I am trying to be more conscience about where my food comes from, so I decided to go out to the Farmer's Market this morning. Our town host two per week; one on Saturdays at the riverfront, and one on Wednesdays up at Poplar Grove, an old antebellum plantation that is host to many weddings, as well as giving daily self guided tours. I am usually working on Wednesdays, so since I was off, I thought it might be fun to go.
It is early in the season, so there was not an abundance of vegetables just yet. I did manage to snag a few fresh squash, yellow to eat and zucchini to make bread. They also had a few root vegetable available. They are not my favorite, so I passed on them. I did purchase one very large head of leaf lettuce, for less than you would find in the grocery store. It was from one or our local Castle Hayne farms.
They had fresh honey, fresh goat cheese, plenty of herbs, boiled peanuts, and flowers. There was an abundance of local brown eggs, from fresh, farm raised chicken. I got one dozen.
Perhaps the most interesting things I saw today, though, were meats. I did buy one pack of hamburger patties. The beef was farm raised in Texas. It is a family business, and the father lives here. The beef is required to be processed in an authorized USDA plant, but it is flash frozen as the time of slaughter. I'll let you know how they taste when I try them. There was also rabbit, fresh pork, and a few other delicacies.
My last purchase was a flat of strawberries. I had planned to go by the local strawberry farm to get a flat when I left, but they had a tent set up there, so that saved me a trip. We have been feasting on strawberries for the last month or so. It's like Bubba Gump shrimp time around here with fresh strawberry pie, fresh strawberries on cereal, fresh strawberry shortcake...you get the picture. I've already finished working on a pie. It is about ready to go in the fridge for our dessert tonight. Can't wait.