Come Take a Walk with Me through the Farmer’s Market and You Will See: Organics
Posted by lindseyshoe
Come take a trip with me to my local Farmer’s Market and see what you are missing. Maybe next time you can tell me what you found when you visited your Farmer’s Market! It’s a great way to spend time with the family, get organics at a price you can afford and support area farmers and merchants.
It’s Saturday morning and even the youngest in our household is excited as we grab our cloth tote bags and head to the Farmer’s Market near our home. The very first stand is a favorite for the whole family, as we look over the fresh fruits and vegetables organically grown and right in front of us for sale. The girls are interested in the watermelon, which at $3.00 is a great deal, compared to the $4.99 at the grocery store, and it’s organic! Making our choices we get fresh tomatoes off the vine, salad greens, a white onion, yellow squash, and fresh new red potatoes. I would buy more but this is my first stop of the day!
Next, stop the certified organic meat booth. Here I can pick up sausages, ground beef, chuck, sirloin, roasts, chops, ribs, and chicken as well as a number of other tasty items for my meat loving family. This vendor brings his copies of his certificates with him, so you know you are getting the real thing. He also gives you a few tips on cooking certified organic meats because not only are they chemical and hormone free, but they are also lower in fat.
A trip to the Farmer’s Market would not be complete without a dessert or two to bring home. The whole family visits with the owners of a pecan farm that also grow organic fruits and vegetables. What’s special about this vendor? Not only do they bring samples with them to try, and allow for the use of credit cards, but they make delicious homemade jams, jellies and pie fillings from the pecans, fruits and vegetables they grow. My favorite is the Passion Pepper Jelly, great for entertaining. The ingredients on the side of the jar are easy to read; several different types of peppers, pectin and that’s about it. My little girls prefer the strawberry jam, so of course that goes in the bag too.
At my market you can choose to purchase eggs at a separate booth or with the certified organic meat, so here I am now carefully choosing my certified organic eggs.. Yes, they do cost more, but the size; oh the size alone is enough to make you want organic eggs. They are much bigger than the white eggs you see in the store, barely able to fit in the egg carton container. When you get home to use them they are much bigger, fuller and yes, tastier than other eggs. You don’t even have to cook as many to feed your family.
I have to pick up an all natural honey while I am there, poured over the new potatoes and topped with fresh parsley and baked and it’s a delicious side dish, not to mention using honey to sweeten iced tea or even coffee.
This week I decide to visit with the natural cleaning products vendor – after all she has the same last name as mine so it would be rude not to. While for the most part I make my own cleaning products (see Recipes for Whole House Cleaning Success: Natural and Environmentally Friendly) I am interested in what she has to offer which include wonderful cleaning supplies for everything from the ceilings to the floors and disinfectants. Her bottles are much nicer than mine and she takes the time to do extra steps to create a quality product that will last longer. I usually just make up what I need for a day or week and go, but her cleaners and air fresheners are very tempting.
My last stop is for lunch. A local Asian Indian lady sells homemade samosas, masalas and naan along with many other cultural dishes at her booth. Of course, once again there is the tasting, at this rate I won’t need lunch but I will buy these anyway and save them for later. The chicken tikka masala and channa masala (made with chick peas) are my favorites. That and naan (flat bread) and I am ready to go, but I can’t resist the vegetable samosas so those come home too.
Many people say that a purchasing organics is more expensive. And guess what? They are right but that is when you purchase organics in your grocery store. With my purchases I actually spent $38.00. The salad greens were less than those chemically treated and in bags in the grocery store and they last longer as will many other of the vegetables and fruits I bought. The eggs and meat will go further and are better for my family. My children were involved in the choices. We have a homemade “instant” meal with our Indian dishes. We had a wonderful family outing. We supported local farmers and area vendors.
Our shopping trip to the Farmer’s Market is over. Everyone is thrilled. I have wonderful, healthy organic foods to serve to my family. My children are thrilled that they were involved in picking the foods they will eat and studies show that involving children in food choices will result in them being more likely to eat these choices. My husband is happy, who wouldn’t be after all the tasting?
There are so many advantages to visiting your local Farmer’s Market. Why not try it next Saturday with your family?
3 Responses to “Come Take a Walk with Me through the Farmer’s Market and You Will See: Organics”
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DAVID Holt says:
Hello Lisa i don t know where you live but in reference to the organic food prices you mentioned,here in East Texas they have been above those mentioned and also organic prices i have seen here are higher than the regular food Thanks : David Holt
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Dave, you are absolutely right, in some places it is difficult to find organics for a good price either at a food market or at a farmer’s market. For where I live, to be honest, the most expensive items are the meat and eggs. One 1lb of ground beef last week was 8.00. It was more than many of my other purchased put together. Eggs vary from 3-4.50. But it is definitely worth it. I ran out the middle of this week of lettuce and bought some at the store – only to have my salad have a “chemical” taste to it at lunch. Hopefully as more buy organics more will grow organics and the prices won’t be so high. It’s actually cheaper to grow this way than with chemicals or pesticides. Thanks for reading and commenting!
please MR LISA CAREY I love your world of farmer market and i am interesting in going deeply into farming so how can we reelect to each other meaning contacting Nigerian please I need a letter of invitation < thanks.