inside city hall, 8-5-09

Our Farmer’s Market is catching on. Five vendors gathered in the Down Town Park Saturday morning with a variety of things to sell: peaches, green apples, black-eyed peas, squash, okra, peppers, doggie treats, chow-chow, barbecue sauce and World War Two jeeps.

More and more folks are coming down to see what is available, even before the vendors get there. We’re gonna get these starting times coordinated, so hang in there with us, please. Everyone who comes out has a good time. Sweat may be tickling the end of their noses, but folks enjoy the market scene.

No one expects to get rich doing this, but one can make a few dollars. But more than anything everyone is taking part in the future of Munday. We are all going to make this Farmer’s Market work. We need buyers, sellers, encouragers, helpers, it is a community enterprise and it will take all of us working together.

This week we expect to have more of the same but some of other things. I’m going out on a limb and promise there will be more black-eye peas, okra and tomatoes. So vendors, please don’t make a liar of me.

The community garden idea is not dead, even though not much has been said about it lately. The council has met for the last time until January, but we are all going to be planning, preparing our garden spots, and just getting ready to plant next spring. When we locate lots we can use for gardens, people who want to use them need to start as early as late fall to clean and get the ground ready for planting. I’m told by experienced gardeners to begin soon. So, there is no time to waste.

From the produce that has come in to market we have a good idea what to encourage gardeners to grow next spring. We can say, “Grow everything, just more of it.” Some like to grow some things and not others. Hopefully we will have everything imaginable growing with the market in mind. Somehow we need melons in our market. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Munday could furnish the melons for Knox City’s festival? It would indeed!

If you are interested at all in our garden quest, please don’t forget to get started on your preparations. I will try to keep reminding everyone to be working.

The most important decision we make is the attitude we choose to live each day when dealing with people and circumstances. That’s right. You purposefully choose your attitude. Choosing a positive state of mind will lead to success in your career and life. A negative attitude will lead to unhappiness, poor relationships, difficulty at work and ultimately, poor health.

Aren’t we born with our attitudes? We may be genetically predisposed in that direction, but our attitude comes from within: We determine our own attitude. Of course we blame others, circumstances or events for our situation: but the key is our response to those things or people. As we go about our daily routine we usually have a series of encounters with things and people we think causes a reaction in us. In reality we choose that reaction.

Misery loves company: negative people will search out others and attempt to bring them down to their level. Their negative influence feels powerful and they use it as a self-esteem boost: They do this to feel better about themselves. Avoid negative people, they will drag you down.

In my work as a manager, I have found there are basically two kinds of people -- those who take responsibility for their lives and those who blame others. People who take responsibility for their situations are positive people who see the world as a good place. They have made a conscious decision to be this way.

Market Munday yourself, don’t wait for someone else to do it. Think garage sale in September and Christmas in December. Share with someone what you think.