Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Ode to the Farmer's Market




It can be hard to know if you belong in Minnesota. If you only sort of like biking, don't wear hiking sandals with dresses, and go to the co-op but don't care what's vegan, locally, sustainably or naturally grown.  

Sometimes at the co-op I walk around muttering health food buzzwords like 'free range,' or 'dairy free,' or 'probiotic apple'. This way the shelf stockers won't sense that I would drive a big truck if I had a need for one (i.e. a horse trailer) and would definitely shoot all the deer before they could moronically catapult themselves in front of my big truck.


But at the St Paul farmer's market all these problems fade away. I go up and down every aisle at least once, putting together a mental shopping list, then start over and buy things from as many stalls as possible and PUT THEM IN MY REUSABLE BAGS THANK YOU.

$20 buys a literal ton of food. I get home and kale, tomatoes, potatoes, onions and apples are everywhere. It's a total panic trying to eat everything by next Sunday so I can go to the farmer's market again. Important questions come up like: 'How can I eat more vegetables?' or 'What can go in a fruit & veggie smoothie... onions?'

When I'm old I'll probably try to convince kids in Halloween costumes that farmer's market carrot sticks are just super delicious. They won't want them and I will shove carrots in their trick-or-treat bags anyway. Then I'll be the crazy vegetable lady.