Farm fresh foods

 Today, I dedicated the morning to just being outside and it was so nice to take it slow. I started with some nice banana pancakes, journaling outside, a nice walk, and ended with a trip to the local cowtown farmers market. I had never heard of it before my friend brought me here and was so glad she did! I have always had a weird stigma in mind of people that go to farmers markets are hippies and free-spirited(not a bad thing just definitely not me). I think so often, I and a lot of people I know get out of touch of nature and appreciation for where everything comes from. Everything is so quick, easy, convenient, and fast. Enjoyment gets put on the backburner while productivity gets put as priority above all else. Going to the farmers market reminded me of all the hard labor that goes into the quick, packaged fruits and vegetables at the local Kroger or the fan-favorite trader joe's. I forget to be grateful for the privilege I have of access to food so this experience was a great reminder to be thankful for all the kindhearted, hardworking, and friendly people like the ones I met at the market who take pride in their vegetables and care about the quality of their produce. After my experience, I researched a couple reasons why people shop at the farmer's market and found some interesting findings I never realized because I had dismissed it in the past since it is more expensive and not as convenient. Not only is it great for the local economy, stimulating preservation of farmland and rural livelihoods, increasing access to fresh food, and supporting healthy communities(America definitely needs this one), it is also great for nutritional reasons. Farmers markets only have seasonal, fresh, and ripe produce. This increases your overall health because supermarkets do offer larger variety but at the cost of picking food before it has ripened, decreasing nutritional value. The food is also safer because of less exposure to industrial settings, preservatives, and chemical packaging. There are fresher fruits and vegetables because the food was likely picked recently rather than weeks before and stored in a chemical environment. The stands introduced me and my friend to a lot of fruits and vegetables we had never heard of. We ended up buying lemon spinach and chopping it up for our salads! This experience overall made me feel inspired to overall take life slower and appreciate everything rather than ignoring the labor put into making everything happen. I definitely do not have these slow mornings enough, but they left me feeling much more energized and in a better mood. 


This is a picture of Suli who showed us the purple okra, swiss chard, mint, basil, lemon spinach, radish, and peas she had and how she likes to prepare it in her meals! This farmer's market was in the park I had a nice walk in:)

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