Weekend! Now, as I mentioned before, I have been gone for most of this month. I also happen to be a huge home-body. I love to be home and to take care of my home. This is exactly the purpose of weekends. But after I came home from a long business trip, I took off three days later to see my nephew in the Great Lakes State. No nesting for me last weekend. One of the things I miss most when I am away for the weekend is going to the market.
The Rochester Public Market is the longest running, year long market in the United States. Although there are plenty of your typically shipped-in-from-the-tropics type foods (Western New York has never--not once--successfully grown a mango), there are also local producers that have veggies year-round (think: potatoes, onions, apples, cabbage, greens, etc.). I often try to avoid the Public Market in the summer because there are huge crowds. You have to go early--like, 6am early--to have some peace and quiet. Going later is sometimes an option because the vendors also drop the prices. But today, I didn't get up early, and I wanted to get my day started, so I hopped on my bike and went during the peak hour: 8:00 AM.
It was surprisingly pleasant this morning, I think due to the fact that we've had a nice cool-down over the last week, which meant I wore a long-sleeved shirt and was chilly on my bike ride to the market. Some people call that cold, I call it refreshing.
So at the market, I generally like to make a list of things I do not want to forget. This time, the list included onions and cilantro. Other than that, my plan was to shop around for deals (though I always look for organic and local farmers) and get as many veggies that I could fit in my bike for the week. We have lots of tomatoes popping out of our garden, so that was covered. I found some nice carrots with lots of greens on top, which I feed to my rabbit, Kevin. The woman was kind enough to throw in some extras, because her daughter loves bunnies and would be happy to know that she helped me out. Isn't that sweet? I thought it was. Especially when I got a great bunch of carrots and at least two servings of greens for $1.
(Note about bunnies: they are naturally herbivores! Nothing makes a vegan happier than feeding her animal friends a vegan diet. Dogs can be very healthy vegans, and some cats can as well. It takes careful planning for cats, because they are naturally meat-intensive herbivores, but it can be done. Our cats are not vegan at this point, but some cats take very well to the diet. Also, it's a good idea to check labels for your bunny food, because the companies like to put in all kinds of dairy products. I'm not sure why, but if it's a concern for calcium, they can get that with lots of leafy greens.)
This is not very much about breakfast, I know, but Public Markets are a wonderful resource to vegans who want fresh, local food and don't want to spend a fortune. I can go to the public market and spend $20 and have almost all of the groceries I need for the week. I generally get everything I can at the market--including bread, pasta, olive oil, and even coffee--and then get a few staples at our local food cooperative. I'll talk about that in the next post. But basically, it's really important to support your local farmers. I especially like to go to vendors that only have plant products. It makes me feel kind of icky buying from someone who also sells eggs (even worse when they sell live chickens!) so I try to watch where I put my money. In the end, your dollars are going towards plant products, which will encourage those sales, so it's all good. But your money speaks loudly, especially at a local market.
One side note that I'd also like to mention is that New York State food stamps can be used at the public market. You get a debit card through the Benefits program, and when you go to the market office you can swipe the card and get tokens in $1, $5 and $10 increments. I was on food stamps when I worked for Rochester AmeriCorps, and it was amazing to be able to use that money at the market. Other city markets will give you tokens as well. I think that is a great resource for low-income families who want to make smart choices about their food purchases. Often vendors would throw in extra items when I paid with food stamps--they know how hard times can be sometimes. It's so very touching.
So, in the end, I didn't really eat breakfast this morning! I had a few bites of some leftover beans and rice, and started cooking as soon as I got home. Breakfast is less important when I'm not about to do a 6-mile bike ride...
No comments:
Post a Comment