Mar Vista Farmer’s Market Wrap-Up 1-3-10

Today was a gorgeous 80-degree day in Mar Vista, and it happens to also be the 1-year anniversary for the Sunday Market feature, and so I’m doing my own shopping this time, just as I did a year ago. I’m starting a veggie-heavy cleanse tomorrow (along with half of Southern California, it seems like) and I need to eat lentils. I’ve never really eaten a lot of lentils, so I need plenty of advice and recipes, people: Send ‘em in! Plus I’ll be eating a lot of greens, so I picked up swiss chard and kale. I’m so grateful to have the market in our neighborhood — fresh, local produce all year long! Here’s to your health in 2010!

Today in the Green Booth, Jennifer Taggert, of TheSmartMama.com,was on hand (along with her daughter) to do free lead testing. She tested toys,which mostly turned out to be safe, and personal effects people stopped by with, including keys — full of lead, since they add lead to the brass to make it machinable,a mug — which had lead in the painted logo, and this handbag — which was full of lead and arsenic — yikes — and will be discarded right away.It’s so interesting to know how many items we use every day can be contaminated with lead. I feel better knowing my kids’ toys were safe — and I only wish I’d known Jennifer and her handy-dandy, $40,000, lead-testing ray gun when my kids were babies. (She’s available for consults — get in touch with her at TheSmartMama.com.)