Olympia does have a great farmer’s market, which I had been planning to visit weekly. They’re still mostly in greens at the moment, but a few other things are starting to come in. And they have local bakeries, meat, and fish as well.

It’s also hard to drop bananas, but I think those are shipped on boats, at least. I should look into that and decide if I *really* need bananas. But they were certainly a commodity before planes were around, unlike most of the other off-season fruit.

It’s also very good of the store to be open to showing what comes from where. I love it when my stores show point of origin, and especially when it’s something from within a fifty mile radius, or when I can see the same produce and grower at the store that I saw at the farmer’s market. One of the stores around here labels fish for sustainability, too, and doesn’t sell any fish that is “red” or unsustainable (though they do sell yellow or borderline fish; honestly most fish from CA fisheries is borderline at best :(.) The other one labels point of origin but not sustainability, so I need to research the fish myself there.

One of the nice things about living in Santa Cruz is that I can eat organic in a casual fashion, without thinking about it. But now the waxed, weirdly shiny but often tasteless produce at normal grocery stores weirds me out! I like the irregularities, blemishes, and natural skin from organic produce, and I’ve read that plants grown under a little stress and not in a monoclime and with all of the bugs that feed on them blasted with pesticides produce more nutritious produce. I can believe that; compare an organic piece of fruit to a non-organic one and usually the differences in taste are more than skin-deep.

I’ve been thinking of going purely local for produce, but I’m not sure I can make that leap yet. But I think everything I’ve eaten today was organic, without really working at it, and a lot of the best of the food was local from the farmer’s market. I bet Olympia has a great farmer’s market, and if you want to make sure you eat more locally you may try buying a part-share in a CSA. Though a farmer’s market is more flexible than CSA, some people really like the regularity of CSA and having to take what they get and be really and truly in season.