Continued:

LESSON 3: Farmers Market

Not every town has a farmers market, but a good number of them do. For the towns that do, local farmers pick one day of the week to meet in a designated spot and sell their produce and anything else that people will buy. Farmers market day should be taken with precaution for students on a budget. Depending on what time of the day the market is held, it is not a good idea to eat for at least three hours before. The reason for this is to make sure full advantage can be taken of the samples sitting on the tables near the produce or other edible goods. Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. is a popular time for farmers market to be held. This is good because it opens just in time for breakfast and a student can go and fill up for free. In San Luis Obispo, farmers market is held on Thursday evening starting at 6 p.m. I'll never forget when I skipped lunch one Thursday, in preparation for the samples at farmers market. Being on a "student budget," of course I only had about $1.00 in my possession, so I couldn't afford any lunch anyway. When a friend and I arrived at farmers market, samples never tasted so good. We started at the peach and nectarine table where we sampled about two of each. From the peaches we went on to grapes then to carrots and last corn and by the time farmers market was over, we had taken full advantage of about every sample that was given out. I ended up going home filled up and it was all healthy food.

LESSON 4: Fruit trees and vegetable gardens

Students should be happy if the area where they live has the right kind of terrain for fruits and vegetables to grow. Too many people don't realize the hidden benefits of the orange tree down the street, or the tomato plant growing in the backyard at their rental house. For a low budget student, plants such as these are as good as gold. I wanted to test this hypothesis to see just how much food it could obtain for me. I did my experiment around the college town of San Luis Obispo where I live. Setting aside only about two hours, I rode my bike around to various neighborhoods filling my backpack with anything I could find. Asking permission from the owner first, is a good idea to avoid conflicts that could be expensive and time consuming. After getting permission, I got back to my experiment.I found oranges most and picked so many that I had to give some away to a homeless person to make room in my backpack for more of a variety of produce. I also found apples, avocado (which are expensive in stores), and some little, round, reddish-yellow "mystery fruit." When coming across mystery fruit or vegetables, it is important to make sure it is not poisonous because doctor bills are especially expensive.

Next LESSON 5: Drink Water, Carbo-Load on Beer

Survival Lessons

LESSON 1:
Meeting People

LESSON 2:
Free Samples

LESSON 3:
Farmers Market

LESSON 4:
Fruit Trees & Vegetable Gardens

LESSON 5:
Drink Water, Carbo-Load on Beer

LESSON 6:
Fraternity & Sorority BBQ's

LESSON 7:
Just Ask

LAST LESSON:
Guilt & Conscience