Today was our first Farmer’s Market visit and as I sit here eating McDonald’s, yes you heard right, not food from Old MacDonald’s farm, the kind of McDonald’s that has the fries that never decompose, I wonder where it all went wrong. I guess perhaps it all started this morning…I wasn’t feeling great and Daddy B let me sleep in with Baby C, we ended up getting up around 10:30, this is crazy late for me.
Now in a perfect world I’d get up at 10:30 and the whole family would be ready to head out the door by 11:00 right? Not with us, not only did I need to get myself around, I needed to feed Baby C, get her dressed, dress Little Miss A, and then, dum…dum…dum…Mis A’s hair….this is an entity in itself. Often times I find myself wondering why I prayed for daughters with curly hair, and I love the look when it’s all pretty and done up, but it sure does take some energy, time, and product! After all of us getting ready plus 30 minutes for two puffy piggies, we were finally out the door…at lunchtime?!?!
What were we, as parents thinking…we ended up giving Miss A a snack to tide her over. Once we got to the Farmer’s Market we were excited to check out all of the goodies we were going to score. There were a few different areas to shop around, we saw trees and plants, crafts and wood carvings, a fruits and veggies (with preserves,) and a flower area. If I could give anyone advice, when going to your first farmers market you may want to choose something a little to start off with. I for one was a little overwhelmed with all of the sellers choices, so many people had the same items and we had to stroll up and down the aisles looking for the freshest, best priced items.
Overall though we had a really great time, I learned a few things about produce, we got a chance to discuss healthy options with Little Miss A, and got some exercise, although it was pretty warm. Luckily, I have a little hand-held fan that Miss A used to keep the sweat from dripping down her face. We spent about $30 but got a great amount of food, and here it is, our bountiful harvest, $30 later, we filled our fridge with God’s Goodness!
There were some ideas of tips that came to my head while we were shopping. Now that I’m well seasoned after just one farmer’s market *insert eye roll here.* I would go back and tell myself, being a first-timer.
1. Get there early, but not too early, you’ll miss the crowds but not the late arriving sellers.
2. Bring your own reusable bags, to save from using plastic AND it’s easier to carry than flimsy plastic handles.
3. If you have children strollers are a MUST, there are a lot of adults and many opportunities for your little one to wander off, it’s a great place for your child to rest from all of the walking, plus it gives you a good place to store your finds. – Just make sure your goodies don’t outweigh your child…or everything will be on the ground (no this did not happen to us,but that would have been funny, er horrifying 
)
4. Haggle, haggle, haggle. Daddy B begs to differ with me, but I told him most things in the world you can bargain down, plus it can’t hurt to ask right???
5. In the Summer be sure to bring drinks and hats to keep cool.
6. See what is in season, and remember supply and demand when it comes to prices. Check this list to see what’s in season in NC: http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/chart.htm, if you’re not in NC check out google for the fresh finds near you.
7. Bring snacks for you and the kiddos, the fruit and veggies have not been washed, if you’re like me I’m not a believer in the “a little dirt never hurt,” saying, that’s the overprotective mommy-type A in me.
Here are a couple of pictures of the rows of preserves we had to choose from, Daddy B got us Strawberry Rhubarb, because apparently they don’t sell just Strawberry preserves…is that weird or just me?
And some yummy berries, we ended up getting 2 pints of the organic, homegrown, insecticide-free blue berries and they are tasty. That’ll be another post 
So back to how we ended up at McDonalds…well we were all starving, and in a hurry, Miss A was upon rest time, with the heat we weren’t sure leaving our new goodies in the 100 plus degree car would be a good idea, Baby C needed to nurse and we were hot and tired. So, we opted to go to McDonald’s which for some reason keeps drawing us back. At least next time we’ll be a little more prepared. Lesson learned.
Until next time, happy and healthy eating!!
