I Love - Farmers Markets!

So I am a big fan of a Farmer’s Market, or really any outside local produce store.  It can be a small shop with just one farmer’s amazing produce, it can be a small Farmers Market with a handful a vendors, or it can be a large one with tons of vendors and local businesses.  I love them all.

Now I grew up basically in the heart of Amish country (it is our next door neighbor that lived only about 5-10 minutes away).  So growing up we would make many trips out to Amish country for good produce, cheese, trail bologna, baked goods….whatever!  And it was always delicious, homemade, and of course locally grown.  AWESOME.

In/near BG we have a few small stands that are on the side of the road that sell great local items.  We go to this one stand multiple times a year to get our corn, tomatoes, and any other special fruits and veggies.  We go to two other shops to get cider & apples in the fall as well as they have an arrangement of nuts, baked goods and other seasonal fruits and veggies.  However, there has been no one place where many of these farmers go (like a farmers market) to sell their products.

So you can imagine my surprise when I just happened to drive through downtown BG on a Wednesday after work and see what appeared to be a Farmers Market! WHAT?!  When did that get there?!  After a little research and asking, apparently this Farmers Market had been going on for some time on Wednesday evenings during the Months of May – October. Again….WHAT?!

 How did I not know about this?  Well probably because I avoid downtown BG during most months because of all the students and just take the back way home from work.  But a Farmers Market, albeit a small one, in my town is totally worth taking a look.  So Wednesday night, when it was a beautiful 75 degrees outside, I stopped by to take a quick look.  Basil, tomatoes, baked goods, freshly made breads, corn, flowers, even candles….all so lovely and available for me to purchase.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I didn’t really know what to expect so I didn’t bring much cash with me, but I did have enough to get a few things.  I got some large tomatoes; I can already taste the basil, tomato, and mozzarella salads I will be making this weekend.  I got these extremely sweet yellow cherry tomatoes….seriously they are almost like candy!  I got some sweet local corn – YUM.  And I got some homemade salsa from Willy’s Famous Salsa in BG.  I have had this stuff many times before and it is SO good.

Overall there were around 10-15 different vendors out selling their products.  So it was by no means a huge Farmers Market, but had more than enough to get what you would want/need all in one place.  The hardest part was choosing which of the 4 places that sold tomatoes should I pick….seriously, I felt guilty and wanted to buy from ALL of them and of course they all want you to come over and buy from them.  Now that I know what to expect and what vendors are there, I feel I won’t be so overwhelmed and I am totally going back next Wednesday, with a little more cash in hand to get some more items.  There were these homemade breads that looked amazing.  And do you know how hard it was to walk past the baked goods and not even buy ONE cookie!! 

I absolutely love supporting local farmers and small businesses and think this is such a great way to get the community out to not only support the farmers but also the local businesses in a small downtown like ours.  There was a good crowd of people there and I hope they do really well at this so it can continue and grow.

YAY for Farmers Markets!

Terry and I even already decided this would be the perfect place to venture out and visit after Henry is born this fall!