Monday, May 11, 2009

Farmer's Market

On Saturday, I went with Elle (my sister) and BFF to a local Farmer's Market. It was my first farmer's market visit EVER and it was great!! I bought the most delicious looking and most wonderful smelling spring onions, a bag of freshly picked lettuce and a pound of ground beef from grass-fed happy cows.

Over the past six months or so, I've really gotten into the whole idea of "real food"; that is, natural, homegrown food without chemicals. My SIL and her husband really introduced me to the idea -- they are way, way into it, going so far as to raise chickens, ducks, geese and a turkey or two in their backyard.

My next step is to try to get my hands on some "raw milk," i.e., milk straight from the cow, not pasteurized. In my state, the only way to get raw milk is to be a part of a cow-share program. I've never tasted raw milk before though, so I would like to go to a farm and get a taste before I commit.

Once I have a supply of raw milk, I could start making yogurt to eat every morning for breakfast with berries and nuts. Yum!
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Interested in learning more about real food? I've found these books and blogs to be interesting and helpful:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck

Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Cheeseslave
Food Renegade

9 comments:

AwkwardMoments said...

My husband has been trying ot get me to make yogurt for months now.

I am glad you had fun at the Market.

ME! said...

Good luck with that! That is a huge step to take. I try and buy locally grown/organically grown as much as I can. I not only think it is healthier for our bodies, but helps support the local economy and my neighbors.

I personally could never take the 'raw' milk b/c I am petrified of listeria and other diseases. (THIS IS JUST MY PHOBIA- I am totally proud of others that don't have this problem and absolutely condone drinking raw milk) I grew up on a farm and for a while we had fresh milk, cheeses, yogurt- the whole nine yards. I can still remember lifting the thick stuff off the top of the milk. YUMMY.

The cheese my mother made was DELIOUS too.

Jessica White said...

We try to be as green and self-sufficient as possible. It isn't easy, but is totally worth it. Fresh (raw) milk does have a different flavor and there is a bit of work involved (at least if you only drink skim milk), but it's definitely yummy (fresh butter anyone?).

I Believe in Miracles said...

Farmers markets rock!

Beware that you're not supposed to drink raw milk while pregnant... so just in case during particular times, you need to be careful...

~~HUGS~~

Meghan said...

I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She inspired me to make my own cheese...but we all know I've got problems with follow through ;) Anyway, I totally support your farmers market efforts. We try to go too, they just aren't always at the most convenient times...which one did you go to?

Stacey said...

Hi! I came here from FBF at Food Renegade and I was thrilled to see you had a such a positive experience at your farmers' market!

And I'd love to encourage you to get the raw milk, too! We finally found a source of it in my state (NC) where its sale is prohibited. A local woman (who lives 2 blocks away from me! And I had been searching everywhere for a year!) drives to SC every 2 weeks and buys for our "co-op".

My 4 year old son used to only drink milk if I added chocolate to it - and only rarely at that - now he prefers "Just the white milk, Mommy!" It is SO delicious!

And for the skeptical: have them go to Food Renegade for the skinny on how it really is *safe*. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I love that the meat you bought came from "happy" cows. It's great to talk to farmers and see how connect they are with their animals, and how committed they are to producing quality products.

Thanks for sharing this in today's Fight Back Fridays carnival.

You're going to *love* raw milk. I couldn't drink whole milk before I started drinking raw milk. It had an off taste and smelled sour to me. Now that I've been drinking raw milk for years, I more accurately describe the off taste as a "burnt" taste. Pasteurization simply makes the milk taste stale and burnt. It's dreadful when compared to the real thing.

Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)

battynurse said...

I love farmers markets. I get all kinds of good produce at the one I go to every week. They also sell raw milk there too. I've never tried it but I tried the raw butter and wasn't super impressed. Hope the raw milk is better.

Anonymous said...

Farmers' Markets are great. We have a few here in Sydney, but the are nowhere as good as the ones in regional centres.

The Omnivore's Dilemma is a great book. Check out Mark Kurlansky's work also. Kind of a food anthropologist (And he also did something on European Jewry which I think you would find interesting)