Saturday mornings for me are not mornings for hangover recovery or sleeping in until 11. Every Saturday, I wake up and head over to the Oxford Farmer's Market located uptown in the Oxford Memorial Park. It totally sounds like an old person thing to do. I used to feel that way when I would go at home with my mom as a kid because everyone around me was at least 10 times my age. However the older I've gotten, the more I fall in love with every farmer's market I go to.
So here's why I'm so obsessed with the market.
THE PEOPLE
Going to the market, you are dealing with people who literally wake up at the crack of dawn just to put food out on their booth for your leisure morning picking. As a farmer at the squash booth bagged my acorn and spaghetti squash last weekend, I asked him what time he got up to pick his produce. His response... "eh 3:30, 4 in the morning." Like it was no great shake! I was stumbling in from Brick Street while he was getting up to go to his farm, some even live on them, picking my future dinner vegetables for the week! Everyone there is so dedicated to what they do and they do it because they truly believe in supporting the community at a local level, and natural produce.
THE PRODUCTS
For those of you who haven't been dragged out by your parents to your local farmer's market, you may not even know what you're missing, so I can't exactly express to you how vast the difference in quality is when you shop locally from your farmer's markets. Tomatoes are juicier, everything is seasonal and fresh, and it's CHEEPER! You can get apples, eggs, honey... anything you really need to make a homemade, good meal. They don't just sell vegetables. The market uptown, which goes on every Saturday from 9 a.m. to Noon, also sells smoothies, teas, coffees, meats, jellies, jams, flowers, baked goods, and there is even a place to get a breakfast sandwich made for you! So if you are hungover from your night at Brick, there's something worth getting up for too! Options are endless.
THE VIBES
Let's be real. Oxford isn't necessarily "country," but it has some twang to it. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing families walking uptown together, farmer's hanging out in their booths, and everyone just happy to be where they're at. Walk into a Kroger on a Monday night, then walk into the farmer's market on a Saturday morning. You decide where you come out feeling better about your purchase.
