https://www.mercury-gift.com/

The Magic of Gift Cards

Well, maybe “magic” is a little over the top, but the more we here at Third Street Market think about the power of Third Street Market Gift Cards, the more we see ways these cards can be used to improve our customers’ shopping, and giftgiving, and lifestyle, experience.

The Third Street Market Gift Card is so much more than a gift.  In effect, it’s a Third Street Market Debit Card, because it is “rechargeable”.  Which means the cardholder can add credits to the card at any time.  And the card’s balance can always be checked at: https://www.mercury-gift.com/

Think about the potential of this feature.  Say, you give some dear friend a $25 gift card.  They use up that credit.  But then they decide, “I want to give my daughter some credit,” so that friend of yours comes to the store, reloads the card with credit, and then simply hands it off to the beloved daughter.

Your gift gets passed on!

Here’s another scenario:  You are a person who is strictly budgeting expenditures along the lines of the “envelope” budgeting method.  At the first of the month, you label a series of envelopes with titles such as “rent”, “entertainment”, “electricity”, “food”.  And you put the amount of money in the envelope that you can afford to allocate to that category.

With the Gift Card, you can come in to Third Street Market at the first of the month and recharge your Gift Card with, say, $100 worth of credit to buy really healthy food.  Use the card to its limit, and you have met your budget goals, just as if you’d put that money in an envelope.

And because the Gift Card isn’t tied to a named “owner”, (it’s just a numbered card), a person can carry a pocketful of pre-charged cards and just give them away.

The author of this post is reminded of a scene in Butte, MT, some years ago.  Folk singer John Hammond was scheduled to give a concert.  And on a sunny afternoon before the concert, there was Mr. Hammond, around town, saying hello to folks and shaking hands.  He’d stop older people, he’d ask, “Were you a miner?”

And if the answer was “Yes.” he’d hand the person a ticket, and say, “I’d like you to be my guest at my concert tonight.”

You could do just that sort of thing with the Gift Cards. You could carry a pocketful of cards around and hand them out, to people who might enjoy (or really need) some good food from Third Street Market.

Or, you could stash some Gift Cards in your desk drawer.  When one of your employees (or your kids!) walks in and says, “I’ve got what I think is a really good idea,” and it really is a good idea, you could reach into the drawer and hand that person a pre-paid Gift Card.  And you’ll know your are giving a gift of health.

So be creative, and buy some Third Street Market Gift Cards!

Yes, Third Street Market has had a website for years.  Those (few) of you who visited that site found a bland, generic template populated with stale information, a site designed and served by a distant company.  The website had no relationship to Whitefish, and existed largely as a placeholder.

In the past few months, Third Street Market has put a good deal of effort into examination of its relationship with the local community and to its loyal and valued customers, and has determined that in the age of social networking, it’s time for an expanded approach.  The first big change is the new website, which we hope will become a lively, envigorated virtual space for our community and customers to gather.

The goal of the new website is to be an energetic, interactive, locally-relevant site.  By that we mean the content will change frequently, and the writing (and photography) will be produced by people you likely know.  For example, there will be a monthly column on nutrients and supplements written by Third Street Market’s Ric Blair.  Another monthly column, focused on nutrition, will be contributed by Michelle Berry of Going to the Sun Foods.  And, hopefully, other writers will emerge from the community to contribute their knowledge and thoughts to the website, because we’re officially inviting submissions from the Third Street Market community.  Those submissions can include photographs and artwork, which we’ll do our best to integrate into the site’s design.

Think of the new Third Street Market website as a place to learn about and discuss nutrition, wellness, the politics and economics of food production, the importance of sustainable food supply systems, or whatever relevant topics you wish to suggest.

And there will be bargains!  The new Third Street Market website will feature coupons for in-store specials and discounts!

So, visit often, contribute comments and content, and let us know what you’d like to see more (or less) of in the new Third Street Market website.

And there are working cats, too!  Prowling and growling, they tirelessly patrol the grounds, guarding, ever guarding.

The foods, supplements and treats we’ve chosen to carry are created by proven pet food manufacturers.  These companies have performed extensive research into animal health, and have developed their formulas as complete solutions, targeted at specific ages, breed characteristics, and habit patterns.  A young, active working dog needs different food from an older house pet, for example.

