Saturday, September 26, 2009

Urban Forage (otherwise known as grocery shopping)

                          
Every Saturday Scott takes over at home, watching Faegan and sometimes he cleans the house! Relieved of my parental obligations, I head out to the city to take care of some errands.  My first stop is always the Halifax Farmer's Market where I load up on provisions for the week.  The vendor I always go to first is Selwood Green, growers of an amazing assortment of organic vegetables.  They also sell organic eggs which I always buy, but I can't wait until our chickens start laying eggs so I don't have to spend $5.50/dozen!  My next stop was to Alex's table which I think is also called Highland Farms.  He grows amazing garlic, so I purchased some so I can plant them in the garden in mid October.  I also really like Pasture Hill Farm's stand, they offer mushrooms and today they had some really nice red peppers an  d sweet potatoes.  Parcels were starting to get heavy, but I thought I would add to the load with some organic cortland apples from Boates Apple Farm.  They also make a balsamic style apple cider vinegar which I thought I'd try out seeing as we are out of the real deal.  If it is good I will gladly substitute the Italian stuff for a local product.
    Seeing as we have yet to receive our organic lamb from Bruce Family Farms, I thought I'd go for second best by passing by Getaway Farms.  They offer pasture raised meats that are really good and pretty reasonably priced. 
     
As I was walking away with 3 lovely pieces of lamb shoulder I happened to notice that there were still some fine looking organic blueberries for sale.  I picked up one pint of those because Faegan loves snacking on them.  One of my goals is to remember to pick up as much local fruit as possible while it is in season.  Fresh local fruit is only available in the summer and fall so we try to savour and enjoy it while it's here.  It will be a long winter of apple eating.  Luckily I stocked up on frozen strawberries and a few blueberries.  Unfortunately I didn't notice anyone selling boxes of organic blueberries at the market this year.  Good thing Home Grown Organics found a source for them so I know I can buy a box from them anytime I want to in the winter.  I was done at the Farmer's Market so I decided to go to Home Grown Organics and see if they had any hook and line fish available.  I support people who choose to sustainably harvest fish and seafood from our oceans.  For more information on this
     
Home Grown is a really neat little space.  Tucked in behind a residential street off Quinpool Road, they offer home delivery of organic and local foods.  It reminds me of an old school health food store, the kind I used to work and shop in growing up.  Luckily they had some pollock in stock.  I also picked up some organic local feta cheese and placed an order for a pasture raised turkey.  I have had a heck of a time tracking down an organic turkey in this province.  No one offers them.  So I emailed Home Grown and he assured me these turkeys are mostly pasture fed and their minimal feed contains no GMO's. Good thing because I really wanted to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. 
     My last stop was to Planet Organic where I usually by organic chicken.  While I was there I also got some ginger from Ontario....who knew you could grown ginger in Ontario?  And what else...oh yeah some drug free smoked turkey slices for Scott.  He isn't nearly as particular when it comes to what he eats, so although it isn't organic, I figured he wouldn't mind.  He trys to take a lunch with him to work and so when we don't have any leftovers, this will make a good sandwich filling.  
     So that was my morning.  I did make a few other stops but that was it for food..........can't wait to eat lamb for supper..

2 comments:

  1. alright you foodie... you need to disclose your grocery budget for the week. I know the garden probably reduces it, but we spend CRAZY money on food and we don't eat entirely organic. Dish.

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  2. i actually need to formulate a budget for myself....so when I do I will let you know how much I spend cuz right now it is kind of a mystery.......

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