Day 32- $1 a day

Yet another chapter in the Chronicles of Things that Melanie Gets for Free When She’s Trying To Be Poor.

I was rambling down the Civic Center Farmer’s Market this afternoon, enjoying the sunshine and listening to the hoards of lunching people exclaim to one another, "Man, Spring has sprung!"

With 9 days to go I only have about $5 left to spend and I decided to eat my Top Ramen and potatoes and carrots instead of buying something fresh at the market. So I wandered through the stalls and sampled freely from the generously proffered wedges of oranges, mandarins, asian pears, and the nibbles of butter toffee almonds.

A man came up alongside me and handed me a plastic bag, which I took automatically without thinking. Thankfully it was nothing contraband.

As I looked down at the bag in my hand he inquired “Do you want this?”

“Uh, yea, what is it?” I asked, peering inside at some green leafy vegetable.

He said, “I don’t know. I bought it by mistake and they wouldn’t let me return it. Will you use it?”

“Yea, sure, thanks!” I smiled at him, and he took off.

So I walked back to work and after inquiring around a few cubicles I was informed that I am in possession of a fine-looking bunch of chard.

Suffice to say that I've never been handed a bag of something free at the Farmer's Market. The free stuff just keeps coming. I find that very interesting, and will have to make some heads or tails of it by the time the end of my experiment comes around.

In the meantime, for dinner I've made a nice angel hair pasta with sauteed chard and diced tomatoes. Yum. I took a photo of it but chard is rather un-photogenic, so you're just going to have to trust me on this one.