Save money on food, buy from the farmer

Here in Horicon, we've had a bustling little farmer's market for the past few years.  Local growers love to come to Horicon because we chose to run on a day that doesn't compete with other local markets, we charge a very modest fee, we allow weekly rental space instead of forcing producers to lock in all summer, and we strive to support our market with entertainment and classes.

As one of the people who has worked to help develop this market, I try to buy something from every vendor on a regular basis.  You know what I've noticed?  I spend less on my groceries if I get a significant portion of our food from the farmer's market.  I thought it was just me, but here's an article that backs up that observation:

http://grist.org/news/farmers-markets-stand-to-benefit-the-poor-the-most/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=update

There are several tricks to making this work, and maybe this is why the budget stretches a little more:

1)  Base your menu around what is in season.  Strawberries have a very narrow season here in Wisconsin.  So for those 2 or 3 weeks when strawberries are in, they will be on the menu several times.  By the end of strawberry season, my fam may be sick of strawberries.  But that's o.k., because only frozen strawberries are likely to be on the menu for the next 50 weeks.

2)  Know the storage life of your veggies, and only buy what you can use before it goes bad.  Radishes can keep in the fridge for a long time.  Lettuce, not so much.  If you buy two heads of gorgeous looking lettuce, you better have in mind how you and fam are going to eat all that.  On the flip side, if you know you only need five ears of corn this week, just buy five.

3)  Preserve what you don't eat.  This is something I've been turning to more often in the last year.  If I do accidentally overdo it by buying, oh, let's say, 20 pounds of apples one week (it seemed like a good idea at the time!), in years past, some of that would have gone to waste.  But I've since learned to do small batch canning, and we have a freezer.  This year, those extra, uneaten apples turned into three quarts of apple pie filling.  I can whip up an apple crumble in about 20 minutes as long as there are graham crackers in the house.  It works for small quantities too.  If I don't use up that fresh rosemary that cost $1.50 a bunch (a bargain, I assure you), it dries just fine and still tastes better than the stuff at the grocery store.

4)  Ask your farmers what they're bringing next week.  One of the great things about going to the same farmer's market week after week is that you get to know the producers.  At first it can be a little daunting.  But by mid-summer, you're old friends, and you feel perfectly comfortable saying "Hey Jerome, whatcha bringing next week?"  They are happy to tell you, because you are letting them know you are likely to be a repeat customer next week.  And now you have some information that helps you plan your menu.

As the snow flies (again!), we are already planning for spring and summer.  Later today I'll be working on the greenhouse watering schedule.  The farmer's market manager, the activities manager, and the volunteer coordinator have all been busy, and most of the slots for all the various activities have been filled.  Pretty soon I'll inventory the first aid bag.  It may look and feel like winter outside.  But we have summer on our minds.