I went to the market and didn't take one picture!

Yesterday afternoon found me headed south toward town to go to the Norcross Farmer’s Market that is held every Tuesday at 4pm-8pm until end of October.  This was my first time to this market.  I’m in love with the fact that these are popping up all over the city and that the attendance is increasing for both customers and vendors.  If you’ve seen my blog posts on food as of late, this farmer’s market culture has the potential to bring our food chain back in balance one farmer’s market at a time… What it’s going to take is a community, vendors, and customers. It’ll be an ongoing process that has the potential to transform our planet, teach us to eat healthier, and change our mindset back toward earth if we let it. Here’s how!

We walked by one booth and the vendor says, “here’s some pictures of our farm.” Many of the cows had names. (Yes, Bessie was one of them…teehee)  The issue of grain fed vs. grass fed animals is surfacing in my mind as being important. Free range and animals cared for humanly are building blocks for good food chain links. The golden rule applies to everything, even food.  There was one picture of a milk cow eating grain just before milking. We of course asked if the cow was also grass fed and the farmer said of course! The grains seem to help the cow be calm during milking.  I’m not sure what I think about that. My mindset is transforming too. When you go to the grocery store and the high end Angus beef packages say grain fed, what does that mean? Do they eat grass too? The one thing I do know is that you don’t get to ask the farmer this question at the grocery store. If I hadn’t watched the Food, Inc. movie or been excited by the Numen: The Nature of Plants DVD, I’m not sure that I would have known how much that question could matter.

I walked up to one vendor and said, “tell me about your milk”. I got the very dry humor remark back, “it comes from cows”…long pause for my reaction! HA! I laughed and the jokes were flying after that. As he went through the list of good things about his milk, his helper piped in that the yogurt that my daughter was sampling at the booth next door was made from their milk. Cool! Collaboration! Love it! I bought a gallon. I also bought a 7 grain crusty bread to go with our meal plan of tomato basil soup at home!  …perhaps next week I’ll get a bit of that yogurt!

The train came through while we were there. It’s a happening! Many of the vendors are lined up right next to the train tracks.

I spied one booth that was a plant and veggie swap. I’ve been in the market for comfrey plants. (sssshhh I killed the last plant I had before getting it in the ground.) As we were writing down our information for the request, we found out they are neighbors to friends of ours! Small world!…or community. 😉

One milk vendor had a raw milk benefits brochure I picked up. There’s another topic. We sort of know that less processing is better, but what about raw milk? There’s a topic to research!

Whole Foods had a booth and cooked corn cakes with peppers & salsa demo. Most of the ingredients came from the Norcross market itself.

As we made our way down the aisle of booths, we had a discussion on what tomatillos taste like. I’ve never tasted them by themselves. I’m sure I’ve had a green sauce before but I’m quite curious about this vegetable. Isn’t it amazing that as you learn more about vegetables, your questions change? It’s a neat journey of learning.

We passed by an organic granola vendor that not only let us try a sample but pulled out a stale sample out just for the doggie! That was another dynamic to the community of this market. It was a doggie meet and greet! How often is your “fido” left at home when you go the grocery store? (duh…everytime!) They are welcome at the farmer’s market.

There were veggies all lined up that are still in season. Sweet potatoes, field peas, green beans, butternut squash, yellow squash, tomatoes and the list goes on! We enjoyed testing apples for pies at Steve Miller Farm’s booth-yum!

Here’s a neat farmer’s market finder! I’ve found a few markets from this site that I didn’t even know existed! Just input your zip code and it will list farms and farmer’s markets in your area. Many farmer’s markets in our area will continue until the end of October. Get out in the fall weather and shop local!

Happy Washing!

~Regina