know your farmer, know your food

Here we are in the throes of Farmer's Market season!

Have you ditched your regular veggie source for the local offers of your weekly pop up market stalls? I hope you have, because there's much to be gained from doing so!

Our local market features a wide variety of vendors -- from old fashioned crafts to artisan everything, real free range eggs and meat, and of course in-season, local veggies that haven't traveled halfway around the earth to get to you.

But aside from changing up your shopping routine and making the effort to go to the market wherever and whenever it's happening in your neighbourhood, I'm going to challenge you to have a conversation with those farmers behind the weigh-scale because they are amazing people. Running a market garden takes dedication, hard work, and an unfailing optimism few possess. Not sure what to do with those interesting greens? Or tired of the same old same old? Those vendors eat what they sell -- sometimes a lot of it if it's a bumper year or not a good seller-- so they might have some pretty creative ideas for meal prep with their produce! Plus, they spend a lot of time out in a field, talking to plants, so they probably appreciate a little human-to-human interaction. I did both those recently (had a conversation and asked for cooking suggestions) and even managed to convince them to let me help out occasionally at the sweetest little farm ever.

Fresh veg, new friends, and a chance to get my hands in the dirt. It's a win, win, win!