Thursday, April 8, 2010

Almost Forgot!

We had one very exciting outing today to the Savannah State Farmers Market. It's only fifteen minutes away and is open every day, so we decided to tootle over and check it out this afternoon. Right now, there's not much activity, but next month there's a large covered area that fills up every day with farmers and "pinhookers" (a new word I learned today). Pinhookers are produce vendors that purchase their produce from other farmers. The market has two sections, one for pinhookers and one for local farmers. Since none of the farmers are there yet, we visited the one retail produce store that is there year-round. (There are other wholesalers in the compound as well, including Nlaws, a Jewish-owned produce company from which you can buy things by the case.)

First we watched 100+-year-old machines cracking pecans (I have to get used to saying that word with a short "a"!). These ancient machines cost $5,000 to purchase today! We bought some raw honey, a bag of pecans, tomatoes, zucchini (50% cheaper than at the grocery store), cucumbers, cabbage, and apples for snacks (not local). They were offering tastes of all kinds of things (pecans - YES! pork rinds - NO!). When we were all done exploring, tasting, and purchasing, an older gentleman sitting by the tomatoes gave each of the children a $1 gold coin (!). It was very sweet, and the kids were very excited. We are really looking forward to visiting again when the farmers are in business there. Finding good produce at a good price has been a bit challenging. I'm looking forward to more options as spring really takes off!

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