On September 1st, the first day of the Eat Local Challenge, I did all my shopping at Shaw’s grocery store. After, visiting the farmer’s markets all summer and working very hard on our new lifestyle, my tired body, from all the responsibilities of a family, broke down and did an all in one shopping trip. My guilty conscious was eased when I discovered that their are many options at the grocery store though, ones I missed, since I have been shopping so much elsewhere.

This past month, raising three children developmentally all under the age of three and trying to continue eating locally has posed many difficulties. After juggling schedules around routine appontments for Lexi ranging from Boston to Dartmouth, therapy appointments, birthday parties, and a summer vacation to visit the grandparents in PA (which was great because we stocked up on pretzals and Yeungling beer), I think of ourselves as a fairly typical busy family. On top of that, we experienced numerous car repairs, which left me without a car every Thursday, the day of the Exeter farmers market - very annoying. It causes me to wonder, how did mothers in the past grow their food, and preserve it all, and watch after the little ones? Some hypothesis’s are: lots of family members around, get togethers for canning, maybe more community support. I’d love to hear what others think.

In the meantime, check out some of my favorite things:

• Farmer Kate’s Willow Pond [1] article, in case you missed it.
• Borealis Bread that Sara Zoe mentioned can actually be picked up at Shaw’s grocery store. Very cool!
• Community of people I have met since I started this venture, and I am excited to get to know the people I have met better and meet more farmers!
• Josh’s Zebra tomatoes from [2] Meadow Mirth’s farm. The word devoured, is an understatement when we discovered how good they were when tasted for the first time.
• Feeling good about the products I am buying. Not only because they are healthy, but because, my money is supporting a cause I strongly believe in on a daily basis.
• [3] Lasting Legacy farm for showing us around after getting COMPLETELY lost on the way there. And allowing us to make an order and then picking it up at Willow Pond, since it’s close by.
• [4] Riverlea Farm was also an awesome place to visit, especially with young kids. I just wish my Kousa plant produced more this summer, so I could keep making my favorite recipe with ground lamb.