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The local farmers' market finally opened yesterday. I was so happy, I'm so tired of buying all of my produce at the supermarket.

Since it's early in the season, there wasn't a whole lot there, a few boothes with baked items, some honey, organic/free range raised beef and chicken, lettuce, spinach, asparagus, tons of strawberries and tomatoes and I think some zucchini. This year they have begun to allow crafters and there was someone there with homemade soap.

We didn't buy much just some tomatoes (Michael loves them on sandwiches and has been missing good tomatoes all winter) and two quarts of strawberries. I cleaned one quart last night and we ate a few...delicious! I think I'll cut some of them up, add a little sugar and serve with pound cake. I found out later that they had some beef jerky, I would have picked some up for Michael had I known.

Have you been to your local farmers' market? What did you score? What do you plan to make?
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dutchmom4 · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:45 am Post subject:

Sheryle - I had a whole post about my trip to the Farmer's Market disappear. Grrr! I'll retype what I recall.

Last Friday, I made my first trip to the Farmer's Market and purchased asparagus, broccoli, two types of leaf lettuce, Honey Rock melon, and tomatoes. I know the melon was grown out-of-state.

The asparagus I saved for Sunday dinner with Eric and Mary. I steamed the asparagus and melted American cheese on top... one of Eric's favorite vegetables.

The melon was dessert for several meals. The leaf lettuce and tomatoes are being used for salads and sandwiches. And, the broccoli is eaten in salads and plain with homemade vegetable dip.

Strawberries should be ready in next week or the following.

~~Vicki
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pattit · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:34 pm Post subject:

This week I brought home some zucchini, asparagus, kohlrobi and have bought strawberries from three different markets. The last one was the best, will have to go back there again tomorrow on my way home from an appointment.
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Gigi421 · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject:

I haven't been to any markets yet, but I can't believe that we would have anything that actually grew here in Pittsburgh. The weather just hasn't been good enough to plant let alone produce anything. I mentioned in another post that we bought into a local farm........the guy that owns it is actually our mailman........his day job. Anyway, we will start getting produce delivered once everything starts to come in. Our lettuce is ready to pick and the tomato plants look great......beans are coming up too.

The market we usually go to sells cheese and the Amish sell baked goods and cookies. Maybe I should go see if any of their herbs are ready. We need parsley and basil right now.

How do your markets work?? The one we go to a lot is open three nights a week.....Mon., Wed., and Fri..........others are only open once a week. Then we have big farms that are open every day of the week and they also have pick your own things, like strawberries, apples, pumpkins, etc. That just gave me an idea to go get strawberries to make some jam or jelly.
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pattit · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:10 pm Post subject:

We are lucky enough to have several different types of farmers markets to go to. We have a really huge one where many local farmers bring there meats, cheeses, baked goods and of course fruits and vegetables. I love it but rarely get over that way, think I might ask my sister on Friday if she wants to go. That one is open on Friday and Saturday. We have local big farms that are open every day with all kinds of fruits and veggies and most have baked good also. They are open every day. We also have little stands that sell produce from their farms that are not located near by they are normally open every day, the closest to me had a little box that you put the money in, I hate it because the money drops into it and there is no way to get change, I could never rip any one off so she always makes out on me. She was getting a lot of people not paying so she put in a camera, sad sad sad that it was necessary. I hope what I posted makes sense.
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dutchmom4 · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:20 pm Post subject:

There are several farmer's markets in the area. The largest market is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Sales: fruit, vegetables, plants, herbs, meats, eggs, bakery, crafts, etc...

We also have several pick your own farms. My favorite strawberry farm may start sales and pick your own June 13.

~~Vicki
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cookiebakr · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:44 pm Post subject:

Looks like there is already a lot of good produce to be had and it’s early in the season.

Vicki – your asparagus sounds delicious! I really wanted to buy some but since Michael didn’t seem interested I didn’t. I didn’t think I could eat it all myself before it spoiled. I was so happy to find that our market still had strawberries they had the nice small ones that are so juicy and sweet. I’ve decided to make my fruit dip to go with them instead of how I had originally planned. I was thinking about pie but we’ve eaten too many of them so I don’t have enough now.

Patti – What is kohlrobi? I’ve never heard of it before.

Karen – I’m truly surprised to see this much produce…we had nothing but rain in April and May wasn’t a whole lot better. I’m sure we’ll pay dearly for what we do get this year. I commented on your post over in the Breakfast Club that I love the idea of buying into the farm and having your produce delivered.

I’m not really familiar with the Columbus/Hilliard area so am not sure about all the different markets. We actually didn’t start going to them until last year….that was the first year that I was retired so we had the time to go to the different markets. The one closest to Michael’s apartment is only open on Tuesday from 4:00-7:00. There is one about 30 minutes away that is open several days a week and then one in the city that is located in the parking lot of North Market that is open Saturday morning. I’m sure there are more around, we just haven’t found them all yet. We did find a few road side stands last year but not many. Back home I have two that are close to me one that is held on Saturday morning and the other is open Saturday morning and, it used to also be open on Tuesday or Thursday afternoon…not sure if it still is though.
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pattit · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:40 pm Post subject:

http://www.naturalhealth-solutions.net/healthy-eating/healthy-eating-kohlrabi

Here us an article about kohlrabi, I eat mine raw, sliced with salt on it.
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monkeybusiness · Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:51 am Post subject:

GOOD MORNING GIRLS........Good idea Sheryle. As far as I know there's one god size Farmer's Market around here. Located in the downtown part of town, which sounds like an unlikely place to have one, but the downtown section of our area almost dried up because all the stores moved to the Mall. For several years they have been working on updating and beautifying the area and that's when the F. M. moved in. I have not been there, but would love to go. Like you girls there's nothing better than fresh fruits and veggies.

**Patti, thanks for letting us know what Kohlrabi is, as I was getting ready to ask or Google it.

**Karen, I love that concept of having Home Delivery. If I could walk better, actually going to the Market would be fun to....you could see all the different kinds of things they have.

Gotta go do my Morning post..it's a busy day scheduled for me today. HUGS!
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cookiebakr · Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:08 am Post subject:

Thanks Patti - that sounds like a very healthy vegetable! If I ever come across one, I'll have to give it a try.

Debbie - There are several farmers' markets in Columbus that are in the city. One that I forgot about until just now is called Pearl Alley Farmers' Market and it is downtown right in the middle of the business district. Michael and I found it by accident when we were looking for an office last summer. It's held once, maybe twice, a week and opens around lunchtime and closes around 4:00. Not only does it sell wonderful produce they also have concession stands where they sell roasted ears of corn, hot dogs, etc. That's actually the first market I saw last year and only had enough cash on me to buy some green beans. After tasting those beans I started my quest for local a farmer's market.

Yes they can be fun, we see a lot of people come as families, many markets offer food, (the one in Old Hilliard does...maybe because it's held close to dinner time) and some even offer cooking demos. We have one in the uptown (what would be called downtown in most areas) area of Oxford where one vender grows spices and she prepares different recipes to show how to use them.
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