Existing customers know these refined nutrition solutions are more costly than volume pet foods.  But the buyer who stops to read the manufacturer’s literature (available at Third Street Market) will quickly learn why superior nutrition isn’t inexpensive.  Premium ingredients and “built-in” supplements mean there’s seldom a need for additional vitamins or minerals for your pets.

The Third Street Market staff will be pleased to work with customers to determine the best nutritional solution for each of your pets, and to adjust those solutions as the animals age and become less active.

Great Northern Pasta is a Whitefish-based startup company which has recently exploded onto the market with a variety of organic pastas.

With an emphasis on creating pasta from Montana-grown grains, Great Northern Pasta is an example of Third Street Market’s emphasis on selling locally produced goods.  When pasta is made less than six blocks from the store, freshness is guaranteed!

Great Northern Pasta is currently experimenting and developing new recipes which include gluten-free pasta and a product made from “Timtana”, which is flour milled from Montana grown Timothy grass.  And the experimentation will never stop.  While Great Northern Pasta has a reverence for tradition, exploration of future recipes is the most fun!

Eggs from Purple Frog Gardens, another local company, are an excellent example of Third Street Market’s preferred business practice, which is to sell products grown locally.

As an example of the symbiosis of a small community, Third Street Market saves produce trimmings and culls, which are collected by Purple Frog Gardens and fed to their lavishly cared-for, truly free range chickens.  The chickens show their gratitude by giving back eggs, which then travel the short distance to Third Street Market to be sold to customers who, for the most part, know the people at Purple Frog.

This “locavore” focus is possible because Third Street Market has been in business for more than 25 years.  Through this period of time we’ve been able to get to know producers, build relationships, help with marketing and refinement of products.  We’ve been around long enough to see the recent surge in enthusiasm by local producers, particularly farmers who emphasize a natural philosophy in their management practices.

It’s simple:  Local means working with people we know, means fresher products with less carbon footprint (these eggs are flown in from Mexico!) and fosters a community interdependence that’s mutually supportive.

To the extent possible (look, coconuts don’t grow in Montana) Third Street Market makes every effort to feature locally grown products.  It’s the best approach, for all concerned.

What some competitors claim as natural doesn’t quite suit us — our standards are much higher. In fact, we’ve engaged the experts at WALTHAM, THE WORLD’S LEADING AUTHORITY ON PET CARE AND NUTRITION^®, to help us create great tasting, nutritious natural pet foods with added vitamins and minerals that are higher quality, more stable, and fresher than other pet foods.

And now, We are proud to introduce the only Grain Free Limited Ingredient Diets, guaranteed to improve skin & coat, for dogs with food sensitivities. There’s never been a better time to try NUTRO^® Pet Food Products.

Get Coupons

In addition to announcing store events such as “Meet Your Farmer” days, the Calendar will announce great bargains and special, time-limited sales.  Many of these sales will occur as a result of unexpected availability of a product that Third Street Market can purchase in volume at a big discount, and pass savings on to our customers.  And, some of the sales will be announced simply because we’re eager to introduce a new product or supplier.

We encourage you to check the Third Street Market Calendar frequently, because many of these special events and sales will be announced on short notice.  We promise you the savings will justify your effort!

Dr. Mark Hyman put together a long list of magnesium deficiency symptoms, published in Organic Connections Magazine. (This edition of the magazine also contains several other authors’ discussions of magnesium.)

Dr. Hyman writes, “Such signs include a long list of symptoms: muscle cramps or twitches, insomnia, irritability, sensitivity to loud noises, anxiety, autism, ADHD, heart palpitations, angina (a spasm of the arteries), constipation, spasms in the muscles, headaches, migraines, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, asthma and kidney stones (which are caused by a calcium-magnesium imbalance); even diabetes and obesity are related to magnesium deficiency. Other symptoms connected to magnesium deficiency include high blood pressure, menstrual cramps,   irritable bladder, irritable bowel, acid reflux and premenstrual syndrome.”
Magnesium affects several crucial areas of health, and Dr. Hyman elaborates more specifically on each, in his article.

