We woke up this beautiful fall-ish Sunday morning a bit on the early side.
Not at all by our choice, but Naomi apparently had things she needed to get to with subtle urgency.
After wiping the sleepy out of our eyes, and acknowledging that it was a gorgeous cool sunny morning, we decided to venture over to a Farmers Market just down the street. Seemed like a perfect Sunday morning thing to do, and I was in the mood to cook.
We pulled up to the scattered array of white tents and wooden stands, grabbed our eco-friendly mesh bag, and cash from the ATM to see what delicious, local, organic treasures they had for us!
After walking the loop sampling apples and coffee cake, we both realized that there was nothing specifically indicating that anything at this market was organic.
I love being what they call a "localvore", and want very much to support locally grown agriculture, not only because it is fresher but also because it didn't float into my grocery bag on what Michael Poland (the Omnivores Dilemma) would call "a sea of petroleum". It bothers me that when I shop at My Organic Market (Mom's) down the street, that my apples are from Brazil, and my kiwi from New Zealand. However, if my food dollar is a vote so to speak, and if I really am convicted that protecting my family and environment from pesticides, insecticides and herbicides is of great importance, than I simply can not settle for local conventional, and I am going to have to vote no.
Disappointed we circled one last time. I found a guy that sells home-made soaps and couldn't help myself to a bar, as well as a booth displaying fresh home-made pasta, which I can't wait to boil el dente, and smother in pesto!
Finally, a humble little organic booth emerged, on the far side of the market, selling a table full of assorted bell peppers, beets and garlic. We piled hand fulls on the scale, stuffed our bags full, thanked the man for what he does, and headed home with our rare treasure.
What to do with a bag full of bell peppers? A little onion, garlic, saffron and brown rice, pile of cheese, basil, parsley and toasted pine nuts stuffed into our colorful bowls should feed us well...not only our tummy's but our belief that we did the right thing.
1 comment:
Nina-banina! I really admire your fight to buy local AND organic. I'm not quite sure how you do it. Honestly, here it is SO expensive to buy anything organic so... we do the best we can! I'm making Micah's own baby food. Something I think is really fun and much cheaper. It probably tastes better too! Hope all is well in VA!
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