A little disclaimer before we start: You should probably understand about me that I am not one of the girls who has been waiting all her life to get married and have kids. I'm not generally against it, but I'm just not interested. However, despite my aversion to marriage and family life, I am extremely domestic. I actually enjoy grocery shopping, I spend 8 or so hours every work shift on Pinterest looking at food and pinning recipes (I have over a thousand pins...I'm willing to bet that at least 2/3 of that is food), and I cook. Well. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I was so over the moon about finding something so decidedly "momish" as a farmer's market.
As promised, here is my first farmer's market post. I am going to have to admit my obsession. It's official, and I think that we are going to spend many happy Saturday mornings together :)
I pulled up around 9:15 and there was not only plenty of parking but a TON of different stalls selling all sorts of produce and a musical group serenading everyone as they walked around which gave the whole thing a very relaxed vibe.
My first booth was very quick. They were selling all sorts of different squash and vegetables for $1/lb. I grabbed a zucchini but I wasn't sure about anything else so I moved on.
The next stall was probably my favorite. They had a TON of what normal people think of as vegetables but I'm pretty sure are technically fruits. They had a lot of crates with 3/$1 or 40 cents for one. And the tomatoes are $1.50/lb. All of this cost me a dollar. It was supposed to be more but the nice lady at the till just charged me a buck.
The next stall is the only one that I actually know the name of. It was the Lagorio Bros. Farm from Linden, CA. Everything there was gorgeous. There were all sorts of peaches, apples, tomatoes, and other things that I paid much less attention to once I saw the white peaches at the entrance. I ended up getting some of the biggest peaches I've ever seen. Now, to be fair, I've been grocery shopping at WinCo since high school and honestly, they aren't exactly the best when it comes to produce.
The picture on the left is of the white peaches that I got and the one on the right is a size comparison between that and a WinCo peach I bought last week before I came home.
Gale apples are my favorite. I don't know that I will be repurchasing these though. They were about $1.50/lb and I know for a fact that WinCo typically runs at about $1.58/lb for apples that are probably twice the size of these. They may look big in the picture but they wouldn't actually take up your entire palm when you hold them in your hand. They smell great though.
Probably the most expensive thing that I bought was an impulse purchase at the till when I got there. I'm a sucker for dried fruit. Although my all-time favorite is dried mango (I mean who doesn't LOVE that?!) but I saw dried pears and figured, hey, why the heck not? They're going to end up being something of a special treat though because they're $7/lb and they looked like the photo on the right before I got home and cut them into smaller pieces to prevent my inner fat kid from taking them all out in one go. They're delicious :)
As I wound down my trip, I came across a farm that is relatively close to my parent's house and stopped in to grab some strawberries because they're my favorite to eat in the summer. I let the kid at the till pick out the baskets that I bought since it was 2/$5. Won't be doing that again. While they're delicious, I'm definitely going to be eating strawberries a lot over the next few days so that they don't go bad. They're delicious right now, but they probably wouldn't last a week considering how ripe they are.
Having struggled recently with what I can only assume is allergies, I decided to buy some local honey. This tiny little jar cost me $6! I won't be doing that again BUT they will give me a dollar back for the jar once I'm finished with it because they run a nifty little recycling program at their farm. I'll try it out but despite my best efforts to be healthy and whatnot, I am still a college girl on a college girl budget and $6 for a little jar of honey is NOT worth it when I can get it for $3.52 at WinCo or $5 to have the bees they keep onsite make me some fresh.
The very last place I went was a little stall selling plants because I had seen these funny looking little dudes on my way to the Lagorio Bros. tent and I wanted to pick them up as little "thank you" gifts for the people who helped me get into my apartment last week. They were each a dollar and seem to be hearty little plants who love direct sun. Hopefully they will like them :)
After a quick stop at Safeway to snag up some of their delicious "zero calorie" Refresche water (seriously, if you haven't tried it, do yourself a favor and DO. It is amazing. And it actually isn't too bad for you), I got home and started putting away my haul. All in all, I think for a first time out I did ok and with proper planning next time, I know where to hit and what to buy to get the best deals for myself :)
My little victory breakfast of my last WinCo peach and some Life cereal :) after all, all that shopping can leave a girl famished.
