I was at a meeting this afternoon planning this year’s Good Life Thursday Farmers Market at Boordy Vineyards and had a blast! It was refreshing to get back to planning for the growing season and working with other local producers. I was reminded of all the variety of fresh, traditionally raised, local produce and meats that are available so close to me! I can get everything from free-ranged pesticide-free eggs to raw milk gourmet cheese, black current wine vinegar to shiitake mushrooms, free ranged pork to organic, grass fed black Angus within a short drive from home. And there are getting to be so many ways to take advantage of this abundance! Just a few options in my area are to belong to a group that has drop off points each week for picking up fresh dairy and meat, going to a family farm and picking up fresh eggs, poultry and emu, belonging to a CSA and getting weekly deliveries of vegetables, local farmers market where you can get fruit, meat, veggies, flowers and baked goods direct from the producer, and frequenting restaurants that use primarily local ingredients. And those are just some choices I know about in my area! When I first started going out to local farms and picking up my food, it was a bit different from the weekly trip to the grocery store, but that was some of the appeal. Now it has become my norm, and it’s fun to be “in the know” about the new guy who’s raising such and such, or an old farmer who is starting to grow a new whatever. Call me crazy, but it gives me a sense of peace to be able to see where my carrot was grown or on what pasture the cow who’s milk I’m drinking has been grazing, especially when so many news articles are being written with horror stories about corporate agriculture and pollutents in our food. Not that I don’t still go to the grocery store, or eat at restaurants that may sell Monsanto meat, but I enjoy supporting my fellow small businessman and know that I am supporting a lifestyle that has long been out of fashion with each visit to the farmers market.
~Alison