Support your local farmers - a healthy and wholesome MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’ve mentioned before that I live in an area with lots of Amish. And lots of them are farmers. There are also lots of non-Amish farmers. But one thing many of them have in common is the roadside produce stand. And this is the time of year when they return to their familiar corners and pull-offs.

Just around the corner from me is the Strawberry Lady. That’s not how she labels herself, because later in the season, she’ll be out there with 'maters and stuff. But the first treat in Southern Md are the strawberries. The going rate is $4 - $4.50 per quart and while that’s as much as double what you pay in the grocery store, it is truly worth it. They’re LOCAL berries, not trucked in from who-knows-where. And they’re worthy of purchase and adulation.

The cornfields are all planted and the little green shoots range from a couple of inches to over a foot, depending upon when they went in the ground. Last year, we had fresh corn as early as June, although July is prime time for corn. I pass a stand on my way home from work where an Amish farmer sells his products. Corn, 'maters, cukes, greens, melons, onions, squash, and other stuff I’m forgetting, plus sometimes honey, and baked goods, and flowers. Again, it’s a bit pricier than the grocery chains, but how can you put a price on yummy??

We’ve got the Farmer’s Market next to the Charlotte Hall library, the flea market that has many booths with fresh veggies, the guy who sets up his cart next to that social club on Three Notch Road, the Amish farm across the street and a bit north of him, the family around the corner from the motocross track, and the ones down by the auction barn… and probably many more that I don’t know about. Oh yeah, and since we’re near the Chesapeake Bay, we’ve got the crabbers and oystermen and fishermen selling their fresh catch.

I know not all of you are as fortunate as I am to live is such a heavenly area, but I hope you support your local farmers. If you’ve never stopped at a roadside stand, you owe it to yourself to do so. Like I will later today when I go back to the Strawberry Lady - I gave **FCD **the last of the berries in his lunch.

*mmmmmmmmmmmmmm *- strawberries…

2

Great OP, FCM. I grew up in Kent which is known as the garden of England, we were surrounded by farms and they all had ‘pick your own’ fields so in the summer us kids got sent off to do just that. We would come home with ‘mater and all sorts of summer berries as well as salad veg that they sold in the farm shop - we never really had the roadside stands at all but it is very common to find farm shops around the place. Now I live in the city and we don’ thave so much fresh produce locally but at work we have a fruit and veg stand on campus that sells things from local farmers, and I get a box of organic veg every week that travels from a farm about 20 miles away.

I have fond memories of picking vast quantities of strawberries in the summer and helping mum make jam with them, and having the fruits of our labours to last us through the winter.

3

Our market opened last Wednesday. It’s a nice little market with produce (in season), baked goods, all kinds of meat, cheese and eggs, and fresh flowers. It’s too early for most produce (we had a VERY snowy winter and a fairly wet and chilly spring), but there is meat, cheese, and whatever people grew in greenhouses. We have traditions: The sprog is always with me, and he always goes right for the bakery for a whoopie pie and dessert. We get something for dinner, and we usually get flowers. Sometimes, we get cheese, but not always. The sprog also likes to stand at the hot-sauce table and snarf up their tortilla chips that they use for samples, even though I tell him not to. It’s stuff like this that you remember, y’know?

In terms of farm stands, there is one between Carlisle and Shippensburg that is owned and run by a family. The father, who is quite elderly, mans the stand some days. He’ll sit by the stand and wave at passing cars. I’ve only stopped there once, for tomatoes and cantaloupe, which were pretty good.

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**BooFae **- we’ve got the pick-your-own places around here, too. I’ve never done that, probably because I’m lazy… heh. OK, if my kid was a young 'un, I’d take her picking, but she’s 24 and not at all into the whole veggie garden thing.

I do have vague memories of going to an apple orchard when I was a kid and gathering our own apples, but I think we just did that once. Something tells me with 4 or 5 kids, my mom didn’t get a lot of enjoyment from the pick-your-own experience! :smiley:

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Strawberry season? Over… it’s too hot already. But they’re still selling for about $3 a quart (or possibly a bit more than a quart; them’s big containers) at the local supermarket – but all the produce is all local anyway, what with the country being the size of New Jersey :smiley:

Roadway stands are even cheaper.

We’re starting to get good watermelons and grapes now, also dirt cheap. Veggies and fruit in general are plentiful, good quality and low price here. One of the few real perks of living in Israel…

Don’t get me started on the price of meat, though :rolleyes:

6

:hangs head:

I don’t like most vegetables and fruits. :o

Normally, I like baked potatoes but the ones that are baking in the oven downstairs right now stink* and are making me nauseous and giving me a headache. Yuck.

*There’s nothing wrong with them. I guess it’s just too early for my nose and stomach this morning.

Hi Noonie!

7

Up, caffeinated, off to irk.

