place to go if you want to plant the seeds for a dream.

Cindy, the Goat Lady, and our friend returned to the Farmer’s Market after an exhausting week helping her goats give birth to about a hundred babies. She sold almost all of them to a farmer from a nearby town who wanted to have a goat farm. He’s got one now.

I missed Cindy, and we missed her excellent goat cheese and her great bars of soap. We are getting together with her and her husband next Saturday morning; we’re meeting them for breakfast. Cindy is one of the sharpest business people I’ve encountered. She reinforces my feeling that the market is much more complicated than I first thought. It is a bastion of creativity and community. Her goats and cheese are selling, and her beautiful soaps are flying out of her shop. They are the best soaps I’ve ever used.

She dreams of skipping some of the markets she drives to every week and weekend and working more out of her home. She’ll be staying at the market, she tells me, which is happy news for me and her many friends. Her ideas and confidence originate in Park from the market, where people first discovered her great cheeses and soaps, and she got to try out her many good ideas.

 

My friends, the Adirondack Fish people –  Jim, sister Tiffany (left) and fiancé Michele, right.

I wonder if nicer people have ever sold fresh fish anywhere.

They are just as kind, thoughtful, and friendly as their faces suggest. They are great fun; I look for them every time they come.

I bought crab salad, tuna salad, four excellent crab cakes, some fresh shrimp, and some beautiful cut salmon for Maria, fresh from the ocean.

Tiffany and I had a blast when she saw me wearing my  Taylor Swift “tis the damn season” wool cap; she is a longtime Swiftie. We talked about Swift and her music while brother Jim kidded both of us about it. His fiancé Michele says they haven’t set a wedding date yet. I hope they get married and have kids. They will be the most nicest kids.

Jim and his family also have many dreams, bringing them to the market 20 miles from home.

He plans to expand the Adirondack Seafood Co. restaurant by reaching out to customers and coming to them. People in this town were shocked and thrilled by the news that fresh fish was coming to buy. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see a real Lobster Roll again. Their menu is creative, inexpensive, and delicious.

These younger people sprouting in the market have innovation, energy, and savvy that has long been absent in small-town America. I love it is a joy to know them and eat their delicious fish.  They are doing well, and Jim’s plans are ambitious.

The market is filling up with success stories and new energy. I’m grateful to see it.

Singer Kate Blain, a photographer, came over to me—she was providing the music at the market—to ask about my Leica Monochrome. She reminded me of two or three years ago when I realized I wanted a Leica camera to grow as a photographer. I was sure I would never have enough money to afford one.

Still, I  took my time, wore out my old calculator, and carefully planned to trade $5,000 worth of cameras and lenses I had collected for nearly ten years for a  used Leica in excellent condition. I spent years amassing my equipment, just one camera.

That was the beginning; I now have two used Leica cameras and two or three Sigma lenses because I can’t afford Leica lenses. Nothing is impossible if you don’t quit.

It was worth it for me. The Leica cameras are worth every penny, and I  grow every time I use one. I wish Kate good luck. Nothing is impossible if we can be patient and put our minds and energy into it. Good luck, Kate. I hope you don’t quit. It’s odd, but I see the Farmer’s Market as a focal point for community, healthy, locally grown food, and creativity. Almost everyone who sells goods there is creative.