The garden reminds me to be still. To feel.
It is there that my mind is cleared of the fog and chaos that builds up from too many hours spent staring at a screen. With my hands in the soil, my elbows brushing bean pods as I yank green weeds from around the pepper plants I learn to feel, so that I can think again.

It was just another thing on my to-do list. One that I wanted to be fun, but instead my busy schedule and lack of time left a dark shadow hanging over it in my mind–Berry picking.

The kitchen teaches me patience, and preserving food is a lesson in delayed gratification. And when my boys watch me milling about–sometimes with my hair tossed in a messy pony tail and still in my pajamas–pacing from the counter to the fridge to the garden to the trash can to the table and back to the counter working on countless food projects at once–they see something beyond the mess.

The best way to get the most out of your experience at the Farmers’ Market is to befriend the farmers you are buying from. There is an art to shopping at the Farmers’ Market, and mastering that art is an adventure in itself! It all starts with asking the right questions; here are 5 important questions to begin with!

The Farmers’ Market offers a fun, educational, hands-on shopping experience while giving us the opportunity to support our community of farmers; as well as buy fresh, local ingredients at affordable prices! Check out today’s post where I share 7 Simple Ways to Shop With Confidence at Your Farmers’ Market!

Shopping at the farmers’ market was not easy for me; not at first, and it did not feel natural. It was a very different shopping experience then I was used to. I was used to walking down sterile aisles with too many options of too many processed foods, and next to no interaction with another human being besides offering my answer to “Paper or plastic?”