Local goodies

I have been frustrated the last couple of weeks that Neil has had to teach on Saturday mornings, preventing us from going to the Bardstown Road Farmers Market. Yesterday I did some research and found that there's one on Sunday afternoons at Rainbow Blossom! (Just right for Lisa Lazybones. ;) It's open from 12:00 to 4:00 and they even take debit/credit. Hooray!

This market isn't as big as the one on Bardstown Road, but the selection is still ample. Pictured above is our booty. Why yes, this pescatarian will eat beef, if it's locally produced! Those patties were from Dutch Creek Farm, the same place we get our eggs from, which is not even an hour outside Louisville.

Dinner tonight was cheeseburgers made with that meat and topped (of course) with slices of tomato. We also had corn on the cob and a peach for dessert. And it was fantastic, all of it. Good god. Everything was so much more flavorful than it would have been if we had gotten from Kroger, and we got the added satisfaction of knowing that we supported local farmers and did something environmentally sound.

As a (suburban) child of the 1980s, even though I grew up knowing intellectually that produce comes from farms, in practice I didn't really think much about it coming from anywhere besides the grocery store. I also never had any concept of seasonality, since at the grocery store most things are available year-round, whether they should be or not. Produce was just one more static grocery item to buy, like cereal and soap and canned goods. Having spent most of my life feeling so utterly divorced from the origins of my food, every time I eat something local, it feels a little magical. This stuff was grown in the soil of the state I live in. It was not produced in some huge industrial operation across the country or across the world and shipped hundreds or thousands of miles to reach me, cosmetically perfect and perfectly flavorless. (I can't lie; the peach we ate tonight was ugly. I never would have bought it at the store. But it was also the best peach I've eaten in years.) No, this food is part of my geography, and, by virtue of the fact that it grows here, is meant for me to eat it. Not to get too precious or self-righteous or ridiculous, but it kind of makes my soul happy to eat this way.

So go! To the farmers markets, and to the restaurants that serve local food! Enjoy the bounty of these waning days of summer. Re-remember or discover for the first time what produce is supposed to taste like. You won't be sorry.