According to one farmer, we put our money where our mouth is…unlike some OTHER markets.

See this Atlanta Magazine video…[h/t InDecatur]

I say we challenge Morningside to a farmer’s market spending contest.  Whoever spends more on average per person gets the coveted Saturday slot.

Margaret writes in…

My car was booted along with 10 others parked in the lot across the street from the Organic Farmers Market. I’d like to warn other Decaturites against assuming that they can park after 5 p.m. in the lot on the corner of Church and Clairemont. This lot is entirely empty after 5. The man who boots the cars sits in a corner of the lot in an unmarked white Chevy sedan waiting for unsuspecting prey. I, and others, parked for a mere 10 minutes for a quick run over to the farmers market. We were charged a whopping $75 to remove the boot. The boot company picked up $750 in about 15 minutes.

I’d be interested to know if the company Peachtree Immobilization is licensed to operate in the City of Decatur and if the city has set a limit on what the boot companies can charge.

Oakie writes in…

As a newbie to the area, I am confused as to why the farmers market in Decatur is held in the rather unsightly parking lot near BofA rather than on the town square? Is this a parking or permit issue?

This is something I’ve often asked myself too.  And I’m sure there’s a reason, I just don’t know or forgot what it is.

If it wasn’t for the internet or word-of-mouth, someone could go years living in Decatur and never realize that the weekly farmer’s market even exists. Unlike Morningside, which really is forced to use a parking lot for its farmer’s market due to lack of options, Decatur does indeed have a central greenspace for such things.  So why is it currently sitting on the precipice of raging Commerce Drive?

Oh and while we’re on this thread, I’d love it if they stayed open ’til 8p in the summer.

Locavores and slow food proponents will really get a kick out of Watershed chef Scott Peacock’s write up about growing up with field peas in his native Alabama in this morning’s AJC.

Thanks to books like Pollen’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, along with recent extensive coverage by the NY Times, the local/slow food movement has really taken off in the past year or so. It goes a step further than just simply eating “organic”, which some strict locavores will tell you has been co-oped by the “industrial food chain” (another basic principal of the movement), and encourages people to buy locally (to reduce the food’s carbon footprint and support the local economy) and eat “real food”…(as opposed to anything processed…80% of which is made mainly of corn and soybeans).

Pollen’s follow up to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, sums up the diet of a locavore this way “Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.”

If it sounds like I’ve signed on to this latest “fad”, I have. It ain’t an easy way to eat, especially for those of us stretched to find the time to dedicate to finding and cooking food, but its the first book I’ve read about “food” in a long time that made any sense and didn’t come off like it had an ulterior motive.

Essentially, it boils down to…eat real food, not processed. That means eating a little meat that eats grass preferably (not force-fed corn), and lots of plants (fruits/veggies), preferably organic and local. Not easy…but it tastes so much better…and is so much healthier.

Locally, the Decatur Organic Farmer’s Market is a great resource to grab these products. Also the DeKalb Farmer’s Market has grass-fed beef and sells a lot of organic produce (and is very good about telling you where it came from).

But still, I gotta tell you, even for a Decatur resident with two great resources, it ain’t all that easy. Any locavores out there with any additional tips?