Farmer’s Market Fun

*Note: This is cross posted at Forks in the Crossroad*

So, Thursdays are farmer’s market days.  We have yet to try out the other markets in the area.  The Thursday market is probably one of the closest and pretty much in the vicinity of the parks that we usually head to in the mornings for walks and runs and the like, so we’ve been going there pretty regularly for three weeks now.

Time for the photo show of what we got.

First up, we have all the produce we got from the organic farmer at the market.  It’s a certified organic farm, which doesn’t really do much for me.  I learned from a farmer friend in the past that actually asking about the farmer’s farming practices is a lot more helpful than a bunch of labels.  Nonetheless, I feel better about organic, but in reality, sometimes the differences are negligible depending on what produce we’re talking about.

Back to our photo tour here.  Most of the photos show the vegetables in the process of being rinsed.

So, numero uno is kale.  I can’t remember whether we got the Siberian kale or the Laciano kale.  Either way, this is kale.

Kale

Then we have beet greens off the top of our beets (we’ll see those a little later on).

Beet Greens

Next up, escarole.  A totally new veggie for me, but this is the second time we bought it.  Nice and fresh, we get it as a whole head of escarole.  Break it up and saute it and it tastes great.

Escarole

Our favorite…beets!  These are freshly washed and waiting for some olive oil so they can get roasted.  I totally fell in love with roasted beets when my cousin left me some to eat while I apartment-sat for her.  They are easy to make and the color is so pretty.

Beets

Check out these pretty squash.  This is a new vegeA sunny yellow color, these are called sunburst squash or pattypan squash, or scallop squash.  Personally, I think sunburst squash is the nicest and most apt name.  Aren’t they beautiful?  Plus, they taste wonderful.  Especially with the spring onions we bought and sauteed them with.  (Oh yeah, I forgot to get a picture of the spring onions…buy them…they are so tasty and better than even sweet onions.)  Definitely, getting more than two of these next time.

Yellow Sunburst Squash

Lastly, a small gift from our cheerful organic farmer.  A small bunch of lemon thyme.  He gifted this to us to try with our sunburst squash.  I’ll tell you right now that the lemon thyme adds a nice fragrance and flavor to the squash and spring onions.  Plus, the thyme is pretty to boot.

Lemon Thyme

Lastly, from a local orchard, we have gooseberries.  These were very tart.  I’m hoping for some sweeter ones next time.

Gooseberries

So that’s our weekly farmer’s market round up.

Stay tuned for more Farmer’s Market finds.  The plan is to try out a couple of different markets this weekend, but I make no promises.