Like so many of us, I love food and the best food. I pride myself on roasting fresh beets, tossing them in my salads, homemade cooking, and so on so forth. But lately, I'm not as impressed with the produce in the markets I shop. I love the idea of local farmer markets, which the idea is nothing new, I realize. It's just something that's been on my radar for a long time and I am just now getting out there to shop these great markets. Mainly for more variety and support for local growers. I used www.localharvest.org to find the best farmers markets in my area, that provide sustainably grown food from my area and that is organic.
My dad and I have been going to a restaurant in Santa Cruz for years called "Gabriella's." I sware I almost named one of my daughters after this restaurant...I rest my case. But really, this restaurant serves gourmet food, it's very unique and the ingredients include produce that I simply never see in the markets I shop. I asked the owner of Gabriella's (who visits his restaurant every evening, sits and eats at the same table) where they shop their produce?
Well of course it's all from their local farmers markets. So the beautiful light pink beets that are a delicious blend of tart and sweet, that I love...found here today at this lovely outdoor market. Thompson grapes below are fantastic. They are my mother in laws favorite. They are going in the Sunday dinner's fruit salad. Nothing at this market was outrageously priced. I would say it was comparable to most "common" market prices, as you can see below.
The exception would be Costco. Their grapes are much cheaper than $2.50 per pound. But, as much as I love Costco I want to support local growers too. I feel like this is a great thing to do, especially now, today.
We found ourselves at the treat table. Summer could not decide on a sample so sweet Georgia helped her out. The other wonderful thing about these markets is all of the "haggling" you hear going on. I love it! You can't do this at Safeway, Costco or Trader Joe's. And I think it's a great process for the consumer and the grower. It's a way for the grower to have a loyal customer base and it helps the customer with their needs. I liked watching this happen.
Just trying a little change of pace is all. Feeling the need to be more "grass roots" and to feel a different sense of community. I will be coming back to this farmers market in Saratoga for sure. More specifically, this market was located at West Valley College in the parking lot. It goes from 9am- 1pm. I came away with baby pink beets, purple dragon carrots, a few different types of lettuce and white carrots.
What I Love Most Today is the Farmers Market.
What I Love Most Today is the Farmers Market.
I remember as a child stopping at different fruit and veggie stands along the side of highway. California is so awesome for fresh produce. I wish we had a good farmers market here in Georgia!
ReplyDeleteOh how I love this...I go to our local Farmer's Market in Westlake every Sunday morning. It's something my daughter talks about every Saturday - Mom, are you going to The Farmer's Market tomorrow? It's so great to buy fresh and locally and creating memories with our children so that they will do the same when they are older. ( We also love the tamale stand ) = )))
ReplyDeleteShauna! There is nothing that I love more than the farmers' market. We are so lucky to live about three miles away from a farm that I have bought produce at since the age of 4.
ReplyDeleteTo that end, I am MASSIVELY jealous of the fact that y'all have winter farming and markets so please, by all means make this a feature! That way, when I am in the middle of winter and canned things only, I can admire all of the fresh things that y'all can snap up.
Yes, you are so fortunate to live in the land plenty. We have a pretty dinky farmers market with not much variety. It includes maybe 15 tables, 3 of the tables are just pure unadulterated maple syrup! Yum! Five to six of the tables are produce (all the same though). Several tables also sell fresh eggs (too expensive for us $4-$6 per doz!). One table sells fresh lamb and whole chickens. The rest of the tables are crafts people are selling.... Mostly homemade jewelry. It's on Wednesdays from 4pm-7pm which I think is odd but I'm glad it's not on Sunday. We go mostly for something to do as a family and to support local growers. One time, one of the syrup guys had wild mushrooms, we bought those and put them on our homemade veggie pizza... It was so good! Oh! We bought several starter plants there this year... We didn't realize a lot of the growers do that until this year. We did buy a wooden craft there once... Maybe I'll take a picture of it and blog about it!
ReplyDeleteYes, I need to visit one, but I am Costco loyal :) We have a great one every Saturday that I would love to purchase local meat and eggs from , just need to get there. I am surprised you had to go all the way to West Valley, isn't there one closer? Well, anyway, lovely pics,now I am hungry!
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