Good Afternoon!

How are you?


No really... how are you?


This sentiment is something that we ask casually all the time-- it's a greeting more than a question. Does anyone really care about the answer? Well, now a days it seems we all do.

I've been thinking a lot lately about our community and the current and future state of it (I know I'm not the only one!) and about the many ways we can support each other to ensure we make it. One of the ways I feel I can support my community right now, is to really feel what it means to 'Shop Local'. To think about how, when I buy local, I'm not just fulfilling a catch phrase, but am truly helping to support my community. Shopping local means that my dollars circulate, allowing my neighbors and friends to live here and spend their money here too.

Granted, it is difficult to shop these days when we're told to physically distance and most shop doors aren't even open. But there are other ways to shop-- Facebook, websites, a good old fashioned phone call.

So stay in, support your community and when you ask your neighbor how they are, truly listen.

Throughout the last few months, when I meet people on the street, their questions are always about:


1. The state of my business
2. How homeschooling is going
3. What's growing in my garden


And after they ask, they actually stand there to hear the answers! It's so touching and sweet, I only hope I am reciprocating. It's one of the many ways we are connecting as a community (conversely) during these times of social distance and shelter in place.