From the Farmer’s Market to the Farm

Farmer's Market Lettuce

@HoCoBlogs

There has been much blogging and tweeting about buying local, buying fresh and supporting local farms. Today, I decided to jump on the farm stand bandwagon and went to the Farmer's Market at the Oakland Mills Village Center. I made it there about a half hour before it closed.

There were pros and cons to arriving so late, but I was determined to check it out. The main pro was that it was not as crowded as I'm sure it was earlier, so I could visit each stand and easily see what each had. The obvious con was that there were a lot of empty slots. I settled on broccoli from one stand, a large bag of mixed lettuce from another, and cookies from A Bite of Heaven, that we had for dessert. They were very tasty. I really liked the Snickerdoodles. It was a safe start. I came straight home and had a big salad for lunch. It was delicious, as one would expect.

Our “Perfect” Strawberries, Picked by Us

As if my big outing to the Farmer's Market wasn't adventurous enough, my mom and I talked ourselves into heading out to Larriland Farm for the “pick your own strawberries.” Alyssa was eager to join the fun, so off we went. There were a lot of folks in the fields. We picked about two rows and headed back to the main farm to pick our own spinach. We were on a roll!

This character was at Larriland Farm. He was not too interested in posing for this photo, but I took one anyway.

We had another big salad with our dinner that included some of the spinach from Larriland and a bunch of vegetables either sold out or not available yet from the farm stands. Delicious! I think I'm sold on making the extra trip to the farmer's markets.

I thought about what prevents (or has prevented) me from actively participating in farmer's market shopping. Three things popped into my mind: 1) I never carry cash and I assume that farmers will only take cash; 2) There isn't one on my beaten path, so I have to plan to make a trip to one; and 3) I've not really shopped at farmer's markets much, so it's hard to know who has the best produce. I'm sure it could be argued that there is no bad produce at a farm stand. But, I think just that little unknown has held me back. After today, however, I am more willing than ever to become a frequent shopper at these markets and farms.

 

Posted with Blogsy