Since getting married, Mike and I have made a trip nearly every Saturday morning to our wonderful farmer's market. We fell in love with the sense of community, actually meeting the people growing our food (and getting to know them - I have secret crush on the Amish farmer grandpa who we get our eggs from), and just getting to make a normal shopping trip an experience (when you're broke, young newlyweds, you have to think of creative ways to have fun!). Not to mention - the whole locally-grown, organic benefit. The average food travels 2,000 miles before it gets to your table -- when we buy from our farmer's market, it comes from within a 100 or so miles, saving tons of carbon dioxide from the air. Plus, it's fresher!
I'd rather buy from the 2nd Street Market than a huge corporate grocery chain. I know my money isn't going to some distant CEO and executives. For us, it makes more sense and makes us feel good about our food choices to buy from the market. Find your closest market here.
There are also always local handicrafts and restaurant booths set up at our farmer's market. Just another way to try and support local business. My personal favorite is Caffeine - the all fair-trade, organic, and shade grown coffee shop. Plus, they give you 10% off for bringing your own coffee mug! And they're WAY more affordable than Starbucks. *sigh* Is it Saturday yet?
PS: Mike and I just got back from babysitting 15 (FIFTEEN!) kids. Don't we deserve an award?! :)
Oh, I am so excited to read this blog. I just threw out all our household cleaners in favor of Method products. I'm doing cloth diapers about 80% of the time, trying not to use paper towels for EVERYTHING (same with baby wipes), getting rid of the bad plastic... I'll be interested to hear what you guys are doing.
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