How Farmers Markets Changed the Way I Eat (and the Way I Love Myself)
How Farmers Markets Changed the Way I Eat (and the Way I Love Myself)
Lately I’ve been taking a new approach to how I nourish myself.
It started with a small shift—choosing to see how much of my food I could get from local farmers markets instead of the grocery store. And being in Austin, I’m lucky. There are so many options. I love the one out in Georgetown, and the Round Rock market has become a weekly favorite.
At first, it was just about freshness.
Quality. Supporting local.
But what I didn’t expect was how deeply it would shift the tone of my entire relationship with food.
Food That Feels Like a Gift
When I buy my veggies from a booth where someone grew them, touched them, loved them—I feel that.
When I crack open eggs that came from someone’s backyard coop, I feel like I’m part of something real. Something whole.
And then when I sit down to eat?
Something sacred happens.
At the end of each meal, without even thinking about it, I say thank you.
My Little Mealtime Ritual
It’s not performative. It’s not fancy.
It’s just a quiet pause, where I thank:
- the plants
- the animals
- the farmers
- the hands that tended and harvested
- the land that provided
And then—this is the part that surprised me—I thank myself.
Thank You, Self
I thank myself for choosing to buy differently.
For waking up early to go to the market.
For spending a little more when I can, because I know where it’s going.
For preparing food with more intention.
For feeding myself in every sense of the word.
It feels like a soft loop of gratitude—starting with the earth and ending with me.
And I think that’s where so much self-love lives: in the quiet moments we realize we’ve been caring for ourselves without even noticing.
A Ritual of Nourishment
This has become its own kind of ritual for me.
I don’t always light candles or say prayers or do anything special.
But I notice that when I eat food from the farmer’s market, I feel different.
There’s a reverence in it.
There’s love.
And there’s a real, true appreciation—for the food and for myself.
Final Thought?
Self-love isn’t always loud.
Sometimes it’s in the way you choose your groceries.
Sometimes it’s in the pause after a meal.
Sometimes it’s just in saying thank you—for the food, for the land, and for you.
