One of the highlights of summer in Bloomington is our farmer's market (see a previous post). But this season, it's so pricey that its comparable to shopping at Dean & Deluca or the food hall at Harrods. Now I know the farmers have suffered this spring. The continuous torrential rains and cool temperatures didn't make for ideal gardening or growing conditions. And I also realize the flooding all around Bloomington probably damaged many of the farmers' gardens and they have
to pay upwards of $4 a gallon for the gas to get them here (if they use motorized vehicles). But charging us as much as $4 for a quart of green beans is ludicrous. Two dollars for six green onions is even worse. But $3 for a pint of small red skin potatoes is totally absurd. Being the daughter of a home economist, I've been taught from a very early age to choose my fruits and vegetables wisely and with great care. I also know my way around the kitchen and appreciate locally grown, quality ingredients--yes, even those grown with pesticides and non-organic fertilizers. (Miracle Grow is the fertilizer of choice for my own garden.) But I will not pay those prices for any produce any where and I can't imagine I'm alone in my thinking. One can only hope that as the summer progresses, the law of supply and demand will return sanity to the farmers' marketing process.
