Buying Local at the Reading Terminal

My work had me in Philadelphia on Friday, and I couldn't help but take advantage of the time there to see the infamous Reading Terminal. Of all the things to see in Philadelphia, I head straight to the Reading Terminal when my work is done and didn't see a single site EXCEPT the Terminal. I've read about it numerous times in many books, magazines, and on websites and it IS everything its cracked up to be. Farm to Philly is probably the one site that had me convinced to hit the Farmer's Market. Yes, I was impressed. Stand upon stand of fresh produce and meats -- much of it local and some organic. There were numerous other eating stands, seafood, beverages, bakeries, etc., but my focus was the local stuff (although I simply couldn't refuse the millet muffin at the Metropolitan artisan bakery stand -- OMG). My boss is from Philadelphia, and she commented how Philadelphians are thrilled to have these stands and the availability of the food to them. But she also commented how nice it must be to be where I'm from and have the same food grown in my backyard. It was exhilarating to pick up a bag of organic spelt berries from Small Valley Milling (7 miles from my home) at the Fair Food Farmstand in the Terminal. You can't imagine the satisfaction in witnessing the connection first hand of Farm to Philly. Having seen the spelt fields and sharing the stories of going to the farm to buy the spelt flour, and now seeing the berries on the shelf in a market in Philly was very, very cool. Besides the spelt, the one notable product I must comment on was the Red Bourbon Turkey from Griggstown Quail Farm and Market. The Red Bourbon is a breed of turkey that was popular in the 30's and 40's, but fell to decline after the introduction of the now well-known, white commercial turkeys. The Red Bourbon is known as a heritage turkey because of the rarity of finding these breeds. I was thrilled to see one in the freezer case at the market and probably would have bought it if I didn't have to drag a friggin' turkey home on the train. Hubby would have absolutely hit the roof on the price tag -- $127.00. That's not unusual for rare, heritage turkeys. If I had the Reading Terminal in my backyard, I'd be eating free-range meat, but I'd probably be broke in the process. It was an exciting day.