Farmers Market Haul

Let's play a little game, yeah?  Take a look at that picture for a minute (click on it twice and blow it up nice and big!)  Look at everything in it, and calculate how much you think each item cost.  Tally that up, keep the number in your head, and then scroll down.  And for the record, this is:

1 huge bunch of basil
1 small bag full of braising greens (not all of it fit in the bowl)
2 Walla Walla sweet onions
2 types of zucchini
2 purple sweet peppers
1 green hot pepper
1 pound of tri-colored green beans (yellow, purple, and well... green)

All of this is organic and locally grown.  All of this is seasonal, picked within the past 24 hours, and all of this I bought three blocks from my house, most of which was directly from the farmers who grew it.

Okay ready to scroll down???

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We spent $11.50.  Eleven dollars, and fifty cents.  I will tell you right now that if we had gone to the grocery store half a mile away and bought all of this, it would have easily cost us close to $20 and the quality would have been far inferior.  If we had bought eggs this week the difference wouldn't have been much different.  One dozen organic, free range, certified humane eggs at the grocery store costs $4.50.  They cost $5 at the farmers market, and I trust those statements far more when I can talk to the farmer face to face.

I know that not every community has access to farmers markets.  If yours does- do you shop there, or elsewhere?  Why or why not?  Bonus points (yeah, I'm counting!): leave me a comment and let me know how much you thought this all cost before you scrolled down!