One Local Summer, Week 8- Really? Week 8?

This week $35 dollars bought me:

• two baskets of candy plums
• one basket blueberries
• two green peppers (50 cents apiece!)
• yellow squash and a cucumber (also 50 cents!)
• onions
• six ears of corn
• potatoes
• salad greens
• dozen eggs
• smoked cheddar
• and APPLES! First apples of the season! The kids were so excited.

The farmer’s market was really crowded! I overheard someone talking about their green blog and I was dying to see who it was and talk to them, but didn’t want to lose my place in line. There were easily a dozen people ahead of me and a dozen behind- just to get to the tent! But the wait was totally worth it.

Our power was out all day, and we were out of gas for the grill. So my exciting local meal consisted of:

1. a salad with peppers and cucumber and hard-boiled egg (leftover from last week).
2. Plums (wow, those plums are good) and blueberries throughout the day.
3. Apples- plain for the kids, with smoked cheddar for the adults. The vendor who we bought the apples from cautioned us to eat them quickly, as early season apples get mealy quickly. No problems there, they were all gone two hours after I got home. We love apples.
4. Leftover potato salad from the potatoes and onions and egg from last week (but the mayo was storebought).

No pictures because it was so dark in the house.

But we were so thankful to have all this fresh food on hand, especially since I pack it all into a cooler when I leave the farmer’s market. We didn’t have to open our fridge (just once, to grab the potato salad and the jug of water) and I think that helped to save the rest of our food.

I need to come up with a better plan for when the power goes out- something that seems to be happening much more frequently these days. This business of buying large quantities when things go on sale doesn’t hold up when they are in danger of spoiling during an outtage.

Week 8! Where has the summer gone?