As we all do what needs to be done and keep each other safe, we should all keep a positive frame of mind while we hunker down and wait this out.

It does seem that Mother Nature has given us all a major “time out” as she heals our environment. I saw that dolphins and swans have returned to the canals of Venice during the national lockdown and the air pollution levels in New York City have already decreased by fifty percent.

The silver lining indeed.

While we were all at home tearing our hair out with worry and angst, the marvelous team at the Barryville Farmers Market, who never cease to amaze me, have come up with their “Victory Garden Project”.

Inspired by the victory gardens everyone started to grow during the shortages during WWII, the pilot project is the Market's creative initiative to deliver fresh food to our community during this time of crisis and our local food shortages.

In conjunction with six of their twelve local farmers who participate in the seasonal Farmers Market George Billard and Erin West and the Board of the Barryville Farmers Market came up with three different offerings which feature products and produce our local farmers have available even though it is so early in the growing season.

In this first round there were three different offerings to choose from - the Omnivore (vegetables, dairy and meat) the Carnivore (meats only) and The Sausage Lover (sausages only) - and of course everything immediately sold out!

I ordered the Omnivore which, weighed in at almost 12 pounds and featured beef, pork, cheese, a dozen eggs, two heads of beautiful lettuce, onions, rutabagas (with a write-up on how to roast them) potatoes, fresh yogurt, a bunch of radishes and a lovely handcrafted bar of goat milk almond soap from BarnLabs (ShopBarnLab.com) to encourage hand washing.

All the products came packaged in the new Farmers Market's green heavy-duty canvas reusable tote bags and we picked up our orders at the site of the seasonal Market on Route 97 using a low contact pick up system.

I felt like I had gotten a Christmas presents during all this chaos. George Billard, one of the founders of the Market, told me that as the farmers have more products available, the contents of the three different bags will change going forward and there has been a clamor raised for a vegan option.

The Victory Garden Project is supportive of our local farmers as they start planting and need income and our Barryville area community that is in dire need fresh food.

In hindsight, the former farmers market suddenly leaving town and going to Narrowsburg was the best thing that happened since local creative and hardworking people stepped up and created the Barryville Farmers Market that has become such a hub of good positive cheer and wonderful food and a resource for our community and can “turn on a dime” during a time of crisis.

Our thanks and blessings to them for this project. For more information about what's planned for next week and ordering go to barryvillefarmersmarket.org.

I saw a notice that all the Peck's Markets will be closed all day on Wednesday, March 25th so the employees of the stores can restock their shelves.

They will reopen on Thursday, March 26th. In all I think Peck's has done a great job keeping up with the onslaught of harried shoppers. Their store hours changed to Mondays through Saturdays 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays 7 am to 4 p.m. Peck's is an employee-owned business so shop locally as much as possible and don't hoard and deprive your neighbors of things they also need!

As I was trying to take a survey of what's open and closed I went to DR Auto in Barryville where I have taken my series of “beater” cars for many years because they are excellent mechanics, very nice people and very reasonably priced - even when I somehow managed to drive one of my cars up on top of a boulder in my yard.

Ron told me that the Service Center is open during the weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for all services. During the crisis they will be closed during the weekends, but their gas pumps will be open using credit cards and they will respond as usual to all calls for emergency service. To reach them call 845-557-8881.