Farmers' market!

I've lived in my smallish town for over a year now -- about ten months before I got married, and about four months since. All summer long, from May to October, twice a week, is a huge farmers' market. And until this past week, I had never gone. I kept meaning to, and somehow it wasn't happening, even though I love that kind of thing!

Well, yesterday John and I finally went. It was just as great as I imagined: local honey, homemade ice cream, and tables overflowing with vegetables. I love looking at someone's bumper crop spread out in pretty colors. It makes me hungry.

We went with $20 and the intention to spend it. We ended up buying green peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes to restock our crisper, and radishes for the sake of trying something new. (I'm really looking forward to figuring out what to do with the greens!) Then we got some grassfed beef, something we've never tried before. I had no idea they had it at the farmers' market. It's pricier, of course, but after watching Food, Inc. and reading about the differences in the meat between cornfed and grassfed beef, I had to try it. (Not to mention that I feel much better about eating meat from animals that have lived the life they were intended to live -- on a field, eating grass, getting sunshine and fresh air. Up to now we couldn't afford it, but now we can at least sometimes.) Last of all, of course, we couldn't (I mean I couldn't) resist the ice cream. It was delicious.

I call that $20 well spent -- it's a "date" for us, browsing the stalls, plus takes care of some of our grocery shopping. This is definitely something I need to be doing every week.