Saturday Morning at the Market

So I'm going to immediately start off by saying:  Please excuse my picture overload!  I couldn't help myself!  The Farmer's Market was just so full of good energy, bright colors, and interesting people!  In every corner there was a beautiful selection of strawberries, or a unique angel flower plant that is hard to find at generic commercial super stores.  Everything looked so amazing through the camera's eye I couldn't wait to take them all home and see how the colors and shapes translated into compositions.

Supporting local businesses and producers has become quite trendy with the use of hashtags such as #shoplocal or #eatlocal, and therefore making it more convenient as well.  Greensboro has the amazing Piedmont Triad Farmer's Market that has several buildings, providing ample space for produce, shoppers, and merchants.  My favorite perk of shopping at the market, is that almost everything there is perfectly ripe and picked fresh from the garden that morning or the night before and with everything being organic, you can munch on snow peas as you shop!

At most booths you can actually talk to the person who's devoted their time to growing and harvesting the veggies you're buying.  You can ask them questions about a plant you want to buy or they can suggest their favorite recipes to enhance the tomatoes they're selling.  Having an interaction with the farmers gives a whole new experience to selecting produce and that connection adds a little more excitement for me to take my goodies home and decide what to use them for!

Beyond just fruits and veggies, our market has a vast variety or locally grown herbs, flowers, and unique plants for sale.  You can find homemade bread, jams, and wine.  There is even a honey stand and a carnivorous plant booth!  My favorite stand both in produce selection and visual display was from the Swathmoor Family Farm.  As "committed stewards of the land, animals and plants, all of which sustain us, they are trusted neighbors to our customers who value similar attitudes about sustainable living".   You can check out their great website here.   It's always uplifting to meet friendly people involved in the local community who are striving to make it a better place.  As I've gotten more excited about the local scene and in consuming more local products, it's nice to know there's a refuge like the Triad Farmer's Market that gives back and strengthens the community. 

My goodie bag, which I was so proud of myself at remembering to bring my reusable grocery bag, was filled with tomatoes, snow peas, four new little succulents, a hot pink elephant ear plant that is perfect for my shady porch, and a bouquet of vibrant fresh flowers that I spread out into five vases and spread through my apartment!  I can't wait to go back to the farmer's market next week, since I already have my eye on some homemade banana nut bread!