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n apples, Nature's Path cereal (Blaine, WA), Pacific Foods tomato soup (Oregon) - these were our first purchases at the Wilmington Island Publix supermarket, the best place to purchase organic near Tybee Island, GA, our "home" for the next week. Not quite what I had in mind when I went looking for "local" food among the organics.We did, however, purchase locally caught shrimp, and Forrest sauteed these lovely pink morsels in butter and garlic in our beach house kitchen.
The winds here are like nothing I've seen, and my hoped-for trip to the Wednesday farmers market to buy our week's food supply was canceled. Fortunately, Savannah has two Saturday markets, and if the weather improves (although rain and high winds are expected every single day we're here), I plan to go to both, if not for groceries, to sample locally grown freshness.
The market near the historic Pirates' House restaurant at Trustees' Garden, not far from Factors Walk (originally a cotton exchange, dating back to the mid-1800s), was established about this time last year as a monthly market, and earlier this month, opened weekly. The garden's new owner is apparently reinventing it as a center of organic and sustainable living. In 1733, not long after Oglethorpe founded Savannah, it was here that an experimental garden for the silk industry was established (mulberry trees?). Manager Tate Hudson hopes it will one day be an urban educational farm.
The Forsyth Saturday market is a project of the local food collaborative. The 30-acre Forsyth Park is a few short steps from Brighter Day, the local organic food co-op, and The Sentient Bean, a frequent stop during my last Savannah trip. It's the closest I found to a good Seattle coffee shop. In the middle of Savannah's historic district, Forsyth is one of 21 "squares" - parks around which the downtown core is built. It's a beautiful place to visit - even in the rain.
Georgia peaches are not a cliche - they really are amazing, as are the shrimp - but it's not the season for fresh peaches. Surely, there must be other delicious local foods (aside from Forrest's favorite - boiled peanuts). I'll report back!
Noted: Seen on an Illinois-licensed tractor-trailer en route from Atlanta to Savannah, somewhere in rural Georgia: "Delivering supply chain solutions to the food industry." - Dot Foods (specializing in "less-than-truckload" food redistribution...). Who knew?
(Photos: Scenes from Tybee Island - turtles, gardenia [if only I could download the smell!], and... the rain...)
mulberry trees were introduced to this area (Savannah) by merchants hoping to create a silk industry in the late 1600's. Wormsloe Plantation was named for "the worm," or more precisely, the caterpillar that secretes silk while feeding on mulberries. The mulberry tree is not indigenous, but boiled peanuts are ;-)
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