Farmer's Markets

So about 2 years ago, I read a book that changed my thinking about food.  The book?  Animal, Vegetable Miracle. By Barbara Kingsolver.  It chronicles the life of a family (hers) who attempted to live off only food within a hundred miles of their Appalichia home.  In the book, she gives tons of gardening tips, Farmer's Markets tips, and basic "eating local" tips.  I decided that each summer, I would do due diligence to live the same way.  The outcome, has been far from succesful (my daughter still craves bananas and hoots and hollers if we don't get them as we pass them at H.E.B.).  But the adventure has been fun!

So this summer, I have begun my adventure into Farmer's Markets and trying to eat all things locally again.  But this year, I realize I've changed the way I treat the Farmer's Market experience.  My first year, was a total disappointment.  I'd go with my list in hand, and be sorely dissapointed when I couldn't find sweet potatoes in June, or Tomatoes in May.  I didn't speak to the Farmers, and generally treated the entire experience as a quick business transaction. 

Today, while greeting my regular vendors at the market, I realized how much my mindset has changed.  My first stop at my Pflugerville Farmer's Market is my friendly faces at 6J Ranch, they asked how my Fourth of July was.  We traded husband jokes, and I got my dozen eggs for four dollars.  I pulled out my 6 saved egg cartons to exchange with them and headed on to my next vendor.  I'm not sure of her name, but she looked up and said, "Well I wondered when you'd be coming!"  We struck up a conversation about her early summer crops coming to an end and not having much to sell today.  I found some Thyme and a small melon to buy from her.  She warned me she might not be in next week, but she'd be back the week after.  And to please come back.  I assured her I would.  On to my husband's favorite Salsa lady, the best bread vendor this market's ever had, my peach guy and out to my "vegetable people".

As I've ventured in to this Eating Local Movement, I've realized that the experience can not be treated like a grocery store trip- where you come in with a list, you get in and out, you don't bother or speak to anyone except the occasional "excuse me" or the cashier chit chat.  Instead, the Farmer's Market is to be treated as a small adventure.  The Farmer's are the heart and soul of the Market, not the food.  Striking up conversations with them, is essential.  The know 40 different ways to cook the same vegetable.  They'll let you try fruits you'd never dare try before.  They'll tell you how to cook something that would go just perfect with those tomatoes in your bag.  They are the jewells of the experience. 

So as my first post, I guess I'll just say that I'm dedicating this blog to them.  The little and big farmers who plant their crops with love and ambition.  Who get up early to pick the day's peaches, or find themselves picking beans well after dusk.  The farmers who put care and time into raising animals responsibly, all so we- the consumers- can reap the benefits.  It's ridiculous being an American.  Our whole lives are inondated with consuming.  Sometimes I feel like my only purpose in life is to consume the newest, latest, fastest, coolest thing to make my life easier or better.  But as Michael Pollan pointed out in Food Inc, there is a lot of power behind each and every purchase we make.  And I for one, am going to try to make sure mine puts money directly in the hands of the people who are putting food on my dinner table each night.