Lake of the Ozarks State Park

Jay and I took a road trip to Osage Beach, Missouri on Saturday. It's so nice to enjoy the outdoors with a lunch at an outdoor restaurant. We are pretty fortunate to live close to Lake of the Ozarks which is a pretty popular weekend destination for the area.

I cannot stress how important being outdoors is to us. The lake is a beautiful bonus.

While Jay fished at Lake of the Ozarks State Park-- there are plenty of places for bank fishing-- I strolled along the shoreline enjoying the light rain. 

Jay only caught a bass, but we sure did have a good day. I was going to start my Real food challenge, but I was painfully underprepared for it... Ugh. I ended up eating two sandwiches, so being prepared on road trips is certainly something that I want to work on. 

Columbia Farmer's Market

I have long been a super market grocery store shopper. The food is all in one place. I can get in and out... wham, bam, thank you ma'am. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, per say. Grocery stores serve a purpose, but most of the food is shipped in from far away which isn't very sustainable.

The farmers market pride themselves in serving you local food. We went to the Columbia Farmer's market for the first time in a couple of years and were met with friendly farmers who where proud of their food and very happy to talk to you about it. We met Kay from Lage Farms who invited us (an probably anyone else) to go visit her farm. She even gave a sample of her grassfed Waygu ribeye which prompted us to buy two for dinner tonight.

Plus, the farmers market has REAL FOOD. Oh, imagine that. I don't even have to worry about cookies, candy, or boxed foods that contain ingredients that I can't pronounce. Meat, vegetables, eggs, and fruit. It's simple.

Our haul: tender asparagus, small heads of buttery romaine lettuce, curly dark green spinach, hot house ripe tomatoes, farm fresh eggs with yolks as yellow as the sun, creamy raw milk cheese that melts in our mouths, oxtail for stew, ribeyes waiting for the grill, homemade soap made of ginseng and lemon, and found antlers for our pup.

Our Haul