Fresh bread and the smell of wet earth are two of my favorite smells. I unloaded Annabelle from the car, strapped her into her jogging stroller, and we made our way over to the local open air farmer’s market. White makeshift tents housed the many buckets and bins full of onions, lettuce, strawberries, apples, and herbs. Annabelle and I wove through the crowd taking it all in and scanning the selection. Our first stop was at a cookie stand where I purchased 3 large peanut butter cookies for Matt (his favorite). I then made up my mind to divide my list between as many of the stands as were there; we purchased mint, oregano, and parsley plants from one vendor, fuji apples from another, two tomato plants from yet another farmer, and then lettuce and a loaf of fresh bread from two other farmers, finishing our outing at the strawberry stand. None of the farmers could convince me to broaden my palate and add asparagus to my purchases (although sources tell me that having a flexible palate is one of the best ways to shop local). All together I spent about $35, which seems reasonable and at least equal to what I might spend on produce at Giant or Whole Foods Market.

What I am not sure of is whether or not I am supposed to haggle with the farmers. I figure that farmers and the folks selling their goods are working hard. Before I research the proper etiquette for farmers market shopping or tips on how to save money at farmers markets, does anyone have tips about the polite way to haggle? I’d love to hear how other people shop local and save money too.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Baby, Green Living, Health and Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.