To Market, to market

{imagine a picture here of all kinds of great things to eat and enjoy ---- breads, candies cookies, scones, greens, eggs, meats.... yummers. ..... }

I love Farmer's Market Day! The Wytheville Farmer's Market has such a wonderful energy and vitality that makes getting up at oh-dark-thirty quite worthwhile! If I didn't earn enough to more than pay for gas, I would still do it!

Today I had goat milk soap, lavender sachets, dishcloths, market bags, eggs, and mint-chocolate or lemon-poppy seed or orange-cranberry scones for sale. Albeit, while it doesn't seem like a lot. It was a stellar day. I mean stellar!

Our market has so many interesting things: alpaca roving, herbs, all kinds of great greens (lettuce, kale, arugula, and such) eggs, eggs, and more eggs, three kinds of soap (how wonderful is that), a wide variety of baked goods, meat such as lamb, mutton, and beef, organic charcoal (wouldn't some lamb be fabulous over that??), plants, jelly, mint tea, homemade candies, and even a wonderful pillow maker! What is so fabulous is that we help each other by recommending all kinds of connecting goods from other vendors. We didn't plan it that way; it just happens!

The best part is that we are all committed to growing as naturally as we can and to provide the best product we can. Think of it: when you shop at a grocer's, you are getting food that could have been picked more than a week ago before it was even ripe and before all the nutrients were developed. At a local market, you are getting foods that are more flavorful, much fresher (most of us pick on Friday), and certainly leaves a much smaller carbon footprint. Plus, you get to know your vendor and can even make special orders happen Just For You!

I have to admit: I didn't shop locally until we started the market business last year. I wasn't sure I'd like it. Actually, it felt too intimate for me. But, having sold at a market for a year now, I can tell you that is the best part of the relationship. We remember our customers and try to ask about things they have shared with us: grandchildren, health issues, weddings, deaths, or whatever. It is really like doing business with family!

If you don't support your local market, please give it a try. You can find out if there is one near you at this site. Yep, we're there and you will be greatly surprised by how many folks are! Won't you let me know if you visit your market and what you think of it?

As Julia Child said: Bon Appetit!

Yes, yes, yes

I just finished reading Michelle's blog here. Yes, Yes, Yes! She is writing about the fact that she is "done" with consumer pressure! If you have read me for long, you know that this is one of the things that I struggling with in my own life. I am sick of stuff. I feel as though I am smothering in stuff. And I want it gone. But, Michelle made a statement in her entry that really struck home:

"I don't want my money to support that economy of make it in one country and ship it thousands of miles to me, while my friends and neighbors struggle and lose their jobs here at home."

What would happen if we all stopped, just stopped, buying anything that was manufactured overseas? This, to me, is the one thing that would solve our economic woes more than any stimulus monies. So many of us are already reusing and repurposing goods in our lives, so why not just stop buying those things made overseas? I know there are things that we feel we cannot do without that come from overseas, but really, couldn't we do without many of these items?

Michelle has relit the fire in me. I'd love a national movement to begin with just you and me. I'd love to see each of us encourage others to stop the madness of buying things we really don't need or will have to replace in a year because the quality is so poor. We used to teach our children to say "NO to drugs." What if we said "NO to imports"?

What do you think? Is it possible to make the change? Can it start with one person??