As I mentioned last weekend, Anne & I have decided that we’re going to start patronizing the North Market every Saturday morning to purchase some grocery items for the week. We’re starting out with a $20 bill in hand each week, which may grow over time. But we figure that’s reasonable for now, and a target that I think most people interested in becoming North Market shoppers can afford.
So what exactly are we trying to accomplish? Well, it’s three-fold:
- We’re trying to make personal decisions to live more sustainably and support our local farm community. (Typically, most food in the US travels around 1500 miles from farm to plate.)
- We’re trying to eat a bit healthier and happier, and we love the world of difference between farm fresh produce and canned/frozen produce. (Although we’re not above eating that stuff too). Quality over quantity.
- We’re trying to encourage the development of social community around what is normally perceived as a chore. Many view grocery shopping as an errand and nothing more. Why can’t it be more fun? Meeting the people who grow your food. Listening to stories. Saying hi to familiar faces.
So, anyway, this morning was our first adventure out. We had a bit of trouble trying to park at the North Market (we’re looking forward to busing and walking when the temperatures climb a bit higher than 38 degrees) but I think that was due to an Auto convention at the Convention Center across the street.
After we made it inside, we decided to hit up The Greener Grocer first. They’re a new addition to the market who wants to focus on offering local products year round. Unfortunately, since they are so new, they didn’t have a lot of local products to offer yet. Their signage pointed out the items that were local and mentioned that they’re still in talks with many local farmers and would be expanding their local offerings in the next month or so. We picked up some bartlett pears, snowpeas, green beans, cherry tomatoes, an avocado, and a few other things. The only local item we grabbed was some garlic bulbs. I’m a garlic fan, so I’m looking forward to using it all week.
We only spent $14 of our allotted budget at The Greener Grocer, so we mosied over to the Blues Creek Farm counter to see what they had to offer today. Since Anne’s parents run a dairly farm near Canton, we buy some home-raised meat from time to time to fill our deep freezer. We still have a lot of pork to go through, but we did run out of ham slices, so we bought one from Blues Creek to see how it compares. I spotted that they also make their own beef frank hot dogs and figured those would be pretty tasty. They’ve got a nice variety of sausages and bacon too. A bit pricier than you’d find at Kroger or Giant Eagle, but when you know your money is going to a small family business in Central Ohio, you know that it’s justifiable.
Anyone else hit the North Market this weekend? What did you buy? What sorts of things did we overlook this week? Let me know!
I’d thought about an experiment in buying everything from the neighborhood for a month, but I think, your’s may be painful and realistic plan. Extending my walk home from work once every week or by a bit to help fill the kitchen might just work out for me, and still lets me get oreos elsewhere.
I went to the North Market today. I purchased some Kambucha tea and then three hard to find/ limited release beers from Grapes of Mirth. I spent about $27 for the whole shabang.
I’m super excited about the beers. They just got in Stone Old Guardian today and he was pricing it just as I was looking around. It is only available on limited release and in limited quantities!!!
Doh, I should have read this sooner. We went to the North Market today, but were in a hurry and didn’t really look around. I would have liked to have checked out the Green Grocer!!
Hit Lac Viet for an early dinner, got some focaccia bread at the place by the southwestern door, and also got some pasta from the pasta place, the one next to Mozarts. (Black bean is our favorite, but we also tried some gnocchi and jerk chicken.)
Welcome to the crowd. hundreds of us have been doing this for 20 years.
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Seriously though, despite the “hundreds” of current grocery shoppers, the North Market is primarily a venue for prepared food items today. If they want to cater more to the grocery-buying crowd and attract back more traditional “market” vendors, they need to encourage more grocery shoppers there, which is what I’m trying to do.
Trying to sound jaded about it isn’t going to accomplish anything.