Shopping Local in Vermont

Growing up in Vermont means that you are taught at a young age to buy local. Whether it’s at a farm stand, farmers market, or going to pick fresh fruit right off of the vine, buying local becomes something that is just second nature. That is why each Spring we look forward to all of the fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers that will soon be growing. Since moving back home I have gotten back in the habit of getting out more and purchasing locally rather than in store. Check out some of my local finds from this Summer below and my matching nails for each occasion!

This is the famous clock tower located at the top of the Church Street Marketplace where the farmers market takes place!

My friends and I have made it a tradition that every Saturday we go get brunch somewhere on Church Street (normally at the Pinwheel) and then make our way down to the farmers market. I look forward to this outing all week as I love checking out the local vendors and seeing what they have from week to week. We have made it a habit to pick up some fresh flowers from Aredila Farm & Co. and always end up coming home with more bouquets than needed. Below are a few that I have picked up over the course of the Summer!

 

Above I am wearing essie ‘Going Guru’ from the 2016 Resort Collection. It is a unique mint lime and goes on in two quick coats.

 

Here I am wearing essie ‘The Fuchsia Is Bright’ from the latest Summer Collection. This one is perfect for Spring/Summer and applied easily with two thin coats.

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Last week I heard about a farm stand just up the road from my house that had sunflower fields for days! Immediately I knew that I had to check it out so I brought my mom along with me to see what they had to offer. Not only was I going for the sunflowers but I knew it would be a perfect nail photo op as well! I was pleasantly surprised when I got there at how many sunflowers there actually were and all of the other local goodies you could take home. This farm stand is operated by Common Roots and works off of the honor system. There is no one there manning the farm stand day to day and the customers just leave the money for the items that they have taken as it is self service only. It is an amazing thing to be able to live in a place where we are so trusting of one another and can do things like this.

This was my first time to the Common Roots stand and my mom and I each brought home a bouquet of sunflowers and some fresh honey! They also had locally made wooden plates and bowls, kale, green beans, tomatoes, garlic, breads, meats and even more amazing goodies! I will definitley be going back before the season is over to take home some produce and more flowers! One more thing to mention is they also have a “take a book, leave a book” section where you can leave books for others and take books home to read. I thought this was such a cute idea and will be sure to bring some used books there next time I go! Check it out below to see some photos from our adventure!

 

I am wearing essie ‘Aim To Misbehave’, a citron yellow shimmer in all of the sunflower photos. This was the 1000th polish essie created so it is such a special shade for me and was the perfect polish to match the sunflower fields!

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Back in July a group of friends and I went out to Sam Mazza’s farm in Colchester to go strawberry picking. Of course I had to put on a matching polish for the occasions so I went with essie ‘Berried Treasures’. We ended up taking home excessive amounts of strawberries and made jam and strawberry shortcake. Here are a few photos from that day!

Next up is apple picking season and I will be sure to share some of my favorite places to do that in Vermont! If any of you are ever visiting the area make sure you check out some of the local things to do here like the farmers market on Church Street or head out to the strawberry fields for a day! I made sure to link all of the places that were mentioned in this post as well as all of the polishes in case you are interested in either! Thanks for following along and I hoped you enjoyed seeing some of my local adventures and matching nails!