I love farmers’ markets, but despite the plethora of them in Austin, I admit I’m a lazy about getting out to them. With all of the HEB locations, opened way more hours, I end up choosing convenience over awesome, sustainable, always-local food.
My friend Amanda just moved to Austin, and texted me on Monday asking if I’d scope out one of the many farmers’ markets. We both have commitments on Saturday, so I suggested we hit up the Wednesday evening market in the Triangle.
The Triangle market is smaller than the big Saturday markets, so we were done with our shopping fairly quickly. But although we didn’t browse for long, we came away with some delicious finds. I splurged on a pound of wild hog ribs (I love wild game, and farmers’ market meat means I don’t have to worry about factor farming — totally worth the price). I also came home with a large box of okra, some delightfully savory Italian peppers (one of which wound up in my omelet this morning), and eggplant. I’m looking forward to fried okra, and also to doing something with the ribs in the slow cooker.
After we finished, we sat in the shade and talked for a while, and came up with the idea of visiting all the area farmers’ markets this summer. Here’s what’s in store for us over the course of the next few months:
- The downtown market
- The Sunset Valley market
- The east side market
- The Barton Creek market
- The Burnet Road market
Those are the farmers’ markets in Austin proper. And if we get through all those, we can also check out these:
- The Georgetown market
- The Texas Farmers’ Market in Round Rock
- The Texas Farmers’ Market in Cedar Park
- The Pflugerville market
It looks to be a summer full of great food and buying local. I can’t wait to explore.
Poetry and Practice 