Farmer's Market teaches Seasons to Kids (and keeps them healthy!)

We like Sunday mornings here in Mar Vista. Every week we walk over to our local farmer's market. I can remember what life was before we had fresh picked lettuce and fresh laid eggs available a few blocks from our doorstep. I was raised with frozen spinach in a box. It was the most disgusting, slimy, inedible stuff I'd ever seen or tasted! And even now, when I go to the "super market", I pick up a tomato and wonder where it was born, how many chemicals are in it and how long it sat in a truck before it got into my hands. I appreciate all the people who worked hard to get that tomato to the super market, but there's no question that I'd rather eat the one radiating vitamins that was picked this morning, an hour away from home.

Anyway, how lucky my girls (2 and 4) are to "know" fresh food. We wander, looking , tasting and smelling the wonderful summer fruits and veggies spread on the tables at the farmer's market, or as we call it The Crepe Market. There is a french man there, Tierry, who whips up these delectable crepes. Sugar/Lime is now Delilah's favorite. The colors of the market are always breathtaking... it's like a party for the senses and Hannah likes to touch everything - which is OK! (But not in Italy! Once I got slapped for touching a cucumber at a market!). We also get a great sense of seasonal change as we explore every week. For example, the peaches will only be GOOD for another 2 or 3 weeks, says the farmer who grows them. Oh how those white peaches have gottem us thru the summer, kept us cool and hydrated... and the yummy fresh peach yogurt we made with our wedding present ice cream maker. Alas... seasons change, fruits change, but last week we saw something REALLY exciting.... a few small pumpkins in a pile, glowing in the sun, calling us toward the fall and saying, "BOO!"