This past week our town opened up its Farmers' Market for the season. The city government has set up this market in our new Urban Farm Park, where there are shady spots for picnics, the Community Vegetable Garden (which I joined this year), a large chicken run and coop with lots of chickens, a rooster or two and a guinea, and areas for community activities. The Farmers' Market was great -- it's on Thursday evenings from 5 to 7:30, which means it will be a little bit cooler on the hot days, and the time frame makes it great for the whole family to go, which we did. They had lots of vendors selling local produce, fresh baked breads, local honey, local meats, etc., along with food trucks so you can eat an easy dinner there, live music, folks hooping, chickens clucking. A wonderful atmosphere. I think we'll be going every Thursday night -- maybe pack a picnic dinner this week.
Above is my haul from last Thursday: a huge bunch of beets, an incredible purple cauliflower, yellow squash and zucchini, and some sweet potatoes - purchased from a grower near Senatobia, MS who grows in a greenhouse through the winter, hence the early summer veggies.
What I have made with this stuff:
1. A roasted cauliflower and chard salad (I still have a lot of chard and winter greens in my garden, but trying to use it up fast as this hot weather will make it all bolt and go pretty bitter). The beets had tops on them and if I didn't have my own fresher greens I could have used the beet tops.
2. Roasted (see a trend here?) sweet potato, chicken, and chard salad with chick peas and an herbed balsamic vinegar dressing. This was last night's dinner and I ate yummy leftovers for lunch.
3. For tonight, the plan is grilled zucchini and summer squash planks with herbs and parmesan, fried eggs (from my chickens), and sweet potato biscuits with butter and Amaretto Pecan Creamed Honey from Wolf River Honey that my husband could not leave the Farmers Market without.