As you can see, many of the issues mentioned by Dr. Hyman relate to muscle tightness, and may be caused by magnesium deficiency or an imbalance between calcium and magnesium.  Excessive calcium tightens or or contracts the muscle.  Magnesium relaxes the muscle.

Diets in the US favor calcium with the ratio about 5 parts calcium to 1 part magnesium.  Dairy, as an example, contains 6 to 10 times more calcium than magnesium.

The US and countries with similar calcium to magnesium ratios have higher incidence of osteoporosis and heart disease.  Many researchers find that raising magnesium levels and bringing them closer to 1:1 with calcium results in stronger bones, and a normalization of heart problems.  Population studies support the diea that cultures whose ratio of calcium to magnesium is between 3:2 and 2:3 have less osteoporosis.

Besides contributing to good bone health we probably see more Third Street Market using magnesium to relax muscles than anything else.  Headaches, tight shoulders, constipation, muscle cramps and sleep problems have all responded to increased magnesium consumption and a more favorable balancing of the calcium to magnesium ratio.

There are sevral posible reasons for low magnesium levels:

• Too much calcium (often as a result of taking a calcium supplement without magnesium
• Excessive alcohol or coffee consumption
• Taking diuretics
• Low dietary intake, high sugar diet
• Fertilizers today don’t generally contain magnesium, hence foods grown with intensive fertilization are often deficient in magnesium
• A diet high in oxalic acid (i.e, rhubarb, parsley, beets, spinach).
• Diet high in fats

So how do we increase magnesium levels?  One way is by eating foods high in magnesium.

Note that brown rice contains three times more magnesium than white rice.

In addition to eating appropriate foods, one can, of course, take magnesium supplements.  Third Street Market has a over a dozen different magnesium supplements and over thee dozen different calcium/magnesium combinations to choose from.   Each of these produces a somewhat different reaction.  Consequently,  we prefer to work individually with our customers to determine whether magnesium supplementation is indicated, and to identify which of our magnesium products is most appropriate.

We are not doctors and if you have health issues or special needs please contact a health practitioner skilled in the diagnosis of nutritional deficiencies.

Possible contraindications and side effects of magnesium supplements include:
• Consult your health care provider if you have kidney disease
• Adjust dose or discontinue use if loose stools occur.

by Kaye Cloud

Attention horse owners, the word is out:  THE WORMS ARE WINNING!!!  In the past, internal parasite control for horses has been easy.  Every eight weeks or so, use a different worming product and you’re good to go.  According to a recent acticle in Equus Magazine (February 2011, written by Christine Baraket),  we are informed that research shows that parasites are showing resistance that renders some worming products ineffective.  She tells us that parasite control needs to become a two-step process.  We first need evidance of which de-wormers are not working on the particular property and then the horses that need de-worming need to be identified and wormed with the product that targets the particular worm.

Parasitism is a natural state and the overall elimination is un-necessary.  We have always realized that worm burdens are different from horse to horse depending on pasture arrangement, housing, poop pick up practices, etc. even within the same herd.  Some horses with high fecal counts don’t look wormy at all.  Sometimes one or two members will carry large loads of parasites and the rest may have mimimal but the few contaminate the entire environment.

If you refer to this well-written article you will become informed about over-worming sheep in New Zealand where over-use produced ineffective wormers!  The long and short of it is that we need to become better at TARGETING the worms we need to kill.  One cannot just worm by the calendar anymore because there are variables in each region due to climate and time of year.  Talk with your Vet to see what approach she/he wants to take.  Vets have been re-involved in an area of horse management in which they haven’t been since the advent of paste de-wormers which were administered usually by owners.  If you de-worm with an ineffective product, then it’s wasted money for you and doesn’t help your horse.  Many horses will be wormed much less frequently, only once or twice a year.  The pharmaceutical companies are setting up user-friendly owner directed programs.  Also local county extension programs may be of assistance.

The findings are still coming in so we need to be flexible, informed and educated.  Without these new steps in place, we could find ourselves without the benefits of modern chemistry upon which we have relied for the past 50 plus years!

We also will put at risk unborn generations of horses to come, not just the ones we love that live in our back yards.

As always, from my heart to your heart, may we alll have HAPPY TRAILS.

Kaye