The Excitement of Color

I am not sure that there is anything that gets me more excited than seeing the vibrancy of the color of pastured egg yolks.  If you have never bought eggs directly from a farmer who pastures their chickens, you have no idea what you are missing out on.  The eggs bought at the supermarket are so deficient of egg yolk color, and even a bit watery compared to pastured eggs from a small farm.  Beyond the color of egg yolks, the next best thing is   going to a farmers market, and being overwhelmed by the amount of colorful food.  Everytime I go to farmers market in a larger city, such as Minneapolis, I am amazed at the variety of vegetables that can be grown in the area.  Today I saw Apples, Kohlrabi, a bazzilion varieties of tomatoes, grapes, plums, radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, Okra, Eggplant, Zucchini, onions, spinach, squash, pumpkin, green-beans, cucumbers, leaks, in addition to things such as honey, beef, pork, bread, milk, and eggs.  All of these things beautifully displayed, with no advertising other than the beautiful vibrancy of their colors, and the smiles of those who oversaw their growth.  The amazing thing to me is that my home state of Minnesota is able to grow such a wide variety of things.  I am told that I can expect that the farmers market last into the first week of November.  All of this variety that I see at the farmers market leads me to wonder why the farm policies of 70's has led us to a time in history when, at-least here in Minnesota we farm soy beans, and corn from fence row to fence row, with essentially no bio-diversity in our conventional agricultural systems?  Thank goodness, this madness is coming to an end, and we are once again taking part in our food production by either growing a portion ourselves, or connecting with farmers in our community.  In the process, we discover once again that it not only is better for our community, environment, our bodies, and even tastes remarkably good...  Now, please excuse me while I pull my fresh bread out of the oven, and pour myself a bowl of my colorful vegetable lentil soup.