Three months later, another Eat Drink RI newsletter
Where did summer go?
When last I wrote you, it was mid-June and now we are already about a third of the way into September. Tempus fugit, which autocorrect attempted to make into “fugitives.” I suppose we’re all trying to be time fugitives in some way. So what’s going on as we head into the best time of year (yeah, I said it, I’m not wild about summer!)?
If you read all the way to the end of the last newsletter, and you can you lie to me and say you did, then you know I’m on the board of ecoRI News, a non-profit news organization dedicated to reporting on environmental and social justice issues in southern New England, something that is more and more important as the world continues to burn/flood/melt each day.
You can support ecoRI News, drink some beer and meet lots of great people at the Zero-Trash Birthday Bash coming up on September 20th at Long Live Beer Works in Providence. Tickets are almost sold out, so get yours now, and they include a very cool raffle that will be drawn at the event.
If you can’t make the event (or you waited too long to buy tickets) there’s also an online auction with some very kindly donated items that you can bid on to benefit ecoRI News. Please check out the auction and thank you.
Next up, I continue to taste things for your viewing pleasure. I know there’s a TON of audio/video content out there—if you haven’t watched “Only Murders in the Building” stop reading this newsletter and go binge!—and I’m still making videos.
As you can see above, my latest video is with an Anchor & Hope Grüner Veltliner, German wine made in East Providence of all places. Canned wine has come a long way and the folks at Anchor & Hope are doing some great things, so please take a look and if you watch much YouTube much you know the drill: please like, subscribe, leave a comment, ring the bell, batten down the hatches and drink safely.
I’m also making a lot of these things:
Yes, like any good influencer, I’m storming the world with Reels/TikToks/#Shorts/I’m-sure-there’ll-be-another-name-coming-soon. If you’d like really, really short bursts of content with occasional sarcasm as to how am I supposed to deliver a message in this short amount of time, please head to:
Instagram (don’t forget my Stories for occasional puppy photos)
TikTok (really I’m just here because it aggravates my daughters that their friends all follow my other social media)
YouTube (did I mention liking, subscribing and commenting?)
Facebook (because I am over 50)
No partisanship here, but I do want to remind you to vote. In Rhode Island our primary Election Day is Tuesday, September 13, though you can vote early in-person. As a RI Small Business Coalition board member I’ve interviewed all the major Democratic candidates for Governor of RI, RI Congressional District 2 and even Treasurer. I’ve interviewed the Republican candidates as well and those videos will be posted after the primaries. The General Election is November 8th.
If you’re voting in the Democratic primary, you’re still undecided on the top offices, and you’d like to hear the candidates’s opinions on small business related topics (though I veer off from time to time), please check out this video series. At the moment the videos are only on Facebook, but we’re working to get them on YouTube as well.
The Farmers Market at Blackbird Farm is still going strong through October 9th. Thank you to everyone who’s come and shopped the Market this year. It’s been a challenging year, a couple of our vendors have tested positive for COVID (many weeks apart, we didn’t spread at the Market) and so missed a few weeks, several vendors have run into staffing problems and had no one to come to the Market some weeks.
The Farm has had some short-staffing at the Ice Cream Trailer as well, especially after student employees went back to school. The long and short of it is, please be patient and understanding with the small businesses who are helping to feed the community and trying to stay in business, and that includes your favorite restaurants and shops There’s a lot going on out there and kindness matters.
“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Thank you for reading. If you’ve made it this far I’ll leave you with this deep thought I’ve been mulling around in my head for weeks now. In terms of growth, catchiness and excellence, is Harry Styles’s 3rd album, 2022’s “Harry’s House,” his “No Jacket Required,” Phil Collins’s 3rd album from 1985? As much as I love “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” as an album opener, it can’t compete with “Sussudio.” But there’s some kind of 37-year gateway open in my mind.
Discuss.