I had quite a relaxing and informative morning. I had a few errands to run and I wanted to see if the local farmer’s market started today.

When I got to the square in town there was no sign of the farmer’s market so I headed off to WalMart to try to get a cordless electric weed trimmer. We got a free gas trimmer with our lawn mower that is useless. It is impossible for me to start and takes the husband 20-30 tries to start. I like cordless electric but I broke our last one. I found one I liked at WalMart on display but couldn’t find a box. After getting an employee to help we still couldn’t find one. Finally we were told by another person that they don’t carry that model. Silly me, I thought that if it was on display that meant that they carried it. He said no because he wanted to buy it too but couldn’t.

Then it was off to Tractor Supply for bedding, horse treats (an necessity of life!), salt blocks, and birdseed. Then to Lowe’s where I actually got a cordless electric weed trimmer. At Lowe’s I came up with a solution for the whole bag problem. Instead of having people look at me like I’ve got three heads when I say, “I don’t need a bag,” cashiers should ask people with just a few items if they want a bag. I think that just that change of corporate policy would decrease the number of plastic bags used in this country. Make it a conscious decision instead of a reflex to bag everything.

I’ve joined the Eat Local Challenge Bookgroup. It is open to everyone. The first book up is Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The library copy is out so I decided to buy the book. I almost never buy books since I read so much. I would go broke if I bought the books I read. If I do buy books I get them from Amazon. But in the spirit of Eat Local I decided to buy the book from a local bookstore. I’ve never been to the store before. The lady was excited to see me. I got 20% off my book because it was a hardcover bestseller. She told me all about his other book, The Botany of Desire in which our town features. She started talking about local food and how much she liked the farmer’s market. I asked her when it was starting and she said June. I said that I was reading the book for an online bookclub about local food. She thought that was wonderful and told me that if I ever needed a paperbook for a bookclub that I would get 20% off of it too.

After getting my book I went next door to a coffee shop. I’ve heard a lot about this store because the evil mother-in-law was a frequent customer but I’ve never went in. It was a very cool place. It is what Starbucks wants to be. The front of the store is all tables and couches. There were two large meetings going on in the front and other people just hanging out and eating. There were two free computers and a table full of local information, including a sign that says that the farmer’s market starts June 4. A back room has the actual store part. You order and then they bring you the food out front. The guy who brought me the food was all excited that I was reading Onmivore’s Dilemma. I learned some stuff by eavesdropping on the meeting of the downtown merchants (one guy was loud so it wasn’t hard to hear). Apparently on the first Friday of each month (whoops, that was last night) there is a street festival downtown. Huh, I’ve lived here for three years and never knew that. We usually go out on Friday night but don’t head downtown. Amazing what you learn.

I went wandering some more downtown and went into a few of the galleries. One had a bunch of jewelry and quilts. I was standing and staring at one quilt and the owner came over to talk to me. She asked if I quilted and I said yes and started pointing out all the fabrics in that quilt that are in my basement. The quilt used four large scale fabrics in the border (a different one on each side) around a simple but very bright half square triangle center. There was a small solid border around the center so it wasn’t so busy. Great and fast idea for using up a bunch of seemingly mismatched fabric.

Every time I spend some time downtown I always vow to shop there more instead of in the business district growing out to the east of town. It has a very different feel that I really like. The service is better too.