The Farmers Market

There are over 3,100 local farmers markets in the USA. I bet many of them are here in California, as there seems to be one in every town, big or small, and vary from just a few local farmers setting up a stand to the one in Santa Monica, which has several blocks devoted to the market. I was in LA for Mother's Day. My bachelor son made a great breakfast for the family, and after breakfast we walked over to the Brentwood Farmers Market. I was very impressed.

After spending the morning trying to explain to a 35 year single man why buying local is so important, we walked to the market so I could show him what he's been missing. Even he was impressed with the abundance and variety of produce. Do you know what an aprium is? It's a cross between an apricot and a plum, looks like an apricot but tastes more like a plum. We also saw small green fruit, very sour, about the size of a gumball, that originally comes from Iran. They also had beautiful local strawberries grown with no pesticides. Of course lettuce, tomatoes, beets (in several different colors), peppers, squash, and dozens of other veggies were all there and reasonably priced. I was even able to get dried persimmons, one of my favorites, but hard to find.

We all spent our $10 (the amount recommended to spend weekly to reduce our carbon footprint) at the local farmers market and came home with some new and interesting tastes to try. Saving money, eating healthy, and helping our planet. This is a habit worth keeping.