I’ve been following Jere Farms on facebook for a while. Today I found them in person. Not that they are hard to find. Their farm stand is a hop, skip, and a jump away from the moominbeach. Actually it’s an even easier drive from here than Meijer if that’s possible because Meijer is a pretty easy drive. Jere Farms is closer and has a mini parking lot. They take all kinds of payment methods, cash, credit, Venmo, PayPal, you name it. I used a credit card. The farm stand cashier and I became fast friends (I bet that happens to a lot of folks). She also works at Neville’s.

Oh, Neville’s. It is also a wonderful store although not one that’s on my “beat”. Once when I was a kid visiting from college, my parents and Radical Betty and Uncle Duck sent me out to buy bourbon at Neville’s. I fergit what the occasion was but we were at the Dillon house and they were sitting at the little kitchen table and had already had a booze-burger so I was dispatched to buy more bourbon. My parents told me to buy “Jim Crow”! At that age (I may not have even been 21 yet) I knew nothing about bourbon and although “Jim Crow” rang a bell, it wasn’t very loud, at least not at that moment. So when I got there and told the gal at the counter (who was a LARGE, LOUD woman a few years older than me, like high school senior when I was a freshman), I wanted “Jim Crow”, she LOUDLY replied “I have Jim Beam and Old Crow but I don’t have Jim Crow.” I recognized Jim Beam and that turned to be the right choice. Whew! And I certainly haven’t ever made that stupid mistake again. (My parents and aunt/uncle were NOT fans of Jim Crow laws, they just got bourbon names mixed up.)

Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula has long been and still is an extremely economically depressed area. Except for the folks who are rich and there are plenty who are. I have trouble processing where I fit into all of this. Growing up, I felt rich at some times, poor at others. I don’t know if I will ever be able to sort this stuff out let alone blahg about it.

The thing is that small businesses like Jere Farms seem to be carving out competitive spots against big box stores like Meijer. Although I have nothing against Meijer. It has stuff you can’t get at farm stands, like bourbon and toilet bowl cleaner and fuzzy water.

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