Winter Market Blues
This week, the farmer’s market was dreary and quiet. The anxiety of pending Holiday meals was gone. The cute packages of Christmas baked goods were back to their plain cellophane wrappers and the farmers were hiding under dripping tarps. I know because I drove by.
I had excuses: not much cash, cranky son (he seems to be fighting a cold) and the grocery store promised dry warmth.
Even here in the dead of winter, California still offers up plenty to fill your Choicelunch market bag with, including the last pears of the season (we have organic pears from Upper Valley Organics this week in our fresh produce bins!) and the best oranges a few coins can buy.
In fact, THIS is the time to go out and support our local producers more than ever, when customers are fewer and conversations can be longer. In season carrots with ketchup (HFCS free, of course) is a new combination my son happily devours (gross to me!) and I save the peanut butter and sliced local apple sandwiches for after school snacks. (Does anyone else wish we could back to the days when ‘nuts’ weren’t banned?) I should have gone to the farmer’s market for these seasonal staples.
Luckily, we get deliveries daily from area farmers directly to our kitchens. You don’t have to schlep into the damp to offer up local produce for your kids’ lunch. This is why we do what we do: to make the job of parenting a little bit easier, to include kids in the food circle, to keep tummies full of the earth’s crops.
Still, Choicelunch is only one meal a day⦠we all still need lemons for that Saturday night martini garnish, right? I’ll be at the outdoor market, faithfully next weekend. Can I meet you there?
