Elkin Farmers Market

Every Saturday I visit the Elkin Farmers Market for all sorts of amazing home grown, local and organic produce, plants, baked goods, even soap, and believe me, it never disappoints. I highly recommend planning a trip some Saturday to partake in the goodness. And while you are in town, visit some of the local vineyards and historic downtown Elkin for antiques, books and art. The Elkin Farmers Market is located in the parking lot at the corner of Bridge Street and Market Street. Vendors sell their wares from 9am-12pm.

Look at the amazing assortment of produce! Vendor Yer Vang grows fruits and vegetables native to North Carolina as well as Laos, which makes for an interesting display.

Those prickly things at the bottom right hand corner are cucumbers! I haven't tried them yet, but I plan to next weekend! How cool are they?

And you can find more than just produce at the market. Just have a look at the beautiful pottery by Georgie Stone. Doesn't it look like there are little fish swimming on the inside of the pitcher? Lovely!

Here are Eli's new obsession....little colorful tomatoes grown by Poke Berry Farms. They have a name but to me they look like little jewels. When Eli sees them he screams, "More!" In addition to these tomatoes, they also sell herbs and plants. I got my birthday spider plant here.

I am no stranger to these breads. Since weaning myself from buying only the yummy cheese bread, I have sampled the Extra Seedy Whole Wheat and the Raisin Breads. Superb! But I have to say that (so far) the cheese bread is my favorite.

Now, blueberry lovers, here are by far the best and sweetest blueberries you will EVER taste. I don't know what variety of berry these are, but they are like little sugar pearls.They are so sweet that I bought a container after picking 5 gallons myself. Eli loves them. You can purchase these from Ed and Cathy Powell of Blueberries at Cabin Trail. And I wouldn't pass up Cathy's blueberry muffins.  

Anyone that knows me knows that I am obsessed with handmade soaps. In fact, I have a huge stash in a basket in our bathroom cabinet. As soon as I have pared down a few bars, I plan on buying a nice fragrant bar from Carmen Lee O'Dell of Made By Willing Hands. In addition to bath soaps, she carries shaving mugs, soap holders and the like.

And if you are in the market for some beautiful plants, Kevin Campbell has a wide variety to choose from. I just love the ornamental pepper plants he carries. And this fall we may plant a raspberry plant. Kevin writes a blog called Foothill Plant Treasures. Check it out sometime for information about regional foliage.

Enjoy music while your browse the booths. Here is The Couch Family playing Bluegrass Gospel music.

And last but certainly not least, Beaver Creek Farms has some wonderful potatoes and squash.

And here is Yer Vang amidst her fabulous produce! Does she look proud or what?

Farewell for now, friends. Hope to see you at the Elkin Farmers Market this weekend.

XOXO

Slushy

Our Garden

This year we started our first garden. We began with planting three blueberry bushes. From there we built one above ground bed lined with newsprint and bordered with concrete blocks. We had a good rich mix of dirt to plant our cauliflower and 196 onions. Yes, I love onions. My garden monster sister Gina gave us some zucchini, squash, cucumber and tomato plants but we were too busy for a while to get them planted. Time....this was our main problem.

Still, my cauliflower was gigantic! Too gigantic, in fact. And with all the onions we were out of room. But my cauliflower was eaten by bugs, so three days after Memorial Day I pulled it up and planted the cucumbers, squash, more tomatoes and zucchini.

At this point, the onions are all pulled and, while my neighbor's garden is all finished, I'll be picking my second cucumber and my first tomato today! We are also getting a small but steady stream of blueberries even this first year.

Here are some pictures of our garden taken a few days ago. Blueberries first!

Ahhhh...Yummy blueberries, which Eli loves to eat. And we are so happy about that!

Cucumbers and squash...not sure which kind yet. Ha! Tomatoes and, of course, the garden frog.

Now these tomatoes are bigger and almost red! The biggest one will be picked today!

This is my volunteer squash...butternut squash we think. Steve calls it my pet squash. To the right of it was my pet tater plant that produced 5 ugly little potatoes I was too afraid to eat.

Hope we get enough veggies to share. Next year we will plow a big spot in the back for a whopper garden. Wish us luck tilling and mulching this fall and winter. Compost should be easier with the compost tumbler my sister Robyn is giving us. Woohoo!