Getting in Touch With Your Inner Farmer

There have been a couple of days this week where I went outside to the garden Mike and I planted in the fall and I picked fresh vegetables. Let me tell you…there is nothing like picking some green beans and sugar snap peas, washing them off and cooking them that evening. You just don’t get any fresher and tastier than that.

Tonight I picked some radishes and carrots for a salad. I broke off the tops and fed them to my chickens. And then it dawned on me. We’ve really got a good thing growing in our back yard. We have beautiful fresh vegetables and wholesome, healthy fresh eggs. And we live in the city limit! Lakeland is such an awesome place to live.

I grew gardens when I was a kid. Every year my brother and I had one for a 4-H project. Mike and I dabbled with a sorry-excuse-for-a-garden a couple of years ago, but this year we really made it work. I was proud of us. And working in the garden is quite a calming experience. It’s actually relaxing to pull weeds or pick vegetables.

The more I read about vegetable gardening, the more I realize that anyone can do it. You don’t need a lot of space. You can grow tomatoes and peppers in pots. Tired of having a crappy looking landscape? Why not plant vegetables in your yard instead? People are doing it. I may do that this spring, in fact. Getting in touch with your inner farmer can be a good thing. There is no shame in some hard work and some simple pleasures received from that work.

If you just don’t have the wherewithall to try gardening, I recommend buying produce locally. Lakeland has the Downtown Farmers Curb Market every Saturday morning at the corner of Kentucky Ave. and Pine Street. Then there’s the Lakeland Farmers Market on Swindell Road, just off Memorial Blvd. in West Lakeland. There’s also a great produce section at International Market World in Auburndale. If you’re up for a little drive, Plant City has the Country Village Marketplace, where I bought some amazing-tasting strawberries this week.

Gas prices have reached record lows lately, but it doesn’t seem to be having any effect on the prices of food. So why not buy food grown locally that doesn’t have the fuel costs built in, driving up the price of things? I think you will be glad you did.

This may seem like an awfully simple, kind of hokey post, but sometimes I just get the feeling that Lakeland Local needs some levity. Today was one of those days.

photo credit: hddod