30 Days of Gratitude: Farmers' Markets

Because I want to get back into the habit of blogging, and because I've been meaning to do this for a few years now, I will be doing 30 consecutive days of blog posts focusing on 30 different things I am grateful for.  Who says Thanksgiving is only one day a year?

Today I am grateful for the wonderful farmers' markets that exist in my community.  While the time for most fresh produce is past, this morning's trip yielded a loaf of the best whole wheat bread--the people who bake it grind their own wheat flour, so it has a ton of flavor and a great texture--as well as a ton of other real, delicious food made without chemicals or preservatives.  We also had breakfast there: sausage-egg-cheese-potato wraps (from the same family that makes our bread), apple cider that was pressed yesterday on a local farm, and doughnuts fresh out of the fryer.  Everything was delicious. I'm thankful for the farmers and local food producers who come out in the cold and rain to keep the markets going well into the holiday season, and I'm thankful that I live in a community that supports them.  I'm also thankful that I have the resources to shop there: while there are great markets very close to where I live, the bread people and the doughnut people are only at the market that's about a 20-minute drive, and I am thankful that I can get out there when I feel like it.