I am having a great day. No let restate differently – I am having an awesome day. Wanna know why? Because I had a FANTASTIC time at 8:20 am this morning at the farmers market. I have been hearing about it and wanting to go for some time but 1. Did not know where it was located and 2. Never made time for it.
I went today with my cousin and it was fabulous! We traveled down I-83 in Baltimore City and exited off of Exit 2 at Pleasant Road. Busted a right and then left and parked in the available parking lot. It was already PACKED by 8:20 am. Can you imagine?
We went through the gates and I was ready to buy at the first vendor because he had the most beautiful kale I had ever seen. $1 per pound! Can’t beat it. My cousin held me back and told me to circle through all the booths FIRST before purchasing. I also brought cash because I learned you pay what is priced vs. using a debit card where you can hammered with additional costs. Smart move…..who knew $40 bucks cash could go so far and still come home with $15 left! I bought all of my bounty for just under $25 bucks! Can’t beat that with a bat.
We walked through from booth to booth. Saw fresh flowers with bees buzzing, saw booths with exotic looking vegetables like some strange looking alien eggplant. Saw a booth with a variety of KALE! It was more than $1 per pound but hey – they were exotic. I didn’t take a picture and can’t remember their names – sorry. I was overwhelmed with the freshness.
Found a booth selling collards whole and they were BEAUTIFUL! Saw another booth where they were filming but I was there too early to jump in the background and wave while they were filming the mayor. She hadn’t arrived yet. DARNIT! Saw some fresh okra but since I don’t know how to make them like my grandmother makes them – I passed but they were so cheap..made me want to buy them anyway. Anyone have a dehydrated okra chip recipe? If you do leave a comment.
Most of the vendors were friendly and others were just umm errraaa just a little “rough around the edges” in their response to questions. Nonetheless….once we circled the parking lot I whipped out my money and started buying – at the first vendor I saw because they were the most cost effective!
I bought the following for juicing (carrots, beets, and dandelions). Chef Ahki has a dandelion juicing recipe which inspired me to purchase it and try it. She calls it her Ahki Big Bang juice! It is bright green – I bet it does have a BIG BANG! Anywho…I also purchased 2 lbs of kale for $2 bucks.
Dandelion for juicing.
Carrots, scallions, beets and kale. All purchased for less than $9 dollars!
On the walk out I started taste testing some peaches since my cousin was looking at another booth. I tried donut peaches, white peaches and yellow peaches. Hands down – yellow peaches won so I bought about $5 bucks worth of them.
My lovely yellow peaches! Juicy and sweet.
So then we circle back around again and we find the mesclun greens vendor who had these beautiful flowers in the mixed salad greens. I asked to try a flower and he gives me a BOUQUET of flowers (literally a handful of flowers to try). Way more than expected. I pop one in my mouth and it was delicious. Tasted like peppers…and then it got hotter! I like spicy so it was a nice surprise at the end. I needed some water. That is going to taste fantastic in a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Mesclun greens with edible flowers
My personal bounty of mesclun greens
Seriously – don’t be late to the party like me. Find out where your local farmers market is located and take a visit. I am sure you won’t be disappointed! Happy Eating!
If you have information on your location farmers market please leave a comment below.
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