Gratitude

On Thursdays I shop for our produce, and a few other items, at Outer Aisle Foods. Outer Aisle is the creation of our wonderful local organic growers Eric and Christine Taylor. They have been growing and selling organic vegetables in the Murphys area for many years. A couple of years ago they created Outer Aisle to expand the offering available in the area. Now, year-round, they sell their produce as well as other items that they have located from growers and producers in about a 200-mile radius. They offer a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription program, so we pay in advance each season and then just shop for what we want in the store. Today I came home with brussel sprouts, beets, watermelon radish, oyster mushrooms, pink lady apples, meyer lemons, oranges, carrots, onions, garlic, artichokes, and the yummiest Medjool dates that I am totally addicted to.

They also sell some gardening supplies and seeds, other groceries like rice, beans, nuts, honey, eggs, some dairy products. And they offer occasional workshops on gardening or food preservation. We're going to a workshop at Outer Aisle this Sunday on growing grains and dried beans.

AND, this afternoon I harvested the first shoots of broccoli that we have ever grown in our garden! We will eat them for dinner, along with potatoes from Eric and Christine's garden. (I didn't need to buy them today, because we got a 25 pound bag a while ago.)

And Penny has just finished digging out the spot for our new garden bed. It has been another lovely, springish, sunny day. So much to be grateful for!

By the way, "Outer Aisle" is named for the outer aisles of the grocery stores where the healthy foods are - the produce and the meats. Since we also have a goal to reduce packaging and waste, that's where I attempt to do most of the shopping. I'm trying to limit the number of items that come packaged, but there are a few that feels like we have to have them. Probably the most packaging comes from all the cans of cat food to feed five cats!