On Saturday we got up early to go to Lexington for grocery shopping. We got up at 6:00 AM, and wee on the road just after 6:30. We had breakfast on the road, so we could get to our first stop early.
The first stop was the downtown Lexington Farmer's Market. We planned to buy several items from the farmer's market, and managed to get most of what we went after. We came away with 20 lbs of Roma tomatoes, a basket of peaches, some ground beef, a few Jalapano peppers, and some Chipotle Cheddar cheese spread. We had planned to buy some butter and a few dozen ears of corn, but unfortunately were not able to find those items.
While at the farmer's market we talked to the owner of the Boone Creek Creamery, located in Lexington. Prior to talking with him I didn't realize there was a cheese maker in Lexington. We didn't buy anything, but will likely visit their store at some point. The cheese is expensive, as it is an artisan cheese, but I would like to try it.
Our next stop after the farmer's market was the Weisenberger Mill in Midway. Andrea buys her flour almost exclusively from the mill, but often she buys it from grocery stores that carry it. Occasionally, though, she likes to go out to the meal, especially when she has a large order. On this trip we bought a 25 lb bag of all-purpose flour, a 5 lb bag of bread flour, two 5 lb bags of biscuit mix, and some packets of hush puppy mix, fix batter, and cornmeal muffin mix.
After the mill we went in search of the Fayette Seed Company, which a former co-worker had told me about. I was looking for a source of blood meal and bone meal, and Andrea wanted to look at seed starting supplies. We ended up buying a 4 cubic foot bag of perlite and an 8 lb bag of blood meal. Andrea will use a small amount of the blood meal in her potting mix, but the majority of it will likely be used in the compost when I need to add a nitrogen source and do not have manure available.
Since Fayette Seed Company is next to a tractor dealer, we stopped in there to see if they had any used tractors that we might have an interest in. They didn't have anything that matched what I'm interested in. We did, however, look at a couple of new Kubota tractors, but those are a bit more expensive than what I'm hoping to pay if we do decide to buy a tractor.
After a quick lunch we decided to check the other Lexington Farmer's Market location to see if anyone there had the type of corn I was looking for. Unfortunately, no one there had my preferred variety either. The past two years we have put away a yellow variety of sweet corn called Incredible. Last year we had a lot of trouble finding it, so I was prepared to buy some Bodacious this year if necessary, as I've been told that it is very similar to Incredible. Most people seem to sell either Silver Queen or one of the bi-color varieties. I ended up buying a dozen of the Ambrosia bi-color, to see if I like it. If I like it well enough, I might end up just buying that type to put away this year. Hopefully next year we can grow our own and this won't be an issue.
After finishing up at our second farmer's market of the day we dropped by the fabric store to return some extra fabric Andrea had from making my window covers. We then went into the Re-Store to look for some pieces of lattice that we might use for the trellis for the herb garden. They didn't have anything, which is probably good since we ended up having a truck load of other stuff by the end of the day anyway.
After the Re-Store we went to the Good Foods Market, to do some heavy grocery shopping. This weekend they were having one of their quarterly owner's discount days, during which members of the co-op get a 10% discount. We always try to stock up during ODD. This visit to the co-op was the most expensive trip yet. We really stocked up on some of our regular items. We bought several pounds of chicken breast, a few pounds of ground bison, a pound of ground elk, and a couple tuna steaks. We also bought 15 lbs of pasta, and varying amounts of bulk dry goods, such as oats, brown sugar, popcorn, and rice. Andrea also used the trip as an opportunity to replenish her spices, with several spices from their bulk spice section. We bought several other items that aren't coming to mind right now, but I think the items I've mentioned provides a general idea. We finished the visit up with a 40 lb case of bananas, which Andrea had requested ahead of time. The nice benefit of requesting a case of something ahead of time is that the market can be sure they have the inventory on hand, and the customer gets an extra discount.
We made a couple of more stops after leaving Good Foods, including a stop by the liquor store to pick up a bottle of Vodka and one of Everclear, which Andrea will use in various ways around the house. We managed to make it back home by around 6:00 PM, leaving us time to get the truck unloaded well before dark. Leaving early was definitely a good idea, since leaving just a couple of hours later would have left us unloading the truck in the dark. Overall it was a long, but very productive day.
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