Eat Locally Part 3 - shopping continues

I went over to the other locally owned grocery store after work, the Turnip Truck, 970 Woodland Ave, Nashville, TN 615-650-3600 to find locally grown veggies. I am worried because the April deep freeze pushed the season back 2 weeks, so the optimal time to do this experiment is really May 18, not now. I walk into the store, to the produce isle, and see no locally grown produce. I only see a lot of organic foods. I am in a panic now, and I have visions of us eating just rice like the TV Survivor, and rice isn't even grown locally.

I talk to the knowledgeable workers at the Turnip Truck, and told them what I am doing. They looked at me, and said I am 2 weeks too early in this year's season, why not try again in 2 weeks. I sighed. Then the produce people took pity on me, and offered a deal that was so specatular. They offered their own personal garden!

They handed me a scissors, and said that I could cut from the arugula, as it was ready to harvest. The other lettuce was too young, the kale and chard were too young, but the arugula was ready. They let me dip right into their personal vegetable garden that they eat from. I turned around and saw a mint plant, and they let me take a spig of that too, WOW! The stats on salad fixings are astounding:

Arugula about 1 quart = $0.00
Mint 1 1/2 sprigs = $0.00
Turnip Truck East Nashville distance from Nashville: 0 miles

Because I was worrying about local veggies being hard to find, I was thinking how I could be creative with finding locally grown veggies. Because I make my own wine from grapes imported from Napa, I have visited a store called All Seasons 3900 Hillsboro Rd, Nashville, TN 615-385-0300 that sells wine and beer making supplies, as well as gardening supplies. I remembered that in the middle of the store they have a hydroponic garden with these big and old tomato plants with lots of tomatoes hanging from them.

As I walked in straight to the tomatoes, there were not too many hanging. I asked the employees if I could possibly buy some tomatoes, but they kindly said it was a display, and the employees take them and eat them. I sighed, and told them what I was doing. Then, one employee reached in and plucked a tomato for me to have.
I was so excited to have a tomato for the week, and I here it is. I think with the arugula, mint and tomato, there is enough for 3 salads for the next week. The stats on the tomato:

1 Hydroponic Tomato = $0.00
All Seasons Gardening and Brewing distance from Nashville: 0 miles
Fantastic!

Total cost to date: $23.19

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