As I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, I am becoming aware of the importance of supporting our local farmers. So off to the Farmer's Market I went on Saturday. Oh what beauty is to be seen at the Farmer's Market. I was there bright and early, as the market opened a bell rang and a cheer was heard from each of the vendors. It was a joyous occasion. I brought home cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, butter lettuce, carrots, sugar peas, artichokes, purple potatoes, and chocolates. I must say Oregon grows the best berries. The chocolate was from my favorite local chocolate artisan. She had some chocolates filled with a Meyer lemon filling, yummm! What fun it has been to enjoy each of the small treasures brought home from the Farmer's Market.
I just read her book in the past few months, too. This weekend really brought home the difference between "trucked in" and locally grown. We had some of those nearly year 'round strawberries that appear in all the grocery stores--and had to jazz them up with sugar and a touch of aged (20 year old) balsamic to get them into shape. Just last night a neighbor brought in fresh-picked local strawberries...and what a difference!
ReplyDeleteOn our annual treck to the rental cottage on The Lake, one of our greatest pleasures is in finding the locally grown greens and spinach ready for our consumption. We make simple salads with the greens and some local strawberries that are always ripe just then..and we always marvel at how tender the spinach is and how different from what we can get at the grocery store. We pair that with the local bakery's homemade breads and some of the wine that the state vineyards offer, and it really is a meal fit for a king or queen.