We like farmers markets. Well, we do now. Until a few weeks ago, neither of us had actually shopped at one. Sure we’ve heard and read about them numerous times, but we just didn’t think that it was an option for us in Lubbock. After a few years of living here, we found out we were very wrong. But lets backtrack a little bit first.
Somewhere in the middle of our organics research, a few months ago, we read about the benefits of shopping at farmers markets. Not only do we get the freshest fruits and vegetables available to us, but we also get the extra perk of meeting the person that’s growing our food. In our case, we also get the benefit of seeing where our food is actually grown.
We don’t know about you, but we spend a lot of time eating. We eat everyday. We even eat more than once a day, but it’s only recently that we started paying attention and noticing where our food is coming from. On our journey to healthier and smarter eating, we learned about a growing movement in the US that urges consumers to buy locally grown produce.
Not only is buying local good for our community, but it also lessens the impact that we have on our environment. Our fruits and vegetables didn’t travel thousands of miles to get here, and, by staying in Lubbock, they’re not affecting the water supply. (but that’s for another post)
Now back to the present topic: We didn’t grow up on a farm, and we obviously know very little about them. During our first farmers market trip, we bought a carton of eggs along with our fresh veggies and fruit. Sounds pretty simple right? We thought so.
Much to our surprise, when we got home, we noticed that we got an egg crate full of Easter colored eggs. It was nothing that either of us had ever seen. These multicolored chicken eggs ranged from our “regular” white and brown to blue and even green. Did we mention that the farmer had to go back to the chicken coop to finish filling our egg carton before we brought it home? Definitely not something we had ever experienced before.
So like we said, we know very little about farms, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not willing to learn about them. We’ve tried some different vegetables, we’ve eaten our yummy eggs, and we’re still going back. The other perk? Absolutely better-tasting food.
What We Learned This Week 