Yesterday's Purchases, and Last Night's Dinner

As I said yesterday, I had $49 to spend at the Cleveland Clinic Farmers Market yesterday afternoon. Here's what I bought:

- 4 tomatoes, 1 zucchini, 2 pattypan squash, 2 cucumbers, 1 green pepper, pint of sugar snap peas - $12
- 2 bunches of fresh herb pasta - $3
- 1 loaf of multigrain bread - $4.50
- 2 heads of fresh field lettuce - $5
- 1 large bucket of apples - $6
- My splurge items (but so delicious and totally worth the money): 1 quart each of cherries, blueberries and golden raspberries - $16

Grand total: $46.50

When you think about it, this is a lot of loot and will go a long way. Berries are always the most expensive, but the veggies are very reasonably priced. I'm going to do a price comparison at some point to find out how to get the most bang for my buck (and to try and debunk the myth that shopping at the farmers market is much more pricey than at the grocery store!)

Last Night's Dinner
My birthday was yesterday, and my parents arrived from Cincinnati. We decided to have a cookout. On the menu was:
- Burgers: ground beef from herdshare, local swiss cheese from Heinen's, chicken patties from Tea Hills Farm (they have the best chicken patties!), and buns from Breadsmith
- Tossed salad (with fresh veggies from farmers market)
- Local roasted potatoes
- Broccoli salad (not local, from Heinen's, purchased by my mom)

I was excited to see that my parents are supportive of our 100-mile diet. I'm not surprised though, since they really are the ones who instilled my values in me. My dad grabbed some milk out of our fridge this morning, it's Hartzler Farm milk in a glass bottle, and he said: "Wow, I haven't seen a glass milk bottle in a long time. Looks like we're 'catching up with the Amish'." "Catching up with the Amish" is one of my Dad's favorite phrases - he really admires their culture and lifestyle, and he thinks that we would be a lot happier as a people if we were more like the Amish. I can't wait to visit our herdshare Amish farmers in September to see if my Dad has been right all along!