Re: Farmers markets are a growing business.

Just returned from a sojourn where I went to a farm and picked a slew of veggies and some fruit... and am now learning how to can and preserve things.

This is absolutely the best. Racked up a ton of tomatoes today into quart jars. Picked some excellent chilis that are superior to the standard 'Hatch' chili from New Mexico which I also get every year but these chilis are sooooo much better. Picked, roasted, peeled, stored in one day. Will be doing some canning of other things in the next few days.

But have "discovered", yeah... like I was the first one ever... how great it is to work in fields, pick your everything, and carry it all the way to preserving which is an art I am now learning. Amazingly, my first canned tomatoes worked. I get how it works....

And getting to know the farmers too is everything.

Have also been receiving real ranch eggs (to say there is a difference is old news), and am in process of trying to find grass fed butter in these parts.

If one can't have a garden, this is an awesome next best thing. By picking and canning or preserving, I acquired some damn fine food that will extend for months. Costwise, guesstimated it would have run $400-$500 from a grocery store (I cannot stand going in them anymore). My cost was $50 for the produce I picked myself plus canning jars, plus some gas, and being out in the sun and walking the fields is priceless.

And having several varieties of northern lake rice from Canada and Minnesota, and I know exactly where this rice comes from as I get everything I need from the #1 family that began importing this decades ago, and the grandkids who are now the adults can tell me exactly where particular rice comes from because they would go and harvest with the native americans as part of this family business. Canadian Lake rice is beyond awesome. So have this as part of our stores. And several kinds of beans, not the least of which are anasazi beans which are farmed near the four corners area of the USA.

Plus up the road a short piece, we have several mineral springs that provide a range of mineral water.

So we're in pretty good straights with this new-found "pick your own" thing, and everything else that has been accumulated. Next best thing to just having a farm is knowing where to get it.

I know we will be feeling more energetic by eating these food staples that I KNOW where they came from and how they were farmed, instead of the empty cardboard that comes from commercial outfits. Tweet