Tim and Jen Live Here

I am fortunate to live in a city that has a farmers’ market three times a week during the harvest season - Saturday and Wednesday mornings, and a smaller market Thursday evenings. This time of year the market is crowded with both produce and people. When I shop there, I put kids in candy stores to shame.

This is my take from the market last week. Isn’t it beautiful?

A close up to show off colors:

In all, that’s:

• leafy greens for salad
• spinach
• small potatoes - red and yukon gold
• sugar snap peas
• asparagus - probably the last of the season
• raspberries
• rhubarb
• parsnips
• carrots
• purple onions
• cucumbers
• strawberries

The greens and spinach were used in salads. One salad combined them with the red onions and cucumber, and I added avocado and feta cheese. This was delicious with lime vinaigrette from Newman’s Own.

This time of year I like to skip the “jam” stage of fruits, so I’ve had several peanut butter and berry sandwiches for lunch. Yum! The rhubarb combines with a little lemon juice and sugar to make a nice sauce that’s great to eat plain or on vanilla ice cream. The berries were a perfect topping for Edy’s Peach Pie ice cream. The cucumbers are so tender and sweet, I ate two of them like apples.

I’ll be there tonight with the hopes of getting some swiss chard or kale, and then again on Saturday for the big haul. I love this time of year.

On a related note, I’m listening to Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” right now, about her family’s decision to eat for one year on almost entirely foods they can grow themselves or buy from local producers. It’s a great read, and I’m learning a lot to help me set up more foods in my garden for next year. Right now I’ve got tomatoes, herbs, grapes, and quince, but I’m excited to try my hand at more next year. I highly recommend this book (and the audio production is excellent) if you’ve got an interest in learning more about where food comes from and maybe growing some of your own.