With the Farmer's Market officially open here in Oregon, everyone in my house was excited to make our first trip to our local Beaverton Farmer's Market today. Since the only thing ready to pull from our own garden is lettuce and kale (and it's pretty slim pickings so far), we were looking forward to seeing what our local farmers will offer. We found leeks, lettuce, asparagus, fresh cheese and eggs, and free range chicken which sounds pretty tasty for a bar-b-que on what's due to be a gorgeous weekend. There's also herb and vegetable starts which will help us expand our garden - we picked up more rosemary, along with lavender, mint and basil.
Even though we didn't get out of the house quite as early as I had hoped, getting there early in means we beat the really big crowds so there's more selection and more time to talk with the growers about their farms and practices. It's important to us that our kids know where their food comes from and they like seeing the familiar faces each week. I've even caught them talking about the grower or farm when sharing a sweet juicy peach with a friend.
And an early Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market was the perfect way to start our day in the garden. We still have some plants that didn't make the brutal winter to dig up, some to move around and many spaces still to fill. We're replacing anything that didn't survive the winter with something edible or useful in some way. And as much of our yard as possible is being turned into a growing garden this year so that we can also share our bounty with neighbors, friends and hungry family through the Oregon Food Bank's Plant a Row for the Hungry program.
Have you been to your local Farmer's Market this year? Is your home garden ready? What are you growing this year?
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