The Farmers Market is one of my favorite places to shop. That’s why it’s so unusual that we have not visited one this year, especially since vegetables are so important to our diet now.
\nI’m thinking about making a list of vegetable dishes that I can accomplish quickly on a week night, and then creating a shoping list for next Saturday. I don’t want to miss any more of the sessions, since they only meet once a week.<\/p>\n
\nOur Farmers Market is wonderful. The very first booth is the Italian guy who flirts with my mother and sharpens her knives for free. For his kindness, I give him bottles of wine, and home made chili sauce, and sometimes I even part with home made cookies for him.
\nWe have a company that sells shrimp and crab from the Gulf Coast. They catch them, and drive up the next day. There’s a German Bakery that carries an endless variety of goods. I love the Kuchen bread, and the pretzel rolls.
\nThere’s one booth that offers jams and jellies, and there used to be another that sold flavored oils and vinegars. They’d buy produce from the booth next to them, and then saute the veggies with their oils. The scent made your mouth water.
\nWe have a local man who is a bee keeper, and he sells honey, and beeswax candles, lip balms, and table wax. The seller next to him has incredible produce, and the one across from them sells a variety of lettuces.
\nOne of the vendors sells cheese, and another sells mushrooms. Their recipe for grilled portabellos is YUMMY!
\nThere are several vendors who sell flowers. One of them has dried flower arrangements, and others sell bunches of glads, sunflowers, or fresh mixed bouquets. Another sells pots of perennials. I’ve purchased lilies and chrysanthemums from them.
\nIn a week or two we’ll prepare the annual batch of chili sauce. I don’t eat it, but I love the scent of it cooking, so I goad my aging mother into working with me to make it each year. She used to do the entire thing by herself. Now I peel and cut the tomatoes and she prepares the rest. We’ll have to stop at one of the booths and buy 20 pounds of tomatoes, green peppers, celery and onions. If I haven’t already posted the recipe, I’ll share it with you when we make it this year.
\nWhen the market first opens for the year, you’re likely to find a lot of fruit from the southwest corner of Michigan. As the summer passes, you see a parade of fruit pass across those tables…..raspberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, and apricots.
\nMid summer you see the tomatoes and cucumbers, green onions, dill, green beans, summer squash and zucchini. The sweet corn comes in, and then you start to see the fall veggies: all sorts of squash, eggplant, onions, pumpkins. There’s even a booth where I can buy ear corn for feeding our furry winter visitors.
\nEndless variety….the spice of life! If you haven’t been to a Farmers Market…..you’ve GOT to go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Farmers Market is one of my favorite places to shop. That’s why it’s so unusual that we have not visited one this year, especially since vegetables are so important to our diet now. I’m thinking about making a list … Continue reading