Local Produce at The Grocery Store
I was in a grocery store recently (which is a rare occurrence for me), I needed kosher salt which isn’t sold at the farmer’s market. I walked through the produce section to see what they had and I was surprised by the price of tomatoes!
Heirloom tomatoes for $3.99 a pound – WOW. I bought a half bushel (which is probably 8-10lbs) at the farmer’s market for only $4.50 (and they looked much nicer). I knew I was saving money by shopping there, but I didn’t realize how much (and the I know the farmer would much rather sell them directly to me because they’ll make more money).
While there, I also noticed that they had a section of local produce. Unfortunately it was only corn, zucchini, spaghetti squash and green peppers. I know local farmer’s are growing much more than that!
It is great that the store is buying some local produce, but this won’t get me back to the grocery store. I would rather be out in the fresh air talking to the people who grow my food. I would rather hand the farmer my $20 rather than a big box grocery chain. Not to mention, the produce is much nicer at the farmer’s market!
So head to your farmer’s market this Saturday (or whatever day it is, check out LocalHarvest.org to find a farmer’s market near you).
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A Perfect Day for a Farmer’s Market
Yesterday morning I got up early and headed down to the Carrollton Farmer’s Market. I was hoping for mountains of produce, since it is the peak of the growing season here in NE Ohio. I was also on the hunt for a bushel or two of tomatoes to can. The sign promised: sweet corn, melons, tomatoes and more! How exciting.
I have a system for shopping at the market, first I walk around and look at all the booths trying to decide what I want, then I buy on my second round. I try to buy from smaller booths with less produce (these are usually the smaller farmer’s or individuals that do it as a hobby).
There were booths full of melons of all different sizes and colors, tomatoes in every color, shape and size as well. I always ask if they are home grown and chemical free (I have been to farmer’s markets where I have seen the same boxes of melons in the back of the trucks that you see at the big grocery store – beware of these booths. There are none of these at the Carrollton Market though)
I was surprised at the lack of zucchinis, prolific producers that they are, I think I bought the only 2 that I saw. Or perhaps my lack of zucchini growing skills was actually a product of the kind of summer we were having and had nothing to do with my lack of skill. The fresh fruit stand was particularly intriguing with baskets of apples, pears, plums and peaches.
So what made it into my reusable shopping bags on this trip to the market?
1 bushel of tomatoes for canning
1/2 bushel or roma tomatoes for roasting
1 bunch of carrots
1 eggplant
5 purple & white peppers
2 pints of grape tomatoes (yellow & red)
2 bags of potatoes (1 new potatoes, 1 big baking)
1 quart of green beans
6 red onions
7 heirloom tomatoes
1 quart yellow tomatoes
2 doz. ears of sweet corn
1 cantaloupe
1 watermelon
1 large green striped zucchini
1 large yellow summer squash
1 peck of cooking apples
7 lbs of sausage (local naturally raised pork).
Looks like we’ll be getting our full share of veggies this week, and all of this only cost me $50.
Currently we have a bountiful table (and counter).
Tonight the tomatoes will be roasted and tomorrow they will be canned for delicious winter sauces. We enjoyed the corn last night for supper (the remainder was cut off the cob and frozen) and we had some sausage cooked up this morning with delicious local eggs on a homemade sourdough english muffins. What delicious local food did you buy at the farmer’s market for this holiday weekend?
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I Couldn’t have Said it Better Myself
Kim Carlson wrote a great article on Slow Food Nation about eating locally. This is exactly why Mr. Chiots and I do it.
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Colorful Local Meals
When it comes to eating locally, summers are easy here in the north. Our lunch the other day was just abut 100% local and super healthy (as well as delicious), check out all the different colors.
So what is this meal made of? Local sweet corn with a little homemade butter (made with cream from a local dairy farm), braised red cabbage (cabbage, onions, and apples from the farmer’s market), tomato (sliced heirloom tomato from the local farmer’s market) and whole grain seeded sourdough (made with freshly ground local organic wheat). The only non-local ingredients were the flax, sesame & oats in the bread (even the yeast was local since it’s my own sourdough starter).
What are you eating that’s local and in season this week?
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MINI + Donzell’s = Bad Idea
We really enjoy going to Donzell’s in Akron. It’s a neat & tidy greenhouse with a pretty good selection of plants. This Sunday, while out and about, we stopped in to look around. They were having a sale on hydrangeas, so I ended up leaving with 5 new ones. I also bought a bunch of past-prime plants for a great price. When we were checking out, we realized that we had driven our MINI Cooper (funny, we never buy much when we are driving our big car).
We are pretty good at packing, so we managed to fit it all in.
Mr Chiots with a crown of hydrangea blossoms.
We made it home with only 1 casualty, a hydrangea blossom broke off when we were getting it out of the car, but it’s in a vase on the table. Looks like I have a lot of work to do this coming week!
I’ll let you know which plants I bought later this week.
