 |
Locally grown onions! Hubby
won't be kissing me tonight. |
As soon as I pulled out of the high school drop-off lane, my car instinctively headed toward the farmers' market. It officially opened for the season, which means I will have no problem consuming at least five servings a day of fruits and veggies from now until October. It also means Hubby will have to fire up the grill, because I just bought a bouquet of Vidalia onions. For supper, I think we'll have slices of grilled onion stacked with grilled portobello mushroom caps. I can practically smell it already.
 |
Strawberry season makes
breakfast my favorite meal. |
In addition to the onions, I also picked up a quart of strawberries. I was tempted by the sweet aroma and gorgeous color of locally grown, freshly picked berries to purchase a whole gallon. However, I had limited funds in my pocket and I knew I'd be back soon. At first, I thought the quart would get us through until Tuesday, when Hubby and I plan to walk downtown, grab some coffee and a bagel, and browse through the farmers' market together. However, I already sliced up about a third of the strawberries for my cereal about three minutes after I returned home. I suppose if we have to, we can borrow some from Ma. She plans to pick up a few buckets of strawberries to make jam.
One of the vendors sells plants. Last year, we bought two blueberry bushes from him. Blueberry Guy, as I like to call him, gave us specific instructions on how and where to plant the bushes as well as how to care for them. The bushes are thriving. I once asked someone in a mega-superstore how to care for the raspberry bush I picked up on sale. She told me to follow her. I did...all the way to her register, where she checked me out and pointed out the label with a picture of a giant sun. I bought the bush and planted it based on the picture on the label. Over the next few weeks, it withered and died. I stopped buying plants and bushes at mega-superstores.
 |
These babies are going in
my urban garden. |
But Blueberry Guy has an excellent selection of herb and vegetable plants ready for urban gardens. And since my blueberry bushes are doing so well and I happen to be a novice urban gardener, I decided to browse his selections. While all of my perennial herbs are up and doing extremely well, I realized I was in need of some annual herbs. The realization hit me when I saw he was only charging $2 for his herb plants. The plants were not only less expensive, but much fuller, greener, and healthier than anything I've seen in the mega-superstores. I left Blueberry Guy's booth with French tarragon, summer savory, and a strong motivation to spend a couple of hours in my garden.
Micki Bare, mother of three, wife, daughter & writer is the author of Thurston T. Turtle children's books.
Email: mickibare (at) gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment