Roadside Farm Stands

"I would like to see people more aware of where their food comes from.

I would like to see small farmers empowered."

-- Anthony Bourdain

Fresh strawberries at a roadside stand 6-15-14

"Buy quality, buy organic, buy natural,

go to the farmers market.

Immediately that's going to increase the quality

of the food you make."

-- Michael Symon

Roadside farm stand 6-15-14

"Know your food, know your farmers,

and know your kitchen."

-- Joel Salatin

Farm stand money box 6-15-14

Sam and I drove to a roadside farm stand yesterday for fresh strawberries and rhubarb.

I love living in a place where the produce is fresh as can be from land that is in spitting distance.

Homemade strawberry-rhubarb cobbler 6-15-14

I love living in a place where people honor the "honor system" and trust their customers to deposit the right amount of money in the box and not steal all their unattended berries  -- or their money box.

I love bringing home fruit that tastes sweet as candy, and then baking it into something golden, warm and bubbly.

I love the intoxicating aroma wafting from my kitchen --  fragrantly comforting, homey and welcoming.

I love sharing a bowl of homemade strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, still warm and still fresh from the oven, with my sweet neighbor who reminds me, frequently, that strawberry-rhubarb is her favorite. I love her smile and her little pleased gasp when I tell her what's under the tin foil.

So why don't you find a farm market.

Then buy something good.

Then make something good.

Then eat something good.

And share something good.

Got it?

Good.

Fresh Strawberries. In Ohio. In March.

"'Locavore' may have been the 2007 New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year, 

but there's already been a word for those whose diets are restricted 

to seasonal items grown in their immediate area: 

That word is 'peasant.'"

-- Brett Martin

Strawberries 3-10-14

I know.

I know that out of responsibility for the environment I should shun out-of-state strawberries that are trucked into Ohio supermarkets while our own berry plants are still dormant under a blanket of snow.

I know about the damaging effects of the fossil fuels used to haul them here to Ohio from Florida, or wherever they grew.

I know I should hold out until June when the native, local strawberries are ripe, and then go pick them myself and enjoy them in season, the way nature intended.

But I also know that our friend Vera turns 86 today, which means Vera needs a birthday cake.

And I know that Vera likes strawberries.

And I know that the only way to bake Vera a strawberry birthday cake was to go ahead and buy the trucked-in berries.

Which I did.

Yesterday I baked the strawberry cake and we took it over to Vera, along with a birthday card, a party hat and some vanilla ice cream (made at a local dairy from locally-produced milk! See, the universe balances itself.)

Vera 3-10-14

And when she said she'd read a recipe for a white cake with strawberries in a magazine, and had thought to herself "Wouldn't that be nice for my birthday?" but decided not to make it because she's had the flu and was just too tired to bake ... well, I was never so glad for store-bought berries. Because nobody should have to bake their own birthday cake. Especially if they've been sick. And extra-especially if they're as dear and sweet as Vera.

If you are a hardcore locavore, forgive me. I acknowledge and respect your commendable efforts at eco-consciousness and sustainability and halting global warming. I also ask you to look at Vera's happy grin and tell me a little plastic box of Florida berries wasn't totally worth breaking the rules for.

It's a magical kind of alchemy that can turn a few red berries into a smile like Vera's.

I'll worry about my big fat carbon footprint a different day.

For today, I just feel lucky to be part of the magic.