There's No Place Like..... The Farmers Market
When I moved into Portland, back in September of 2013, I was overwhelmed by the price of apartments compared to the generous offers in my small, one horse home-town. Somehow I scored what has become a temporary landing complete with a summer pool and it is walking distance to the best public transportation. However, the biggest slam dunk of all is the small, local market across the street that even has a pumpkin patch in its backyard during the fall and garden flowers during spring and summer. It provides me with easy access to local and in season foods year-round.As work, school, and homework pile up I have less and less time to experiment with the in season vegetables but my first adventure to the growers outlet was for a Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese dish. I found the idea on Pinterest and had been in the mood for some fresh squash after much talk about eating seasonal ingredients in a food ethics class. It definitely needs a second trial because it was delicious but needed to be more cared for than I had put into it.I am very fortunate to live in a city where growers work hard to bring their crops to the people. Every day of the week there is a farmers market going on somewhere in the city from spring to fall. As I have researched healthy eating, clean eating, and other various good habits over the past year I have seen a reoccurring motif: "If you buy good food, you will eat good food." If only farmers markets were available to the people then that is all people would buy and it would support the local economy.The summer before I moved here (officially) I spent a lot of time at my aunts house in Southeast Portland. We rode our bikes to the Woodstock market a few times and I fell in love. They had local hummus, baked goods, fruits and vegetables, live music, and other community booths. In the future I hope to see a growing array of fresh food markets in all metropolitan areas for everyone to access.
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