Farmer's Market is Making Me Eat a lot of Veggies

One of the blogs I've been reading the longest is Melanie's over at Melanie in the Middle.  I originally started reading as she wrote a couponing blog under a different name, but in recent years she switched to a more general topic blog.  I'm a loyal Melanie follower as has a knack for writing and occasionally our interests overlap.  I also had the chance to meet her a few years back and she's such a sweet lady!

A few days ago, Mel wrote a post on the lack of affordable farmer's markets in her neck of the woods.  This got me thinking about how lucky we are to have a nice, affordable farmer's market right down the road from us.  It runs on Saturday mornings, 8am-12pm, from mid-July through mid-September and it takes place on our town green - which is only about a 5 minute walk from our house.  It's actually a nice way to kick off a relaxing weekend.  There are breakfast sandwiches made to order, music, vendors, and of course, the farmers.  There are usually three farmers present for fruits and veggies, plus a number of flower, honey and sometimes even fresh seafood vendors.

Not only is the market a great place to buy produce at reasonable prices, but I always find something new-to-me that I've never seen before.  This last Saturday brought purple bell peppers and a few different varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Purple and green bell peppers.

Heirloom tomatoes.

GIANT heirloom tomatoes.

We've been eating a large amount of produce lately, which is typical for us in the summer.  Veggies in the winter are just so "eh" to me and usually consist of frozen veggies or anemic offerings from the grocery store.  This produce, however, makes me WANT to eat my veggies.  Popping cherry tomatoes like candy.  Biting into a juicy plum.  It's all good.

There are some less-than-stellar options around here as well, don't get me wrong.  David stopped at a farm stand the other night and came home with very little produce after dropping a twenty.  And the blueberries were bland.  How do you mess up blueberries?  So, I think for now, we will stick with what we have right under our noses and enjoy the yumminess of the season until it's gone!