Finding a market to love

I have made a decision.  Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has certainly furthered my fantastical dreams of having my own homestead one day, yet with our house up for sale, our fantastical farm will have to wait :).  Our veggie garden is quaint, yet hardly a massive operation to feed four people.  So, my latest mission is this:  I must go into hunter/gatherer mode and shop for as many fresh veggies and humanely raised meats from as many local farms as possible.

A few short years ago if I had done this, we would have starved or been sick from vitamin deficiencies as you could count the number of local farmer's markets on two fingers.  Our town is changing, and now there are numerous farmer's markets that fill this city over various days of the week.  Many of the markets are spread across town, but the miles are minuscule compared to the thousands of miles grocery foods travel to our stores. 

The closest market I visit is 3 miles from my house on Saturdays.  I was thrilled to go this past weekend to find it much busier than usual, and nearly sold out!! And to my pleasant surprise, a brand new vendor has arrived--our first local yarn and fiber vendor named Heidi, along with a couple of her goats (who seemed a bit overwhelmed) from her farm!!  AND she has homeschool programs where the kids have hands-on learning classes on gardening and caring for llamas, goats, chickens, ducks, and rabbits!!!  She also has fiber workshops on wet felting, needle felting, and fiber dying!! I AM SO EXCITED!!

Anyway, sorry, I got a little carried away with Heidi the fiber lady there.  Back to my mission.  So far so good, I have had success in finding local and humanely raised chicken and pork (we don't really eat beef), local, organic and hydroponically grown vegetables such as beets, potatoes, squash, green beans, corn, broccoli, lettuce, strawberries, onions and peppers.  As much happiness as this brings me, I was even happier seeing the mass of people hovering over the bounty of locally grown food.  We are starting to "get it" around here, and that makes me smile :). 

Staunton, VA

Polyface Farms and the Frontier Culture Museum were the two stops we made in the little town of Staunton (pronounced "stanton").

Polyface, owned and family run by Joel Salatin, has received much attention since appearing in the documentary Food, Inc. . More recently, he was featured in Fresh the movie. If you truly want to know what has happened in the food industry in the last 50 years, and how it has affected our culture,  please watch these films. It takes courage to face these truths, but it is well worth the time.

Mr. Salatin was not at the farm the day we visited. He has quite an extensive speaking schedule since he became the face of successful, responsible and sustainable farming. Tucked away in the hills outside of Staunton, his farm was modest, honest, and observably hard working. It was quite clear that as much notoriety as they have received, the Salatin's have stuck hard and fast to their authenticity, making it clear that they are a"transparent" farm, and we were welcome anywhere on it.

An intern peels ground tomatoes--a hybrid of grapes and tomatoes. A tasty invention.

After leaving Polyface, we ventured to the Frontier Culture Museum in the town of Staunton. This museum offers a look into life in the early 1700's to late 1800's of families that immigrated and first settled in present Virginia, from Ireland, England, West Africa, and Germany. With mock homesteads (including live animals and gardens) from each culture, this farm museum beautifully demonstrates how the American culture arrived from the hard work and survival of these settlements hundreds of years before.

We learned about cloth making and spinning flax, oat cake and bread making, blacksmithing, farming, house building,  and early schooling. We played with handmade wooden toys, listened to live folk music while trying to learn how to square dance. We ground corn and beat down flax. We swept using simple brooms of stick and hay and we fetched water from a water well. More than anything, we learned just how much "starting from scratch" and  what "self sustaining" truly meant for these settlers 300 years ago.  We truly are a spoiled lot.

A look over the field to the English homestead.

The Blacksmith's Lodge

Making nails

Spinning flax.

The feel of wooden German shoes...

Making corn meal.

“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”~ Albert Einstein

Sometimes, something so simple, yet so very special catches my eye, inviting me to come in. And if I stop to take in that special thing, and it meets all of my expectations, I am suddenly filled with joy and awe laced with gratitude, for just having stopped at all.

That something simply special turned out to be a little grocery store just outside of Cville. Greenwood Gourmet Grocer brought more pleasure to my senses just by looking at it from the road.  But once inside, it did not disappoint with the aromas of fresh ground coffee and pastries and with visions ranging from fresh cheeses and eggs to colorful varieties of apples, to locally made jellies and preserved fruits and finally to exquisite chocolates and fine local and international wines. It was a perfect combination of the appreciation for gourmet with a deep respect for the locally grown products. As if this weren't enough, we began to hear some music coming from outside. Sure enough, two gentlemen with guitars, singing about hearts and love, were sitting on the porch on a quiet Sunday afternoon.