Grocery Shopping

I was so excited this morning when I woke up. It's farmer's market day in Auburn. I gathered up my bags and cash and headed out the door. The place was booming. The pictures show some of the stuff I bought: green garlic, leeks, kale and rainbow chard. Plus I got the first local asparagus of the season, tomatoes, Fuji apples, portobello mushrooms, a couple of kinds of cheeses plus bread and Nan from the Indian Spice seller.

Most of the tomatoes are already in my dehydrator. I'm also going to make some more tomato paste.

I talked with the guy who sold me my ten pound chicken earlier this year. He will start regular sales of chickens in late April. I am so happy. He told me he would sell me one before it's even frozen. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

There is a new egg guy too. He has 550 laying hens who are pasture raised. Well, at night they go inside so the coyotes don't get them. My pork guy had saved me the bacon he promised so I stocked up on that. Once you've had his bacon you can't go back to the other stuff.

My chicken guy, Dan Macon, says he has an intern who is raising goats for their milk and experimenting with cheeses. I volunteered to be a tester. Dan farms with mules. No tractors belching smoke on his farm. Check out his web site for pictures: http://www.flyingmulefarm.com

I'm so excited about all of this that I have to take a nap.

My friend Deborah is coming over soon to help me with a project I'm doing for Mark and Julia; it's a sleeping quilt that is supposed to be easy to make. They struggled with it so I volunteered to help and then called upon Deborah who can make anything. In return for her help we invited her and her husband for dinner: BBQ locally raised lamb, kale sauteed in green garlic and leeks, a salad that Deborah is bringing, and a coconut cream pie made at a wonderful local bakery. I really appreciate her help.