Buying Local..

Just a quick note from a little shopping trip this morning.  We’re expecting some house guests this weekend, and they are “healthy” eaters..  So we thought we would go over to the farmer’s market in the BAE parking lot near us and pick up some fresh stuff.  We haven’t been there in a while and we re-learned how nice it can be.  As it’s getting toward the end (?) of the growing season there weren’t as many farmers there as we've seen there during the summer.

I didn’t think to grab my camera, but now wish I would have.  There were lots of shiny yellow and green peppers, red tomatoes, purple eggplants, salad greens of various hues, and snow white onions, all glowing in the morning sun.  Nature’s bounty to be sure.  And then there’s the people.  We met some friends and chatted, talked with a couple of the farmers and it kind of develops a little sense of community.  Small town in a big town.

One of the stalls had a “buy local, buy fresh” banner so we stopped and talked to them.  They were from the Sassafras Creek Farm located near Park Hall (and expanding to Leonardtown), owned by a very nice energetic young couple.  He told us what he had to go through to become “certified organic”.  It’s not something where you just hang your shingle out.  You have to go through quite a process that involves many inspections, inventory restrictions, asking “mother may I?” for almost anything you put in the ground or on the food, and so forth.  They felt it was worth it because they believe very strongly in doing the right thing with their food.  We even got a nice solid head of garlic from them, not the dried out crap you see in the markets.  They also had fresh ginger which I haven’t seen before.  They supply produce to the Good Earth Natural Food Store in Leonardtown. We did note that we didn’t see ANY sweet corn however, thank you Mr. Drought.  Other stalls had breads, baked goods, scones, and stuff like that.

We were pleased to help support them and the other farmers that were there.  All were friendly and loved to talk about what they do.  There are people like that, thank goodness.  The market will be open through the end of October.  Don’t forget there is also one at the corner of 235 and Hermanville road.  Makes me want to re-visit them.  Go out and help keep our green spaces from becoming houses!  Buy Local!

and....

 

DFD