Simple Pleasures

Something I've been doing this spring that I just love is taking a weekly trip to the local farmers market. To make something that is already amazing even better, I've been wearing a sun dress and carrying my own bags. I've even chatted up a farmer about his flowers and gotten a free, beautiful pot of white tulips out of the transaction.

I love visiting farmers markets because I appreciate knowing that all the money I spend is going to farmers. These are good people, and I want them to receive all that they deserve. I also love buying food directly from the people who produced it. It warms my heart to see their pride in their product. I learn a great deal about the products I buy by talking with the people who chose to plant and nurture them. I also think that our human to human transaction encourages me to buy higher quality goods and encourages the farmers to produce safe, nutritious products. It's hard to sell someone a pesticide-laden vegetable when you have to look them in the eyes, and it's hard to buy inhumanely raised chickens when you know first hand the effect your purchasing power has on the farming families struggling to make kinder choices.

So, here's to farmers markets. Here's to farming families, and here's to community gatherings. May your cupboards be full and your grocery shopping experiences heart warming.

The picture is from the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.