Love a Good Farmers Market

Just look at those home grown tomatoes-aren't they gorgeous ?  Pretty near perfect.  We love to search out Farmer's Markets in our travels. I think it's the best way to eat-local,fresh and organic.  We stumbled upon the St. Augustine Farmer's Market when we hit the traffic jam created by it on A1A. This was one of the many times we were grateful for our Roadtrek-we were the only camper type vehicle looking for a parking spot-the aisles were narrow and the spots were small,but not a challenge for Ruby. We made one drive through and finally found a spot right near the entrance-lucky us.

This market is incredible-our senses were overwhelmed with the smell of fresh bread and all kinds of foods being cooked.  We didn't know where to look first-so we started with the bread.  Of course we bought the little peach tarts you see in the picture.  And I lucked out and got one of the most incredible croissants I have ever tasted since leaving Seattle.  I wish I would have gotten the name of the baker-he is one talented pastry chef-next time I will.

These are pictures of carvings done by the artist.  The name of his studio is Dhruva, after Hindu mythology.  He went to India to study their techniques with fabric dying and decided he wanted to learn and perfect his carving skills so that he could print his own designs.  I think he has pretty much perfected those skills as evidenced by his display.  

The pickle tent was amazing-must have been about 20 different barrels of all sorts of pickles. There was a woman next to me from Provence who got so excited when she found pickles similar to the ones she got at home in Provence-how cool is that .

It finally dawned on me why I love Farmer's Markets so much-they are filled to the brim and most times overflowing with creative energy.  From the growers, farmers,cheese makers,bakers,chefs,and artists-that energy is alive and surrounds you as you walk around. A good Farmer's Market is one of my favorite places to be.  It gets my creative juices going and it just makes me feel good.  The fabulous food doesn't hurt either.

One of the best decisions I made when packing for this year long adventure was to bring along my little FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer. It's small enough that I tuck it under the corner of the bed, where it's completely out of the way until I need it.  I love it , we can seal up all the fruit and veggies and just about anything and it really does extend the life of our stored food.  They advertise 5 times longer than other storage methods and I believe it.  Plus because it sucks the air out of the bag, it takes up less room in the refrigerator and/or freezer.  The only drawback is that we either have to be plugged in to use it or run the generator-but I still think it's worth it.  It's one of the best buys I've made !

Enjoy your travels and keep an eye out for those Farmer's Markets.  Both the Android Market and iTunes have a huge selection of apps to help you find the markets.  I just started using Farmstand from iTunes and really like it. And it's free! It uses your location to give you a list of markets near you along with their hours of operation, opening dates  and addresses.  Check it out.

Happy Trails, safe travels and Eat Local !