Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Farmer's Market Food

Admission: Not only have I never counted calories, I'm not even sure how to count calories.
Or why people count calories.

I don't know what transfats are.
or saturated fats.
or, really, regular ol' fat.

That being said, I read the labels on my food. Not the top part, where it lists the percentage of daily sodium or glucose or whatever it lists (because it means nothing to me) but the bottom. The ingredients.
I try not to buy things that have ingredients I don't recognize.
Of course, this isn't fool proof, because sometimes a woman just needs graham crackers and it doesn't matter that I've never heard of the things on the side of the box.
But for the most part, I try to eat things sans labels.
Because fruit doesn't have nutritional facts printed on the side.

I think I'm a pretty healthy eater.
And I say that despite the fact that we regularly have homemade cookies, cakes, and pies (and all other manner of desserts) piling up on the counter and in our bellies.
Because I'm a pretty firm believer in making real food. From ingredients I pick out myself.
I think that it's okay for me to eat an entire strawberry rhubarb pie by myself if I also picked the rhubarb from my mother-in-law's garden, and bought the strawberries at the farmer's market and made the dough myself.
I know the exact amount of butter, salt, sugar and anything else that goes in. No surprises.
And no chips ahoys around here. We only gorge ourselves on the real deal.
Homemade cookies all the way.

Pictures from Saturday's trip to market, to market.

Besides my family, food is my favorite thing in the world. (okay, tied maybe with books - and cookbooks are the best of both worlds!)
I do not understand people who think of food only as fuel. (Which is maybe why I've had a hard time eating enough to keep up with breastfeeding.)
But this is a long way to say: the best thing about Provo in the summertime is the Farmer's Market.
Because you're getting good, fresh healthy food that's local and in season and often cheaper than the grocery store, despite being completely organic.
I dream about Farmer's Market eggs in the winter.
For real.
I just can't eat eggs unless we've bought them from Ralph Steele, because no other eggs are delicious.
It's worth 3$ a dozen.
I would pay more.

Travis and I became friends with many of the farmers last year and visited their homes and gardens and fields.
It was a really neat experience, and it gives me a real relationship to my food.
If I have a butternut squash, which I picked straight from the vine at the Garden of Stephen, I'm not just poking holes in it and shoving it into the oven.
I peel it, dice it, roast it and bake it into a delicious cake because it's a special piece of fruit.
And it repays me by being beyond delicious.

And if you live in the happy valley area of Utah, and would like to "accidently" bump into the boys and I - I promise that we will be at the Farmer's Market early morning every single Saturday. (Think 9 or 10am).

Oh, and here's a video of Ralph Steele that Travis made last year as an ad for one of his projects called The Conservation Conversation.


Farmer's Market Farmers- Ralph Steele from travispitcher on Vimeo.
Yeahh... this video may be all that resulted from said project. (So far...)


.

6 comments:

Claire said...

Becky! I'm so jealous you found eggs and produce at the farmers market last week! Where were those stands? I think the new organization threw me off a little bit. I heard they were trying to mix everything up this year.
Anyway, I left the market last weekend produce-less and farm-fresh egg-less, which was my main purpose in attending. Please share how you found those fresh delicacies!

Becky Pitcher said...

The only produce we found were radishes, lettuce and spring onions (since nothing else is really in season) and they were at stands along 600 west.
We bought the eggs from Ralph and his stand is on the corner (I think) of 100 south and 600 west. He doesn't have a big sign, and he usually sells out quickly - which is why we go early in the morning. He's right by the little taco cart...

Brittany said...

Umm... I'm coming. I would like nothing more than to attend a farmer's market with you and the boys.

MARCIE said...

Hi Lauren! I hear you are up tonight!

Jen said...

So, I was going to comment about the fact that squash is actually a vegetable, but I looked it up just in case.

And you know what? (of course you do since you wrote the post) Squash is technically a fruit.

Well.

You learn something new every day.

DaniGirl said...

How do you get eggs from Ralph Steele?? I LOVE eggs, and want some!