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Da bear is home safe and sound. I knew y’all would worry. :smiley:

I lurves our local farmers and produce places! I have picked strawberries this year and may go again. I’d like to this weekend if it’s nice enough. There are a plethora (love that word!) of produce stands plus we have two local farmers markets and about 30 miles away the big state farmer’s market where I get a lot of the beans, squash etc that I “put up” every year. It will soon be melon season which means watermelons, canteloupes and honeydew melons galore and cheap! NUM!

I with MOOOOOOM on this one. Support your local farmers! They do good things.

In other news it’s rainy and ick out. It may clear up. Or not. That’s what the weather forecast says.

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I am feeling 50% better so am at work this morning.

I’ve picked about every veggie known to North America at one time or another and loved the summer veggie stands up nawth. Down here we have strawberry and corn festivals and there are veggie stands pretty much year round.

sticks, you need to eat your veggies to grow big and strong. Popeye knew a thing or too!

Tupug

10

Blurf.

Working on the weekend tale, since GT demanded it yesterday.

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My wife and daughter recently spent time at a local strawberry grower’s ‘pick your own’ farm. 26 pounds later they got back home and spent some time cleaning trays and trays of the wonderful red stuff. Way too much for just us three, we bagged pounds and pounds and took it to our new neighbors that had brought us Welcome Wagon gifts. They all seemed genuinely pleased.

A “wholesome MMP”… who best to deliver those goods than FairyChatMom?

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Totally into buying local. We had a CSA when we lived in California. Every week a box of produce was delivered to our door from the organic farm down the road. That was wonderful.

I don’t know how I missed the MMP this morning! I’ve been looking for you!

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It’ll be a few weeks yet here for strawberries, but I’m told there are a few good markets around town here. I moved here too late last year for much of the good summer freshness, so I am hoping to check out the local produce very soon.

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Oh, lieu, you’re so right about me being wholesome and stuff. :smiley:

And industrious, too! I’ve emptied and refilled (partially) the dishwasher, tossed the first load into the washer, and paid the medical bills from FCD’s surgical adventure. So far, we’re less than $600 out of pocket. If not for insurance, it would have been over $50K - yoiks!!! Anyway, those will go out in the mail today. In fact, I need to run to the post office since I used the last of my stamps. So I can mail and get postage at the same time. And it just happens that the Strawberry Lady is almost within spittin’ distance of the PO, not that I spit. 'Cause I’s classy and shit. :smiley:

My cleaning sisters are here. I swear, even tho they’re not twins, they sure look alike! It’s kinda eerie! It’s also nice to have them doing the grubby stuff I hate - like scrubbing the bathrooms and dusting and doing the kitchen floor.

I think I’ll assume the crochet position - I got the first afghan assembled yesterday and all it needs is some edging. Then I can assemble the second one, and I’ll post pics. I also decided to make an afghan for Daughter’s friend who’s mega-preg - she’s due next month. I’ve got some pretty multi-color yarn that’s really soft. And I know which knit pattern I’ll use. It’s easy and really pretty.

That’s all for now. Time to do… something…

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What is the value of buying local?

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Support local business that contribute to the local tax base.

Less energy involved in transportation of food is environmentally prudent.

Local farmers tend to be smaller farms so don’t employ industrialized farming practices that have been shown to have negative impact on food variety and quality (such as the rise of acid tolerant e. coli)

Often tastes better as it can ripen longer since it doesn’t need to ve shipped.

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There has been enough ‘lousy’ this morning to last me all week. :dubious:

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Oh no. :frowning:

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I love stopping at local fruit and veggie stands. We also have several farmers markets around here, and finally, of course, there’s Pike Place Market if I go to Seattle (which is rare, actually).

When I was a kid, we used to go to the local u-pick strawberry places. Also, I picked strawberries and blueberries for pay as a kid.

I saw some very sad and horrifying news yesterday on one of our local news stations. Someone I worked with here was found dead. He’d been missing a few days. He was the nicest man and always had a smile and kind word for everyone he saw. While we weren’t buddies or anything, we talked most every day, cracking jokes and attended several of the same monthly and weekly meetings. I’m going to miss him and it’s very weird that I won’t see him around.

He was a good man and a good soldier and my thoughts are really with his family and friends as well.:frowning:

Sorry to be a downer.

Lets get back to good stuff.

The first of the Copper River salmon arrived last week. I’m thinking I’m gonna get me a little so I can throw it on the grill. Copper River salmon is awesome and my favorite kind.

Well, I suppose I should dig into my work. Have a serious case of the donwannas.

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I have been permanently spoiled on strawberries since I bought the ones that the berry stand at the weekly market has – it hasn’t gotten started yet, it’s too early – because they are these little tiny things that are downright orgasmically good. I haven’t been able to eat store-bought ones every since. Yuuuuuuuum.