10 Farmers Market Shopping Tips

1. Arrive early to get the best of the best before it is picked over.

2. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes. The markets are usually outside so dress for the weather. If it is a sunny day- bring a hat.

3. Bring tote bags or your recycled bags to carry home your food.

4. Come with a list of seasonal items that you want to purchase.

5. Eat before you go to the farmers market to avoid over spending. Shopping while you are hungry is a sure fire way to buy extras since EVERYTHING looks so yummy!

6. Get to know the farmers-establish a relationship.

7. If you want to try something new but are hesitant, ask for a sample. Many of the growers have some of their fresh fruit or veggies cut up so you can try them.

8. See if you can get a group of people together to "order" at the same time. For example if you have 4 families and you need 20lbs of carrots you may be able to negotiate a better price than someone purchasing only 1 lb of carrots.

9. Talk to the grower if you are not sure how to prepare a particular food, they can usually help.

10. Have fun, relax and enjoy the day.

5 Kitchen Composting Ideas

Eco Friendly Ideas for Your Kitchen-Composting

In addition to being a frugal cook, by not wasting food you buy, you can compost the food "scraps" When you compost the food scraps it breaks down into a nutrient-rich mixture you can use in your home garden. Even if you do not have a lot of space to compost in your back yard, you can still compost in your kitchen.

1. Use your spent coffee grounds to fertilize strawberries, tomatoes, ferns, and azaleas.

2. If you do not drink coffee, our local Starbucks packages up their old grounds and has them available for free to any gardener who wants them for free.

3. Save the used coffee grounds for use later-Use a Bamboo Compost Pail to save your coffee grounds. The composting pails are small and look like a wooden ice bucket, they cost around $40.00. You can order one at http://www.cleanairgardening.com/. Clean Air Gardening, 2266 Monitor Street, Dallas, TX 75207, Tel: 214-819-9500 (mail order only-ask me how I know that...I live in Dallas and tried to stop by)

4. Use in indoor Kitchen Composter-compost paper towels, tea bags, coffee filters, egg shells, veggies. Costs about $200.00 http://www.naturemill.com/. It is a small trash can sized machine that can fit under your kitchen sink (in the cabinet). You add your food scraps (even meat, dairy and fish) and in less then three weeks you will have rich mixture for your gardening. This particular machine can compost up to 120 lbs per month (less to take up the landfills).

5. Compost on your porch or back yard-If you have the space in your back yard, you can build a nice compost pile and layer it with the food scraps, leaves and water. If you do not have a yard to compost, consider using a back Porch Tumbler they are about $200.00. The tumbler is about the size of a medium trash can turned on its side. You open the lid on the top to add compost materials then turn the crank on the side to aerate it.