"When are you opening?" Well, that is by far the number one question I hear from people at Prairie Crossing. It seems like ages ago that we signed our agreement with Prairie Holdings. It was, in fact, March 17 according to this photo I just found:

That is me (Scott), Jacque, Ben Ranney of Prairie Holdings and John toasting to our new venture.

Here we are in December. Our current status is that we are waiting to get into our space to start construction. Progress is being made. We are getting closer. We have had our plans and permits for months and hopefully we will be able to get into the space some time this month to start our buildout.

I am reluctant to suggest a date when we will be open simply because many of the dates I have stated in the past have come and gone and I don't want to be wrong again. I will promise that as soon as things really start moving forward, we will be posting progress here.

Thank you soooooo much for you patience. This project has truly been a labor of love for John, Jacque and I - and it has taken way longer than any of my children to be born, too! I do look forward to the day when we can sit together and sip some coffee in the cafe. In the end, this will all have been worth it.

-Scott 

It's the holiday shopping season and the big box retailers are paying big bucks vying for holiday shopping dollars. It is true that we vote with our dollars. While most of us don't feel good about it, it's easy to throw up our hands in surrender to the advertising cacophony, cheap convenience, homogeneity and ease of "one stop shopping."

It doesn't have to be Wal-Mart to be easy and affordable, though. Don't let yourself get sucked into the big box retailer trap this holiday season. This year, make a pledge to yourself and to the earth to do good with your holiday shopping dollars. Choose to support ethical business practices, fair trade products that pay farmers and artisans a fair, living wage and organic products grown and cultivated in harmony with the rhythms of nature. Give unique and special gifts to your family and friends while doing good in the world with your holiday giving.

Recent medical research published in the peer-reviewed medical journal "Diabetes Care," (November, 2006) finds that coffee consumption reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 60% compared to those who do not drink coffee. Several recent smaller studies have found the correlation between coffee consumption and reduced diabetes risk. This most recent study was a large prospective study, adjusting for other factors such as age, gender, obesity, smoking, high blood pressure. Study authors Besa Smith, MPH, Deborah L. Wingard, PHD, Tyler C. Smith, MS, Donna Kritz-Silverstein, PHD and Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD of the University of California San Diego conclude, "This study confirms a striking protective effect of caffeinated coffee against incident diabetes and extends these findings to incident diabetes based on OGTT independent of multiple plausible confounders."

We have been delivering our coffee beans for a few months, but we know that not everyone is a coffee drinker. While we are waiting to open, we have decided to add tea to our online offerings. It is another way that we can bring the Prairie Croissant Café to you.

We started with a modest offering of over 40 different teas from our favorite tea merchants, Todd & Holland. We have been tasting many of them and they are truly amazing. Just choose "Order Online" from the side menu and start browsing the teas. I know that we do not yet have everyones' favorites so let us know if you want something in particular and we will add it.

As with the coffee, Prairie Crossing delivery is free. Even if your order is only a few dollars. Just choose Prairie Crossing Delivery as your shipping type.

You can now also share some of the Prairie Croissant Café with those outside of Prairie Crossing, since we can ship anywhere in the US.

We will be adding tea and coffee assortment sets very soon. You can send them as gifts or enjoy them for yourself.

Cheers!

- Scott 

We will be at Under the Sycamore Tree in Station Square the morning of Sunday, November 12 serving coffee, hot chocolate and hot mulled apple cider as part of the grand opening celebration of Station Square at Prairie Crossing. See you there!