As summertime nears it's end (at least in my neck of the woods!), here's an update on my "farmer's market" habits. I decided to skip the CSA this year and see if I could get nearly all my veggies from farmer's markets and other venues (read: my parents large garden)!
I started the summer out by attending a local farmer's market every Saturday. As we all know, early season market's don't have a ton of produce, but I was able to buy plenty of salad greens and herbs. In addition I was able to buy fresh eggs, pork and even buffalo meat! This particular farmer's market has a great variety and has more than just produce - there are several vendors selling meat and eggs, flowers, honey and baked goods and even homemade caramels and ice cream - yum!
There is a much smaller farmer's market just across the park from our house that I have been to a couple of times as well (on Wednesdays). The selection is much smaller, but the prices are cheaper.
In the last month or so I haven't been to the local market's, as I have been well stocked with produce from my parents ginormous garden. My latest "veggie delivery" from my parents has included zuchinni, yellow squash, green beans, jalapenos, tomatoes (grape and roma) and even acorn squash. They also grew eggplant, but I learned from our CSA last year that we don't enjoy it. I am looking forward to the late summer/early fall produce that my parents will have (pumpkins, apples and more squash varieties). I am also planning on heading back to the local Saturday market so I can get more eggs (we don't go thru eggs very quickly) and maybe try some other fun things too.
Now, this doesn't mean I haven't been buying produce from the grocery store. I still buy most of our fruit at the grocery store, because last time I checked there weren't any banana or mango trees in Wisconsin, and we buy A LOT of bananas and mangos!
