I finally made it to our local farmers market this morning. I have every other weekend off work and it seems like it’s always either raining or I’ve got other plans. But today I got up early, gathered my totes, put on comfortable shoes and made my way down town. I got there just a few minutes after it opened (operating hours are Saturdays, 8 am until 1 pm) while the crowd was still navigable. Believe me, with this particular farmers market, that’s the only way to do it. On occasion, I’ve gone at around 11 am and could hardly see the vendors’ booths through the mass of humanity. By going early, I was able to find my favorite vendors (there are several organic farmers who sell their produce and plants at the market, one of my favorites is a farm that is owned by a woman…one of these days I’ll remember to take a picture of her at her booth, but that didn’t happen today. It’s nice to be able to talk with the farmers who actually do the work to bring us all the fresh fruit and veggies. I like to hobby garden, but to do it on a large enough scale to earn money is a huge undertaking, not to mention, a lot of hard work! I have total respect for these people and thankfully, I get to enjoy the fruit of their labors. In addition to the produce, you can find honey, eggs, meat, freshly ground flour and cornmeal, all kinds of live plants, cut flowers, coffee, prepared food and lots of live entertainment. It’s really a social event for a lot of people here in my home town.
I came away with several baby zucchini, some juicy peaches (I ate one as soon as I got home), some red leaf lettuce, a Patty pan squash, a yellow tomato, and a red tomato. I think I’m going to grill the zucchini and the Patty pan squash, brushing them with olive oil first. The red tomato will likely go into a nice fresh salsa, one of my favorite summer foods. The lettuce? Well, salad for work with tomato, cucumbers and peppers. And the peaches, really, do I have to explain? I will eat them out of hand…although I have read various blogs about grilling peaches and watermelon…should I give it a whirl?
By the time I got home, it was beginning to get hot (we’re under a heat advisory today) and the humidity was making it a little difficult for me to breathe. I went out to look at my own little garden where I have several cucumbers ready to pick. And I noticed one of my Amish paste tomatoes is turning…ahh…to be able to walk out of my kitchen door and pick my own produce right before I eat it, it doesn’t get any better than that!! But the convenience and ambience of the farmers market comes in a close second!
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Filed under: cooking, food, gardening, life, shopping | Tagged: cucumber, Farmer, farmers market, Fruit, Fruit and Vegetable, Olive oil, Tomato, Zucchini |
Run4joy59's Blog 
I so agree with you! I look forward to spring and the opening of the weekly farmers market season…. We too have a very small deck garden, with just a few fresh goodies. The market – is the next best thing. Im fortunate to have a small local marketer that runs year round… There is just nothing like the taste of ‘fresh’! 🙂
We also have a couple of smaller farmers markets in our city that operate on different days…the one I go by on Tuesdays, on my way home from work, is nice…some of the same farmers, it’s just on much smaller scale…but nice to be able to stop in the middle of the week, expecially if I have to work the weekend.
Wonderful post and image of your vegetables and fruit. I also visited our local Farmer’s Mkt.. It was nice milling around and talking to the various venders who brought their produce to the community-at-large. Good buys and laughter and some small talk on what some of them had gone through for their luscious presentations.
I must say run4joy59; I’d like to be able one day “to walk out of my kitchen door and pick my own produce right before I eat it, it doesn’t get any better than that!!”
I totally agree.
Thanks, Carolyn…glad you were able to make it to the farmers market too. Isn’t it amazing how much better everything tastes when it was picked in the past few hours rather than several days (or weeks) ago?! I bet there are a lot of people who would find they like veggies if they had the opportunity to eat freshly harvested produce.
i love squash and zucchini with a light coating of olive oil and grilled or sauteed lightly. i can make a meal out of that! omg so good! sounds like your trip was really worth it. 🙂
That’s exactly what I’ll be doing with the zucchini this evening…yum!!
Love grilled veggies! I’ve never grilled peaches, usually eat them out of hand, too. I did have a sweet potato recipe with baked beans and peaches that I cooked on the grill, come to think of it. Now that, was yummy!
That really sounds good, Patti…I haven’t tried the grilled peaches yet, but I’m going to. I’ll let you know how it turns out! With pictures, I’m sure!!
Can’t wait to see!