I got:
- Sweet corn
- Yellow tomatoes (low-acid)
- Garlic - next time I may have to get our year's supply. He figures he'll be sold out in two or three weeks. We use a lot of garlic.
- Apples - I forgot to ask the variety. My uncle usually calls them lunchbox or schoolboy apples. Probably a Mac-mix variety.
- Bunched carrots - at $1 bunch and a small one at that, I was a bit disappointed in the pricing. But until I find a better supply, it'll have to do.
- Maple syrup - The apple guy was reselling for a local producer. He had his own apple syrup. Very tasty - I may get that some time.
- Red potatoes
- A huge red onion
- One dozen eggs from happy chickens $1.75!!! Excellent!
- Peaches from Michigan - technically they're in our 100 mile radius, but I figure they drove them AROUND Lake Michigan and not through. But that's still less than the 1,500 miles that the average food travels to get to my table.
One other thing I like about the LFM, and I remember this from my selling days at the LFM - sometimes they throw in a little extra. I bought 16 ears of corn from one lady and she threw in a couple extra. The apple guy was selling a peck, or was it half a peck, of apples for $4. When I bought $2 worth, he fixed me up with more than half the measure he was using.
I mentioned the price of the eggs for a reason. I've seen the eggs at $4.00 for free-range, grass-nibblin', happy chicken eggs at a farm store. Whoa! That's a lot. I found two other places that sell for $2.25 to $2.50. It pays to shop around.
This past week I also checked on beef prices. The same $4 egg store has ground beef for $4/lb. I found two other places - the egg places - that are around $3.10/lb. That's certainly more than the $1.99/lb for ground whatever (chuck, round, beef - it's all the same to me) at my local grocery store. But for the $1 more, I'm getting grass-raised beef and I know where it comes from. Not some high density feedlot.
