Southern Itch and Groff's

So the "itching to do things" is, to me, a distinctive southern term. I have picked up some southern phrases and at times a strong southern twang (though it was difficult to get the word "ya'll" to come across my lips, as any of the youth group members of my previous church would tell you). This phrase was not one I necessarily picked up, nor heard often but always found to be humorous.

So today, I discovered Groff''s Meats. My husband said that he was at the nearby coffee shop the other day and actually watched live pigs walk into the back of their processing plant, which is adjacent to the store itself. "That's about as fresh as you can get," we agreed. Just as I was thinking I could be a vegetarian, there I stood in front of 4 different kinds of sausage, fresh bacon (breakfast meats are always my weakness), and a full deli that just looked incredibly delicious. It wasn't just meat, but cheeses, salads, and other items that made this butcher a stand out location.

I am most excited because I had recently had a discussion with a man from New Zealand about how the idea of local business was going out of fashion, or it was extremely overpriced. I found here in E-town that the opposite is true from my experience in Athens. This local shop (granted, it is very well known, and provides to many local restaurants as well as individual patrons), had better prices than our huge (aptly named, GIANT) grocery store. We found the same to be true of the farmer's markets. I found huge carrots priced for $.79 a lb at a local market here, when at our Athens farmer's market it was $4 for a few, very small carrots. I know the season, availability, and location makes a huge difference. Truly, that Athens-area farmers are able to grow the types of food they DO grow in that soil still amazes me. But if the cost of living in a space is higher here, the cost of eating in a space is a lot lower.

Still, I can't wait to start growing my own. Soon, I tell myself, soon enough.