Good For You

Do you know that cantaloupes are bursting with nutrients? They are loaded with vitamin A, and vitamin C and even are a good source of potassium. They are full of flavor and low in calories. They have water and fiber. I have FOUR here today. Well, not really - we ate almost all of one already! Our local farm market was our source and they were only $2.00 each!! Yes, I took a ride out after being leg-challenged for almost 4 weeks. I didn't get out of the car, but the Mister was a good sport and did the cantaloupe shopping. 

When we were in SC we always hit the fruit stand for the fresh Athena melons that came up from Georgia. They were our favorite but we don't seem to find them here. They have a longer ripening period and remain firm and sweet without becoming soft. They closely resemble the local cantaloupes - in appearance. This is an Athena.

I just gave an alert to my neighbor and daughter who now plan to head on out there and get their own!

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This Little Piggy Went to Market

...with high hopes that her favorite peaches would be ready. They are not. So...

... she bought some Honey Crisp apples, two small eggplants, a small cabbage, another cantaloupe and four ears of corn. 

Wow~ the apples are VERY juicy and tasty! As you probably have guessed, soon I'll make an "easy" parmigiana dish with slaw on the side. 

Here is a tease of the ease.....step #1

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Spray 2 sheet pans with oil. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Transfer to the prepared pans, it's ok if they overlap slightly. Season with salt. Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway through until eggplant is golden. To be continued--

The Farm Market Story

"Closed for the morning due to rain and flooding. At this time the crops are clearly wet but safe! We are praying that the rain subsides and creek levels have a chance to recede. You’ve been with us through the good....please pray with us through the bad and ugly!" ~Partial FB post from LaRue's Farm Market today August 14, 2018~

The attached link will show you an article about our favorite local farm market. It is in pdf. format and starts with the 2nd page of the August publication. We and so many others are very fortunate to have this market near home. Please read and perhaps you will understand better why I post about this place!

Story of Farm Market 

~picture from PENNlines August 2018~

Customer Appreciation Day

We didn't realize this was the 2nd day of the farm produce market's customer appreciation day but we sure did and do appreciate their wonderful customer relations, honesty and rapport with all who shop there.  We went for corn and gingersnap homemade cookies. Everyone who knows about this special place understands the effort and work that goes into what they do to have fresh items available during their season!

There is much more offered to customers, all free. Freshly popped popcorn, hamburgers, hot dogs, beverage, snack bags and tables and benches for comfortable socializing and eating.

HOME with our stash.

And the sun is shining! Yay!

Ah! Summertime...

Really warm and humid here. We went to the library and then rode out to our favorite farm market. They open at 10am and we arrived at 9:55. Parking lot was full; inside there were already many shoppers. This is the place to go! We watched the unloading of a heap of corn from a box that was on the back of a ATV. When we put it in a bag it was still very warm from the sun! How fresh is that!! The cantaloupe bin was full and those were also a bit warm. A young girl was still packing the beautiful string beans into aerated bags. They went fast. Of course there were tomatoes, peppers, beets, squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers of all sizes, and I forget what else. We went for corn. I can only do so much now. 

Field to freezer in 7 hours!

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I can hardly wait to open the cantaloupe!

Farm Market

Our favorite local farm market has started all kinds of seedlings and it really takes a LOT of work to have the finished products available to the public. It is amazing how this family works together for us all.  Their first planting of corn and onions is in the ground! I strongly suggest that you visit the website to scroll down, view the pictures and videos to get the idea of what it entails for having such wonderful fresh vegetables and fruits available. They also have beef cows and pigs to be slaughtered and packaged. There are fresh eggs out on the porch for us and there is an honor system for paying.

And...there will be a large assortment of flowers soon!

I found this on their page this morning and remember seeing it a few times before in my life. It is a nice verse.

Link to the Farm Market

To the Farm Market

It was a nice ride through the countryside and the parking lot was full when we arrived. Of course we got corn, and a cantaloupe plus one large tomato. I wandered around the parking lot and enjoyed the flowers that are so very fitting for a farm market atmosphere. There were many sunflowers growing along the fence but only in one area were they large and in bloom; there are many more to mature. The cosmos flowers are all around as are the zinnias. Inside, I noticed many freshly pulled large onions, cabbage heads - already stripped of outer leaves and ready to use - cucumbers galore and peaches too. I plan to wait for the Loring freestone peaches which come in at the end or the month. In my opinion they are the VERY best! I now have a dehydrator that was a Christmas gift from a daughter and I plan to use it very soon. 

My brother visited and brought some of his homemade peach and wild blackberry jams. WOW are they tasty! He called me to say he had many ripe berries and wanted to know if I would like some. I had to turn him down. I just don't can anymore and wasn't in the mood to make freezer jam, either. No seeds in the blackberry as I requested. Yes, I have special requests once in a while. 

The pictures of the teasel at the end here, show the bands of flowerets as I took a ride on the golf cart to cut off two more. I thought they were interesting. 

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