Life in a Farmers Market-less Whirlwind

Phew! The last few weeks have been quite the whirlwind. I have struck out on my own as a learning and development consultant and auditioned (unsuccessfully) for the Next Food Network Star. I also kept my niece and nephew for a weekend and helped one of my best friends celebrate her 40th birthday. No wonder I am worn out!

Needless to say, all of this craziness has meant no farmers market visits for the last two weeks and very little cooking. I have really missed the chance to wander through the stalls, visit with the farmers and head home with my overloaded bag of goodies. I cannot wait until Saturday! Not only will it be my first market visit in weeks, but the Downtown Austin Farmers Market is having a Julie and Julia demo and film pass give away.

Laura Kelso, local writer and founder of Dishola, and Alma Alcocer-Thomas of Fonda San Miguel will have a cooking demo inspired by the book and movie. By the way, if you haven't read the book, it's quite charming and a fun, light read. It will also make you feel good about your own cooking mishaps. Sounds like a great day to be at the market.

During my market hiatus, I did need to stock up on groceries so I decided to branch out and try The Natural Grocers which has recently opened down the street from me at 3901 Guadalupe. I had high hopes that were quickly dashed in the very small produce section.

I have always struggled with the debate over whether it is it better for your food to be organic or locally grown, knowing that ideally it would be both. Is it better for it to be organic and shipped across the country? Or, is it better for it to be grown locally, but not organically? I don't have the answer and struggle with this constantly.

I suppose my preference is local (and organic) because I think farmers are an important part of our community and economy and I want our local farms to thrive. Besides, food tastes better if you can buy it closer to the time it was picked and it didn't ripen in a shipping container. I avoid terms like locavore because I buy my fair share of bananas, but I do try to buy local as much as possible. I'd be interested in your thoughts and comments on the subject.

The Natural Grocers offers only organic food at a reasonable price, but I can tell you without question that very little, if any, of it was local. How do I know? Well, because nothing they were selling is in season in Texas. The broccoli and chard were beautiful, but, as we'd say in Amarillo, "you ain't from around here, son." They had no zucchini or okra or anything else that is local and in season.

Hmmm... Since that was my only chance to shop that week, I picked out a few things and was pleased to see the very reasonable prices on things like yogurt and black beans, but I was dismayed that they had so few choices for fresh, local food. Oh well, it would be a great place to buy vitamins.

I did make a delicious grits dish with the chard. The dish was very simple so I won't bother with a recipe, but I made grits and stirred in a big dollop of the Tomato Basil goat cheese from Made in the Shade. I sauteed the chard with garlic and placed it on top of the grits. It was a rich, flavorful and quick dinner.

I hope to see you at the market on Saturday and don't forget to mark your calendar for the Picnic in the Park at the Triangle Farmers Market on Wednesday, 8/5 at 6:30 pm.