Farm Fresh

Down the road from our house are a couple acres of farmland.  That's so funny to me because I'm still used to a shopping center on every corner from when I lived in Cali....but zoning is so weird in New Jersey that it's literally on my way to Target.  In fact, my friend Megan was visiting and commenting on how cool it was to drive on "back country roads."  I'm sorry what?  I'm totally urban.  Totally....I mean...I took a bus....like once....so...

Anyway....one of the farms hosts our county's farmer's market and I decided to take the boys there on Saturday.  They loved it, as did I!  It's not a large market, the one in my college town of Davis, CA was bigger and Davis is a SMALL town....but the quaintness is what makes it so special.  There was a great live band playing some blue grass music, and the few farms that were there were outstanding!  I tried to take more pics, but something was going funky with my camera's focus (only to later find out that I had accidentally switched the camera to manual focus and was cursing the world because I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on).

We sat on one of the many brightly colored picnic tables and had our goldfish snacks while listening to the band.  It was super hot on Sunday, so we couldn't stay long as I could feel the literal meltdowns coming on.  We did however stop to observe the personal gardens at this farm.  This is my favorite feature of the farmers market.  Because it's on a farm they have these plots of land that you can basically rent out and plant whatever you want.  This is totally great for someone like me who is DYING to plant a garden but because of my totally awesome HOA....I cannot.  Bitter much?  Not me...

But look how great these gardens are!  I didn't let Hunter out of the stroller because he would have totally trampled somebodies hard work (the boy LIVES to destroy), but I still pointed out all sorts of veggies and flowers to him.  And he happened to point out this lovely lavender garden....and the bees.  (shudder) Oh how I hate bees....

Just look at these...cabbage?  Lettuce?  I don't know but it's amazing!!

I totally want one of these plots!  The boys had a fun time just snacking and observing though...and the outdoors were good for them, despite the fact that it was super hot and humid....it was actually one of the nicer days we've had.  I think I'm going to make this a weekly outing though....if not for the educational and physical value for the kiddos....the fact that I walked away with all this loot for only $6!!

Don't mind the half dying flowers.....just look at those zucchini!  They were only $0.50 a piece...that's amazing!  I love this one too

It's called an 8-ball Zucchini.  I don't know what I'm going to do with it...but thinking of hollowing it out and stuffing it with a crab salad....we'll see.  It was a great trip with a great haul! We'll definitely be going back next weekend....maybe I'll even ask about those plots of land....