Hurricane Party!

The much anticipated Mr. Isaac the Hurricane has finally made his way to my home.  No worries, here in middle Mississippi he is significantly less of a big deal than those weather people were predicting.  Clearly, we still have power and internet access.

So not exactly a hurricane party, but I WAS just researching farm-themed birthday parties for my resident 1.9 year old, and that reminded me – I never blogged my recent farmer’s market adventures.

Let’s back up.  (Ramble much?)

Once, in 2004, my husband (then boyfriend) and I planted a BIG garden.  He did most of the planning.. and the planting.. And we both did a lot of picking, slicing, blanching, freezing, etc.  And eating.  It was a really fun experience and we grew a LOT of produce.  Yellow & green squash, okra for days, bell peppers, jalapenos, some melons (didn’t really turn out), peas.. and that’s just what I remember sitting here 8 years later.

Here’s a picture of me, the sunset, and the garden – all in one!

Oh, and I can’t resist throwing this out to the internet as well.  Too funny.  And yet true.

The garden was behind my husband’s rented house, just to the left of the picture.  And we still own that truck and that grill.

Back in January while making my 30×30 list, I thought about how much we enjoyed the garden and how we should really just do it again.  So onto the list it went, right up at the top – #3.

And then we sold our yard right in the middle of peak planting season. That was probably for the best because growing things in Colorado is 100x harder than growing things in Mississippi.  By the time we got moved back and settled in (uhm no we aren’t settled in yet), growing season was well underway.  BUT there’s always next year.  I have high hopes of making Laura Ingalls Wilder proud.

Have y’all realized how much I blog about becoming a pioneer woman?  Not like the blog-famous “Pioneer Woman”, but like a real apron-wearing, jelly-canning pioneer woman.

Anyway, with garden growing officially off the table, Momma Daniel wisely suggested that instead I could visit a farmer’s market.  So that’s what I did. Here’s me and the 1.9 yr old in front of the Mississippi Farmer’s Market, open every Saturday.

There were lots of vegetable vendors, tomatoes galore, of course plenty of watermelons, and then some oddball items like soap made from goat milk. And there was live music, and because this is Mississippi, the singer was really really good. Lots of musical talent in these parts, I tell ya.  Overall, this farmer’s market was a little bit city-fied.  I mean, first of all, it IS located right in downtown Jackson, which is sort of like a city.  Second, most of the vendors took credit cards – convenient, but not very farm-like.  Third, many of the booths had refrigerated storage.  Still, we came away with a lot of good stuff at good prices so mission accomplished.  I can’t remember the total exactly, maybe ~$13ish.  Not bottom-of-the-barrel but right in line with typical grocery store prices.

I picked out several varieties of so-called heirloom tomatoes.  As far as I can tell “heirloom” means “weird” tomatoes.. The little green round ones tasted kinda like limes.  Fascinating though.. Next year I will grown some of those for sure.  I semi-successfully grilled those skinny eggplants.  And most of the rest of it went into one meal: Crock Pot Beef Carnitas Tacos with Grilled Peach Salsa.  I bought the avocados, cilantro, and meat at K-Roger, but all the rest came from the Farmer’s Market.

SO good. I love cooking “from scratch”, especially when its easy. MUST get back in that habit.

In addition, related to list item #3, I also:

• Grew and cooked with my own cilantro back in Colorado.
• Picked a bunch of wild pears and tried to make pear preserves.  #FAIL.  Have two completely rock solid jars of pear/sugar mess in the fridge to show for it.  I promise you, Laura Ingalls, I WILL do better next time.

So that, my friends, is a wrap on gardening for this year.  I do hope to visit more farmers’ markets too.  They’re so healthy, and local, and green, and economical, and so forth.

#3 Grow vegetable garden.