Buy local

The little, old-fashioned, family-run stores are one of the (many) charms of our part of the world. The supermarket just doesn't compare.
-- Yesterday I picked up milk at Baily's Dairy at Pocopson Meadow and said hi to the quacking ducks and the rabbit as well. As always I also bought a pint of their delicious chocolate milk, and as always I had it completely finished by the time I hit Doe Run Road.
-- Nancy and Barbara, the Bakers at Red Lion, are up and running again after they got their Hobart mixer fixed. The ladies had to make a big white sign to post outside their shop at Folly Hill Road and Route 926 informing customers that the mixer was broken. No baps or bread for Tilda that weekend! (A heads up, though: they will not be baking over Easter weekend, so they can spend the holiday with their family.)
-- The Produce Place next to the Country Butcher on East Cypress Street was offering half-price smoothies for the first day of spring, so of course I stopped in and had a berry smoothie. I also noticed for the first time that they prepare beautiful and healthy party trays: fruits and vegetables, fruit kebabs, salads, wrap sandwiches and chocolate-covered fruit. What a great idea for the upcoming tailgating season!
-- And a few weeks ago I took a friend to visit Swarmbustin' Honey here in West Marlborough when she wanted to get some very local honey. We had an entertaining chat with Walt Broughton's son, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable fellow who told us all about what his three-banded Italian bees were doing.